Wool Terms

Modeling her wool, the lovely Grace O’Malley

Just thought this was a neat little bit of information on the internet from www.ag.ndsu.edu; Wool Terms and their explanations.

Bellies – short and less desirable wool from the belly of the sheep.

Britch or Breech Wool - wool from the hindquarters of the sheep, usually the coarsest on the body, often approaching hair in characteristics.

Crimp – the natural curl in the wool fiber, gives wool its natural resilience and elasticity.

Fleece – the wool from a single sheep in the shorn grease state.

Grease Wool - wool as shorn from sheep, not washed or scoured (raw wool).

Handle or Hand - a term referring to the actual feel of wool.

Hoggett Wool - also called virgin wool, first fleece shorn from a sheep when about one year old.

Keratin – a complicated chemical protein substance, major constituent of a wool fiber.

Lamb’s Wool - wool taken from a lamb not over seven months old.

Luster – determined by the amount of light reflected by the fiber.

Pelt – the skin of the sheep with wool still on the skin.

Pulled Wool – wool removed from pelts after slaughter, also known as “slipe.”

Scouring – actual washing of dirt, grease and foreign matter from grease wool.

Shearling – shortest wool obtained from sheep sheared about a month before slaughtering, about 1/2 inch in length.

Skirting – a practice of removing from the edges of the whole fleece, at shearing time, all stained and inferior parts.

Staple – the length of a lock of shorn wool. In the trade “staple” refers to wool that averges 2.5 inches or more in length.

Suint – salts of perspiration present in the raw wool fleece.

Woolen Yarn – yarn spun from wool fibers which are short.

Worsted Yarn – yarn spun from wool fibers which are long.

Yield – amount of clean wool derived from grease wool in the scouring process.

Yolk – natural grease and suint in sheep’s wool, when purified is known as lanolin.