Woolen (
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
) or woollen (
Commonwealth English
The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.
Many ...
) is a type of
yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...
made from
carded wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good
knitting
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast to
worsted
Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham ...
yarn, in which the fibers are
combed to lie
parallel
Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Computing
* Parallel algorithm
* Parallel computing
* Parallel metaheuristic
* Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel
* Parallel Sysplex, a cluster o ...
rather than carded, producing a hard, strong yarn.
[Burnham (1980), p. 191]
Commercial manufacture
The woolen and
worsted
Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham ...
process both require that the wool (and other similar animal fibres,
cashmere,
camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...
, etc.) be cleaned before mechanical processing. Woolen and worsted nomenclatures apply only to the textile processing of animal fibres, but it has become common to include fibre blends under these terms.
The resultant fabrics will be classified as being either woolen or worsted, but this designation is assigned during fiber processing and yarn formation, not in the cloth or finished garment.
A woven woolen fabric is one which is subjected to fabric
finishing techniques designed to add a directional pile — in that the end consumer can 'stroke' the garment in a single direction (shoulder to cuff etc.), such as a casual jacket. This feels like the fibers are directionally arranged.
Woolen yarn formation is also very common for
knitwear, where the resultant garment has some bulk and the requirement for visual aesthetics (of fibre alignment) is minimal.
The worsted processing route is more complex and requires the removal of short fibres and the use of a focused mechanical process to make the individual fibres parallel to each other. The yarn formation process is significantly more comprehensive and results in a very sleek yarn which will offer a clean looking woven fabric, such as for
suitings. The worsted process is more expensive and is seldom used for knitwear.
Handspinning woolen yarn
Woolen yarn is handspun using the
long draw technique, and the yarn is spun from a
rolag. Most handspinners make a blend of a woolen and worsted yarn, using techniques from both categories, and thus ending up with a mix. The first step to spin a true woolen yarn, however, is to
card the fiber into a
rolag using
handcarders.
The rolag is spun without much stretching of the fibers from the cylindrical configuration. This is done by allowing twist into a short section of the rolag, and then pulling back, without letting the rolag change position in your hands, until the yarn is the desired thickness. The twist will concentrate in the thinnest part of the roving, thus when the yarn is pulled, the thicker sections with less twist will tend to thin out. Once the yarn is the desired thickness, enough twist is added to make the yarn strong. Then the yarn is wound onto the bobbin, and the process starts again.
See also
*
Anabasse a coarse woolen material, a kind of blanket made in France and the Netherlands for the African market.
*
Durants a glazed woolen materials of the 18th century.
*
Medley cloth a woolen cloth made with mixed dyed fleece in two or more colors.
References
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External links
Woolen, Semi-Woolen, Semi-Worsted, and Worsted Spinning- Gives a detailed explanation on the different ways fiber preparation and technique can create different yarns.
{{Spinning
Spinning
Yarn
Textile arts
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