NeedleCraft Plus/needlecraftplusvolume1.iso/misc/glossry/glossry.txt

Text File | 1997-01-06 | 26KB | 429 lines

                         GLOSSARY OF FIBER RELATED TERMS

ACETATE - A synthetic fiber made from cellulose acetate.  Resembles silk.
ACRYLIC FIBER - A synthetic fiber made from acrylonitirile which comes from
  coal, air, water, petroleum and limestone.  It has a soft, wooly hand; wash-
  and-wear performance; excellent sunlight resistance; good stability to
  repeated laundering.
ALPACA - A type of llama which has very long hair which is considered a wool.
  It resembles mohair.  Alpaca fiber is soft, silky, and fairly lightweight.
  Its fine, downy fleece is lustrous and elastic.
ANDALUSIAN WOOL - A medium fine grade of merino wool from Spain.
ANDALUSIAN YARN - A British term for a four-ply, fine worsted yarn used for
  knitting.
ANGORA -
  1. The wool of the Angora goat (long & soft) which is called "mohair" when
     made into fabric or yarn.
  2. The soft, silky hair of the Angora rabbit.  According to F.T.C. regulations
     it must be described as Angora Rabbit Hair.  It is very fine, soft, fluffy,
     and slippery.  It is pure white naturally.
ANGORA RABBIT HAIR - Hair obtained from the angora rabbit.
ANAMALIZING - A chemical treatment that enables fibers other than wool to take
dyes used for animal fibers.
ANTRON - Trademark of E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company for a type of nylon.
  It provides luster and excellent coloration.
ASTRAKHAN - Wool obtained from karakul lambs.
BAININ - Native Irish woolen homespun cloth; hand woven in the Aran Islands.
BARRED TWIST - A novelty doubled yarn composed of two two-ply yarns twisted
  together.  One or both yarns may be printed.
BAST - The soft, strong, woody fibers obtained from the inner bark of
  dicotyledonous plants.
BAYADERE - Straight or undulating horizontal stripes.  They are usually
brilliant colors strongly contrasted to give a startling bizarre effect.
  Derived from the striped garments of the Bayadere dancing girls of India.
BEAD YARN - A novelty yarn with either a small head or a lump of beadlike
  hardened gelatin or plastic material added to the yarn at intervals.
BEIGE YARN - A yarn spun from a mixture of various natural colored wools.
BEMBERG - Trademark of Beaunit for cuprammonium rayon (fine filament fibers).
BIGARREE - A French term for multicolored fabrics, usually in strong contrasts.
BLARNEY - An Irish woolen knitting yarn which is heavier and harder than
  Connaught.
BOTANY YARN - A fine quality worsted yarn of 60's or better.
BOTANY WOOLS - All Australian wools of high quality.
BOUCLE YARN - A rough, curly, knotted yarn made with two fine foundation threads
  twisted together with a thicker, hardtwisted yarn which is delivered at a
  quicker rate than the foundation threads and retwisted with the former group
  in the opposite direction at half the number of turns per inch.
BOURRE - A good grade of silk waste.
BOURRETTE SILK - A coarse silk yarn spun from the waste produced in the
  manufacturer of schappe silk and silk elongation.  Tufts from the nubs, noil,
  and other waste are interspersed throughout the yarn and produces a fancy,
  novel effect with brilliant spots of color.
BOURETTE YARN - A fancy ply yarn with knots or nubs producing during carding.
The knots are thread of another color.  It is generally made of silk and worsted
or mohair.
BRIGHT YARN - A general term used in the man-made fiber industry for lustrous
yarn, staple, or tow.
BRILLIANT YARNS - Yarns made by twisting metallic thread with wool or silk.
BULKY YARNS - A general term for textured, stretch, and lofted yarns.
CAMEL HAIR - A hair yielded by the camel known today as the Bactrian camel of
  Asia, which is actually an age-old cross-bred of the dromedary (Arabian, one
  hump) and the Bactrian (Asian, two hump) camel.  It has excellent heat
  resistance and cold resistance.
CACULE - A British term for astrakhan.
CASHMERE - A fine, soft, downy wool undergrowth produced by the cashmere goat
  (Kashmir goat) most often encountered in Kashmir and others parts of Asia.

CHAIN TWIST - A yarn first made two-ply, a third yarn is then twisted around the
  two-ply in a reverse twist.
CHAIN YARN -  A novelty yarn which is the product of several twisting
  operations.  First, a soft, thick yarn is twisted with yarn of ordinary twist
  and finer count.  In the next step, a still finer thread is twisted with a
  doubled thread, in the opposite direction.
CHENILLE - A pile yarn originally made by weaving a pile yarn and subsequently
  cutting it into strips.
CHINE - French, meaning speckled or variegated.  Used for fabrics in which the
  warp threads are printed before weaving while the filling threads are left
  plain, giving a shadowy effect to the finished fabric.  Should not be confused
  with word Chine, meaning Chinese in French, and often used in references to
  fabrics such as crep de Chine, meaning crepe from China.
CHUBUT WOOL - A fine quality merino wool about 64's to 70's produced in southern
  Argentina.
CIVONA - A DuPont certification mark for worsted spun machine knitting yarns
  having superfine merino wool-like aesthetics.
CLIP - The yield of wool of a single shearing (as of sheep) in one season.
COMFORT 12 - A DuPont certification mark for yarns made of DuPont premium
  acrylic, in accordance with DuPont fiber content specifications.  Comfort 12
  yarn have natural aesthetics, and are easily machine washed and dryed without
  shrinking, stretching or color-loss problems.
CONNAUGHT YARN - A soft, fine, loosely twisted woolen knitting yarn made in
  Ireland.
CORKSCREW YARN - A novelty yarn formed by winding one thick yarn and one thin
  yarn around each other in a spiral effect.
COTON - A French word meaning cotton.
COTTON RATINE - A loose, plain woven cloth with a rough nubby surface finish;
  one heavy and two fine yarns twisted together at various tensions for the
  curly, knotty ply yarn.
COURTELLE - A trademark of the Courtaulds Group for acrylic staple fiber.
CREPE - Yarns which have such a high twist that the yarn kinks.
CRESLAN - Trademark of American Cyanamid for acrylic fiber.  It has bulk without
  weight, good color and dyeing potentiality.
CRIMP - Undulating or wavy fiber or yarn structure.
DACRON - Trademark of DuPont for polyester fiber.
DIRECTION OF TWIST - A twist of yarn or cord is "S" or "Z" twist.  Yarn is held
  in a vertical position to determine the direction of twist.  In S-twist yarn
  the spirals conform in slope to the central portion of the letter S; in Z-
  twist, the spirals conform in slope to the central portion of the letter Z.
DONEGAL - Originally a fabric woven by hand in County Donegal, Ireland.  Today,
  the term is used to refer to any tweed made with thick, usually colored, slubs
  as part of the fabric.
DRALON - An acrylic staple made by Bayer, A.G., West Germany.
EFFECT YARN - A single yarn in ply novelty yarn which produces the effect or
  patter such as knots, loops, or nubs.
EIDER YARN - A soft spun, loosely twisted knitting yarn made of fine wool.
FALL WOOL - A term used in the U.S. for wool shorn in the Fall.  It is the
  second shearing, and is about 4-6 months growth.
FASCIATED YARN -  A yarn composed of many discontinuous fibers with little or
  not twist bundled together and wrapped with surface fibers to hold the
  bundle.
FIBER DYING - Dyeing of fibers before the spinning of yarns.
FIL - A French term generally applied to yarn or thread.
FIL D'ECOSSE - A French term for cotton thread.
FILAMENT - A fiber of indefinite or extreme length (e.g., silk filament which
  runs 300-1400 yards or more in length).  The extreme length of filament
  permits their being used in yarns without twist or very low twist, and they
  are generally made into yarns without the spinning operation required of the
  shorter staple fibers, such as wool, cotton, and made-made staple.  Yarns made
  of filaments are usually smoother than yarns made of staple.
FINE WOOLS - In sorting wool, the best grade of wool obtained from the fleece.
FINGERING YARN - A 2-ply or 3-ply yarn, usually made of wool or acrylic.  It has
  even thickness, is light or medium in weight, and is popular for hand-knitting
  such items as baby sweaters.
FINISHING TURNS - The actual amount of twist in the final yarn.
FLAKE YARN - A novelty yarn made with soft, short-staple blended with long
  staple, which may be a different color.  The finished yarn is very cloudy and
  appears uneven.  Soft, elongated flakes, or tufts, occur at certain intervals.
  Similar to slub yarn, but in flake yarn the flakes can be removed without
  destroying the yarn.
FLAMME - A French term for printed yarns.
FLAX - The fiber from which linen yarn is produced.  It is a product of the flax
  plant.  A short fiber, capable of fine subdivision, flexible, and very strong.
  It has a pronounced luster but is somewhat lacking in elasticity.
FLEECE - Wool sheared from sheep or other animals in the wool class.  The term
  is especially used for entire coat of wool shorn from the sheep at one time;
  it is generally taken off the animal in piece.
FLOCONNE - A French term for fur.
FLOSS - Loosely twisted, lustrous embroidery thread
FOURROURE - A French term for fur.
FRISE - A French term for curled.
FROSTED YARN - A flected yarn spun from a blend of acetate staple and cotton or
  rayon staple.  When dyed, only the cotton takes the color, the acetate
  remaining white and giving the flecked appearance.
FROTTE - Derived from the French, frotter, to rub.  Used in toweling.
FROU-FROU - A 19th century term for satin.
GARN - The German word for yarn.
GERMANTOWN - A coarse, 4-ply worsted knitting yarns with a slack twist.
GOOD MIDDLING - The best grade of cotton - lustrous, silky, clean fibers.
GORILLA YARN - A thick, nub yarn made of a mixture of fibers such as alpaca,
  mohair, or wool with cotton, silk, or other waste.
GREASE WOOL - Wool from the live sheep with yolk and swint intact.
GROS (GROSSE)- A French term meaning big, large, bulky, thick, coarse.
GUERNSEY - A heavy knit sweater worn by the natives of the Island of Guernsey in
  the English Channel.  Patterns, usually heavy cable-stitch type, were
  distinctive of a family, similar to the clan tartans of Scotland.
HAND - A general term referring to the feeling of the fabric or yarn obtained by
  touching or handling; that is, soft, smooth, pliable, springy, stiff, cool,
  warm, rough, hard, and limp.
HEATHER -  A misty coloration of a fabric achieved by cross-dying or using one
  color for the warp yarns and another for the filling yarns.  It can also be
  achieved by the addition of certain soft fibers like rabbit hair to the basic
  yarn, which because of their fluffy nature, give a misty appearance to the
  fabric.
ICE WOOL - A thick soft-spun, two-ply worsted wool yarn with a lustrous finished
  used for handknitting.  Synonymous with Eis yarn.
INDIECITA - Peruvian for "Little Indian."
JASPE (JASPPE) - A French term for yarn with colored nubs or slubs, or warp yarn
  printed in the hank.
JUTE - A bast fiber from the rod pod jute or long pod jute grown primarily in
  Pakistan.  It is used extensively in coarse yarns.
KATOEN - A Dutch word for cotton.
KARAKUL - A broad-tailed sheep of medium size with a narrow body and a coarse
  brown fleece.  The valuable glossy black fur is obtained from the young lambs
  which are also known as Persian lamb, broadtail, and astrakhan.
KNOP YARN - A British term for nub yarn.
LAINE - A French word meaning wool.
LAINE VIERGE - A French term for virgin wool.
LAMBSWOOL - Wool from a lamb (up to age 7 months).  Extremely soft.  Lambswool
  has a natural tip which is lost after the first or virgin clip.
LAME - Any fabric woven with flat metallic threads of the tinsel variety, which
  form either the ground or pattern.  the term is broadly used to include the
  various forms of metal combined with slit-film.
LANA - A Latin term meaning wool or down, and in some form (lana, lano, etc.)
  the word for wool in Spanish, Italian, etc.
LEININ - A German term for linen.
LIN - A French term for linen.
LINEN - A man-made fiber made from flax, which comes from the flax plant.
LOFT - The ability of fibers to return to their original thickness after being
  flattened or compressed.

LUBRICATED YARNS - Man-made yarns which have been soaked or treated with a
  lubricant so that they will knit more smoothly.  Natural fibers may also be
  lubricated.
LUREX - Trademark of Down Badische for its metallic fiber and yarn.  A metallic
  yarns of plastic-coated aluminum.
LUSTER - The sheen or light reflectance of a fiber or yarn.
MAN-MADE FIBERS - Fibers created through technology either from natural
  materials or from chemicals.
MELANGE YARN - A fancy yarn spun from slivers or tops, which have been printed
  in many shades, tones, and hues, as distinct from a mixture yarn that is spun
  from the fibers of different properties and characteristics.
MERCERIZATION - A treatment of cotton yarn or fabric to increase its luster.
  Its affinity for dye is also enhanced.  In the process the material in the
  form of warp, skein, or piece goods is immersed under tension in a sodium
  hydroxide (caustic soda solution).  This later is neutralized in acid.  The
  process causes a permanent swelling of the fiber, thus increasing its luster.
  Best results are obtained on combed cotton.
MERINO WOOL - Wool from the merino sheep which produces a short staple fiber  of
  extremely high quality.  It is fine, strong, and elastic.
METALLIC - A manufactured fiber composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-
  coated plastic, or a core completely covers by metal.
MOCK CHENILLE YARN - Two or more unbalanced corkscrew yarns plied and twisted to
  form a balanced structure.
MOHAIR - The long, white, lustrous hair of the angora goat.
MOTTLE YARN - A two color yarn with a spiral effect made by twisting together
  yarns of different colors in a two-ply construction (also called double-and-
  twist).
MOULINE TWIST - A British term for plied yarn composed of a hard twist, two-ply
  yarn twisted in the reverse direction with the three single strands, and with
  fewer turns per inch.  sometimes two units of three-ply yarn are also twisted
  together.  Occasionally silk or rayon are introduced into the twist.
MULBERRY SILK - Silk produced by worms which feed on the leaves of cultivated
  mulberry trees.
NANTUCK - A Columbia-Minerva trademark for its acrylic yarn.
NATURAL GRAY YARN - A blend of black, gray, or brown, unbleached and undyed
  wools that are spun into yarn.
NATURAL FIBERS - Natural raw materials that grown in nature from which cloth is
  made.  Major natural fibers include cotton, flax, silk, and wool.
NEIGE - A French term meaning snow (applied to lightweight, thoroughly bleached
  narrow lace).
NEW WOOL - Wool not previously woven, knitted, or felted into a wool product.
NOIL - Short fibers removed in the combing operation of yarn making.  This occur
  in worsted yarns, combed cotton, spun silk, etc.
NONSHRINKABLE WOOL - Wool treated chemically to resist shrinkage by partial
  destruction or masking of the scales of the fiber.  Various methods use
  chlorine or resin.
NORWEGIAN YARN - A fine, loosely twisted yarn made of Norwegian lamb's wool in
  natural white, gray, or black shades.
NOVELTY YARNS - Yarns produced for special effects.  Usually uneven in size or
  colors.
NUB YARN - A novelty yarn containing lumps, beads, or slubs, which are
  introduced intentionally.
NYLON - The first of the synthetic fibers.  It is very strong, resists abrasion,
  and resists wrinkles.  Has a natural luster, holds body heat, and resists
  moths.
OLEFIN - The generic name for fibers derived from polyethelene or polypropylene.
  Resists chemicals, mildew and weather.
OMBRE - A French term for shaded.  A Design which changes, usually in rainbow-
  like gradations, from one color to another.
ONDEE - A yarn composed of one fine and one heavier strand.
ORLON - Trademark of DuPont for their acrylic and modacrylic fibers.  Fabrics
  made of Orlon can be crisp and  springy, or soft and luxurious; bulky or fine;
  firm or light and airy.  Highly resistant to sunlight degradation.
PANACHE - French term for vivid, variegated color effects.
PEARLINE YARN - A British term for hard twist mixture made of silk and wool.
PERLUCHE - A French term for plush, variegated color effects.
PERLE (PEARL) COTTON - A loosely, twisted, mercerized cotton thread with a rope
  or cord-like appearance.
PERLON - Nylon 6 produced by Perlon-Warenzeichenverband, e.v., West Germany.
PIMA COTTON - A variety of American-Egyptian cotton, grown chiefly in the
  Southwest.
PLY YARN - A yarn formed by twisting together two more single yarns or strands
  in one operation.
POIL DE CHAMBEAU - French for camels-hair.
POLYACRYL - German term for acrylic.
POLYESTER FIBER - Probably the most widely used and most versatile of the man-
  made fibers.  It is extremely strong, has excellent wrinkle and abrasion
  resistance, and resists mildew and moths.
POLYMID - German term for nylon-type fibers.
POLYMIDE - French term for nylon-type fibers.
POLYPROPELENE FIBER -  A paraffin-based synthetic fiber classed under the
  generic name of olefin.
POMPADOUR - A small printed or woven floral effect in soft shades.
POPCORN - A special textural effect made with yarn containing short, thick
  spots.
PULLED WOOL - Wool taken from dead animals by means of chemicals.
QUIVIUT - The underwool of the domesticated musk ox.  The fiber is similar in
  texture and softness cashmere.
RABBIT HAIR - A soft, lustrous hair from the common rabbit.
RAINBOW YARN - A novelty yarn made in an ombre effect.
RAMIE - A strong, lustrous, natural fiber from the ramie plant grown in Asia.
  The fiber is white, soft, and slightly coarser than flax when degummed and
  bleacher.  Also known as rhea and China-grass.
RATINE YARN - A curly, knotty plied yarn made with one heavy and one or more
  fine single yarns twisted together under uneven tension:  the heavy yarn is
  fed more freely producing loops or nubs.
RAYON - The first successful man-made fiber.  Made from cellulose and is weak
  when wet.  Soft and comfortable and dyes well.  Weakened by exposure to
  sunlight.
RAYONNE - A French term for rayon.
REAMY YARN - A British term for yarn made by twisting together a two-ply yarn
  and a single ply yarn.
RESILIENCY - The ability of a fiber to spring back into its natural position
  after folding, creasing or deformation.
ROVING - A loose assemblage of fibers drawn or rubbed into a single strand with
  very little twist.  It is an intermediate state between sliver and yarn.
RUBAN - A French word meaning ribbon.
RUING - A term used in the Shetland Islands for the process of pulling wool by
  hand from the fleece of live sheep.
RYGIA - A breed of sheep native to the coast of western Norway.
SAXONY - A fine, elastic wool with a short, strong staple obtained from German
  merino sheep.
SAXONY YARN - A vegetable-dyed three-ply, hard twisted wool yarn.
SAYELLE - A certification mark of DuPont for its Orlon acrylic fibers.
SCHURWOLLE - German term for sheep wool.
SCOURED WOOL - Wool washed clean by mechanized and chemical methods which remove
  impurities and foreign matter.
SCROUP - The sound of rustle or crunch peculiar to silk.  It is a natural
  property of silk.
SEDA - A Spanish word meaning silk.
SEIDE - A German term meaning silk.
SHETLAND WOOL - A very fine, lustrous wool produced by the Shetland sheep (a
  breed of sheep native to the Shetland Islands off the northern coast of
  Scotland).  The wool is obtained from the fine undercoat of the sheep.
SILK - The product of the silk worm and the only natural filament fiber (it is
  produced in a long thread).
SIMPLE YARN - Yarn with uniform size and regular surface.
SKEIN - A continuous strand of yarn of any desired length in the form of a
  collapsible coil, obtained by winding a definite number of turns on a reel
  under prescribed conditions.
SLUB - An uneven area in a yarn which gives the fabric made from it a degree of
  texture.
SLUB YARN - A novelty ply yarn made by twisting hard spun thread with thread
  that has less twist.  The hard twist thread is delivered at a faster rate,
  producing projecting tightly twisted loops or kinks.
SNARL YARN - A novelty ply yarn made by twisting hard spun thread with thread
  that has less twist.  The hard twist thread is delivered at a faster rate,
  producing projecting tightly twisted loops or kinks.
SOIE - A French term meaning silk.
SOUFFLE - A French term for puffed.
SPACE DYEING - A yarn dyeing or printing process in which one strand receives
  more than one color at irregular intervals.  Produces an effect of unorganized
  design.
SPANDEX - A man-made fiber of E.I. duPont deNemours & Company that has a
  capability to be stretches repeatedly and still recover to original length.
SPORT WEIGHT YARN - A  lightweight yarn that is normally used with needle sizes
  of 4, 5, or 6.  It is frequently used for lightweight sweaters and baby
  things.
STAPLE FIBER - Fibers that have been deliberately cut to definite spinning
  lengths from continuous filaments.
STITCH - Basic unit of construction in knitted  fabric, consisting of the loop
  of yarn forced by the knitting needle.
SUPERWASH WOOL - A wool that has been treated in such a way that it is machine
  washable.
SYNTHETIC FIBER - Man-made fibers.  Fibers which do not occur naturally.
TEXTURED YARNS - A general classification for continuous filament man-made fiber
  yarns which have been treated to give them hand and appearance which is
  different from the untreated yarn and/or stretchy.  The yarns may be looped,
  crimped, curled, or coiled.  The bulk of the yarn is increased as is some of
  the comfort aspects since fewer fibers touch the skin.  This is due to the
  increased loft of the yarn.
TORQUE YARN - A textured-filament synthetic yarn made by imparting twist in the
  "S" or "Z" direction.
TOUSSAH (TUSSAH) - Silk fiber from wild, uncultivated silkworms (those which eat
  leaves other than mulberry leaves).  Naturally tan in color, cannot be
  bleached, and has a rougher texture than cultivated silk.
TWEED - A class of rough wool fabrics with a wiry, somewhat hairy surface but
  soft and flexible texture.  Also made of wool and man-made blends.  Made in a
  variety of effects:  plain colors, checks, plaids, mixtures, nubbed, and
  slubbed effects.  Originally handwoven in the homes of the country people near
  the Tweed River, which separates England from Scotland.
TWIST - The number of times (turns) one inch of yarn is twisted.
ULTRASUEDE - The registered trademark of Sprins Mills Inc for its non-woven
  suede-like fabric in the piece.  Made of 60% polyester and 40% non-fibrous
  polyurethane and impregnated with synthetic resins.
VICUNA - A wild member of the Llama family.  It produces the worlds most
  valuable specialty fiber.
VINYON - A manufactured fiber in which the fiber forming substance is any long
  chain synthetic polymer composed of at least 85% by weight of vinyl chloride
  units.
VIRGIN FIBERS - By Federal Trade Commission Standards, fibers which have never
  been made into fabric before.  The term is used primarily for wool fibers to
  differentiate between these and reprocessed, reclaimed, and reused fibers.
VIRGIN WOOL - See Virgin Fibers.  In the U.S., there is not distinction made
  between wool pulled from sheep skins or wool shorn from live sheep.  In
  Australia, it is wool which constitutes the first shearing of the sheep or
  lamb never before shorn.
VISCOSE RAYON - Rayon produced via the viscose method, one of the three methods
  for producing rayon, and that which is produced in the greatest quantity and
  diversity.
WASTE SILK - Short silk filaments that cannot be reeled from the cocoon; also,
  short filament produced in the reeling process.
WARP - The lengthwise direction of a woven fabric.
WEFT - The crosswise direction of a woven fabric; the filling.
WINTUK - A certification mark of DuPont for its premium yarns of Orlon acrylic
  fibers that meet its fiber content specifications.  Used especially in bulky
  knitted fabrics.

WILD SILK - Silk obtained from the cocoon of a great variety of silkworms which
  breed on the poorer, less cultivated mulberry leaves, oak, and cherry, and
  other leaves present in the inland areas of India, China, and Japan.  The term
  wild silk is a commercial term since the worms, which were breeding originally
  in a wild state, have been cultivated in China and India for many years.
  These silks are not as desirable as cultivated silk because of color, evenness
  , softness, and elasticity.  However, generally they are strong and wear well;
  often preferred for certain silk textures of the rougher or less regular type.
WOLLE - A German term for wool.
WOOF - The lengthwise direction of the woven fabric; the warp.
WOOL - The term used usually for the fleece of sheep but also applies to similar
  fibers from such animals as the angora and cashmere goats and the llamas.
  Wool differs from hair and fur in that it has a natural felting ability.
WOOLEN YARNS - Yarns made from wool fibers that have been carded but not combed.
WORSTED WEIGHT YARN - A heavyweight yarn normally worked with an 7, 8 or 9
  knitting needle.  Frequently used for heavy sweaters and afghans.
WORSTED YARNS - Yarns made from wool fibers that have been both carded and
  combed.
YAK - A large ox found in Tibet.  Short, smooth hair grows on the back, long
  wavy, smooth and lustrous hair grows on the breast, sides, legs, and tail.
YOLK - The natural grease in sheep wool.   When purified it is known as lanolin.
ZELLWOLLE - A German term for rayon staple.
ZEPHYR YARN - A variety of soft worsted yarn characterized by a low twist and
  spun from wool which is as fine or finer in average diameter than the U.S.
  Standard 64 grade tops.  Sometimes silk or man-made fibers are blended in the
  yarn.


REFERENCE:  Value Knitting Information, 11th Edition, 1989 Spring/Summer