THE DEFINITIVE GLOSSARY OF WOOL TERMINOLOGY
The information was taken from this site: World of Wool - online supplier of fibres to craft enthusiasts worldwide. Enjoy more here: http://www.worldofwool.co.uk/know.php
Angelina: Trade name for man-made plastic fibre of flat film nature which has a luminescent appearance.
Broken tops: Relatively short tops, combed first as a continuous sliver and then machine broken into pieces for use in woollen manufacture where a very clean fibre, free from vegetable matter, is required. Particularly useful when dyeing a medium-dark clear solid colour.
Burrs: By-product of wool combing wholly containing the vegetable burrs accumulated on the sheep’s fleeces.
Carbonising: Acid treatment of wool in a process similar to scouring which destroys vegetable content, reducing it to a carbon deposit, which is then crushed between rollers leaving the fibre free from vegetable content.
Crossbred: Generic term used to describe wool with fineness below 33microns.
De-hairing: A very fine carding process which removes coarse hair and detritus from animal fibre resulting in the finest fibres remaining.
Down: Short fine body fibre found in many animal species. Separated from the coarse protective outer hair by dehairing processes.
Fleecewool: Generic term for wool from adult sheep/animals. Usually denotes wool long enough (full fleeces) to comb for worsted yarn manufacture.
Halfbred: Generic term used to describe wool with fineness approximately 27-30 microns.
Humbug: Natural colours blended together to have the striped appearance of humbug sweets.
Ingeo: Trade name for fibre made from pulped corn plants.
Lambswool: Wool from sheep/animals during their first year of growth.
Merino: Generic term used to describe wool of fineness similar or like the breed of merino sheep. Generally now considered to be wool finer than 24microns in thickness.
Micron: 1000th of 1 millimetre. Measurement of fibre thickness.
Mulberry silk: Silk grown from worms artificially cultivated.
Nepps: Fibres machine rolled into small balls for use as an effect in woollen yarn.
Noil: By-product of combing. The short fibres removed from combing a top or sliver.
Quarterbred: Generic term used to describe wool with fineness approximately 24-27 microns in thickness.
Rainbow tops: Multiple dyed colours blended together to form the appearance/effect of a rainbow.
Roving: The result of reducing tops to a thickness suitable for spinning. Intermediate stage between tops and yarn. Twist is also added to the roving at this stage to aid spinning. Worsted system only.
Scouring: Washing treatment of raw/greasy animal fibres using alkali detergent followed by rinsing and drying. A bleach may also be added toward the end of the process to enhance whiteness.
Staple fibre: Generic term for fibre cut to specific lengths for either combing or carding. Usually used in reference to man-made fibres. Superwash: Shrink resist treatment for wool and animal fibres consisting of chlorination & synthetic resin. The fibres are first chlorinated to destroy the natural scales of the fibre and may or may not be resin treated to fill any imperfections on the fibre surface. This treatment is designed to inhibit the natural felting properties of animal fibres, thus leading to easier care of garments.
Tencel: Tradename for viscose fibre.
Threequarterbred: Generic term used to describe wool with fineness approximately 30-33microns.
Tops: Continuous sliver of combed fibres prepared by combing the fibres after carding.
Trilobal: Three lobed fibre structure which allows light to be reflected from the fibre in more than one direction causing the fibre to appear very bright or sparkly.
Tussah silk: Silk grown from worms naturally (wild) cultivated.
