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- Path: sparky!uunet!destroyer!news.itd.umich.edu!vln
- From: vln@icpsr.umich.edu (Victoria Neff)
- Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles
- Subject: Re: Scratcy wool (was: Knitted Acrylic Baby Afghan)
- Date: 26 Jan 1993 16:52:51 GMT
- Organization: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
- Lines: 47
- Message-ID: <1k3q93INN84s@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu>
- References: <18119@pitt.UUCP> <1993Jan25.012901.16803@cs.yale.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: tdis.icpsr.umich.edu
-
- In article <1993Jan25.012901.16803@cs.yale.edu> judi@laplace.csb.yale.edu (Judith S. Janette) writes:
- >
- >
- >Just a nota about wool and the "scratch factor"...
- >
- >Different types of wool have different "scratch indexes" (for lack of a
- >better pseudo-scientific term). That's because different kinds of sheep
- >have different lengths and textures of wool. From short-haired,
- >coarse-coated Icelandic sheep comes scratchy, warm, water-resistant yarn.
- >Merino yarn on the other hand, is made from longer and silkier-haired
- >sheep. Kid mohair, again, is made from a long and soft-haired beast.
-
- Judi is exactly right that wool is not wool is not wool. However,
- if Judi will forgive me for picking nits --
-
- Icelandic sheep are double-coated. They have soft short fibers and long
- hairy fibers. Icelandic yarn is generally made of BOTH fibers, and so
- includes the scratchy hairy fibers. I believe the undercoat is quite
- soft and not scratchy.
-
- Merino wool is quite SHORT in staple length, but the individual fibers
- are very uniform and VERY fine. Luster is not one of its qualities.
-
- Kid mohair is from the very young goats, IS shiny (lustrous), and is
- about 3" or so in staple length (which is sort of average -- LONG wool
- from Lincoln sheep, say, can be 8" long or even more).
-
- VERY generally speaking, the shorter fibers are softer, and the longer
- ones are coarser (more hair-like). One interesting aspect of this is
- that there is no "best wool". The question must always be asked "best
- for what?". The best wool for a baby sweater would make a lousy rug....
-
- In addition to differences between sheep breeds, spinners talk about
- "hand". This is "how nice THIS fleece feels to your
- skin". A fine fleece can have a not-so-nice "hand",
- and a "coarser" or "stronger" fleece can have a very nice "hand". So
- this is just one more complicating factor.
-
- Yet another factor is processing. Much of the processing that commercial
- wool is subjected to is very harsh and has a permanent and harmful
- effect on the wool....
-
- Another aspect to the comfort factor of fibers is absorbency. I find
- that though plastic fibers may initially feel nice, I'm inevitably
- less comfortable in them. I feel sweatier and damper. Just my two cents....
-
-
-