WOOL FIBRE

Wool production and use dates back approximately 10,000 years in Asia Minor. People living in the Mesopotamian Plain at that time used sheep for three basic human needs: food, clothing and shelter. As spinning and weaving skills developed woollens became a greater part of people's lives. The warmth of wool clothing and the mobility of sheep allowed people to spread civilisation beyond the warm climate of the Mesopotamia. Between 3000-1000 BC the Persians, Greeks and Romans distributed sheep and wool throughout Europe. The Romans took sheep everywhere they built their Empire including the British Isles. From here the British took sheep to all their colonies.

Fibre Structure

Wool is different to other fibres because of its chemical structure. This chemical structure influences its texture, elasticity, staple and crimp formation. Wool is a protein fibre, composed of more than 20 amino acids. These amino acids form protein polymers. Wool also contains small amounts of fat, calcium and sodium.

Types of Wool Yarn

There are two types of wool yarn – woollens and worsteds.
Woolens: Woolens is a general term describing various fabrics woven from woollen yarn that is spun from the shorter wool fibres. These shorter fibres are not combed to lie flat as in the worsted yarn. This results in soft surface textures and finishes and the weave of individual yarns does not show as clearly as in worsted fabrics.
Worsteds: Worsted is a general term for fabrics woven from worsted yarns that contain longer fibres spun from combed wool. Worsted wool refers to tightly woven, smooth, clear finished goods in a variety of twill and other stronger weaves.
Worsteds undergo several processes:

• Scouring – Washed to remove dust, suint (sweat) and wool wax.
• Carding – Rolled with a roller that is covered with teeth tease apart the staples of wool, laying the fibres nearly parallel to form a soft rope called a 'sliver'.
• Combing – Combed to separate short from long fibres, ensuring that the long fibres are laid parallel to produce a combed sliver called a 'top'.
• Drawing – Drawing out of tops into the thickness of one, to thoroughly blend the wool and ensure evenness or regularity of the resulting 'roving'.
• Finisher drawing – Drawing to reduce the roving thickness to suit the spinning operation and further improve evenness.
• Spinning – Inserting twist into the yarn to give strength to the finished yarn.