Onyx is a filthy beast

But we love her anyway.
I decided it was about time I did some fleece-washing.  I'm currently plying this pretty stuff  (after seemingly endless spinning of froggy singles) and I'll soon be ready for a big spinning project. 
But oh, my...

 Here's some fleece, soaking in soapy hot water:

Pulling the fleece back, you can see that the water is almost as dark as the wool.

Multiple rinses were called for.  Multiple.

I tried to get a shot of the unwashed fleece itself, but all the pictures came out like this:

way too light.  The fleece is mostly black, with reddish brown tips, and is laced with several shades of gray ranging from silver to almost white.
So after a little monkeying with the color saturation and the brightness, I've got this picture which is a little more true to color, though still missing most of the black.

I can't wait to see what I get when I start carding and spinning.

First, of course, I have to patiently wait for the drying...