This is because of the intricate weaving of the fibers. http://youtu.be/UcIF7QNN41w?list=PLFB66BF4D07DB063E. If you wear clothes, it’s safe to assume two things about you.  Claire Shaeffer’s Fabric Sewing Guide. This is a higher quality product and tends to be significantly more expensive. I LOVED reading this! I suspect it is a modern misunderstanding based on the fact that both the fulling tool and the fibre-processing tool are both called a ‘card’. Hi Karen. I find they are also a good background rhythm for hand stitching. It was also used throughout Scandinavia, often as a currency: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadmal, Oh, P.S. Worsted wool is generally thought of as a fine, smooth wool fabric without any noticeable texture, but that is not always the case.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.  2001, Ginsburg, Madeleine (ed), The Illustrated History of Textiles. She is age 8 wears a size 7 USA sweaters . 46912. For months, I thought 100% wool was rug wool yarn. Cheers Jodie. Share on Facebook. Something I forgot? Thanks for sharing.  The name carding comes from the Latin carduus or teasel, because carding was originally said to have been done with teasel heads (note, the use of actual teasels for the initial carding is under some debate). Thanks for spelling out the differences! Thank you thank you. Is Aran and Worsted Weight yarn the same? Contact | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Disclosure | Disclaimer | Cookie Policy. (Yes, I’m a real person :) ) Thanks for being here. Perfect for when you want your beautiful knitting skill to be showcased. When you touch worsted wool, it feels very different.  The dark blue fabric is a serge, the camel a cavalry twill. Thanks for writing! Woolen cloth can also be brushed with teasels or carding combs after it is woven, to raise the nap of a fulled surface. My daughter is 7 and has a chest circumference of nearly 25”. What Yarn is good to sub for this that is soft to the feel in the Worsted Yarn. If you are me, you may have wondered what this meant. Acrylic worsted weight yarn (like Red Heart Super Saver, Cascade Cherub yarn, Caron’s Simply Soft) could be some options. And it always errors to the skimpy skinny side. The amount of knitted fabric you get is more than if you choose bulky yarns. If you have ever gone shopping for wool fabrics you may have seen some of the fabric described as worsted, and some of it described as woolen. The packing-in of the fiber as worsted yarn is made allows the fibers to protect each other for longer wear and less pilling. Wool has a low tenacity (the ultimate force it takes to break the fiber), which is worsened when wet, but wool is able to stretch up to a quarter of its size before breaking. Burlington offers a full line of uniform, performance, and apparel wool fabrics. Light worsted is another name for weight no. Worsted Yarn is strong and smooth.  Twill weaves are more likely to go shiny than plain weaves. fantastic work, i have acquired a skill of differentiating between woolen and worsted wool. Some will argue that spinning woolen vs. worsted is not even an actual spinning technique, but a way to describe the final yarn produced. This post contains affiliate links. It’s easier to see mistakes.  When woven into fabric, worsted fabric has a tighter, harder, shiny-er finish, and can make a finer, lighter weight fabric. If knitting socks, potholders, or dish towels, go down several sizes to a 3.25 to 4.0 mm needle. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you also crochet, the Craft Yarn Council guidelines recommend using crochet hooks in the 5.5–6.5 mm size range (I–9 to K–10 1/2. 1. The stitch definition is clear and prominent using this weight of yarn. Fascinating! In regards to what size would be best for your grand daughter, I am no expert in this, so I will reach out to my readers and get back to you. (Actually, fulled wools came into vogue in the 14th C and at least in the previous centuries fulling was not fashionable, I believe. I know how to treat denim until I get the feel I want. It never looks too slick or pushy, and even when it’s patterned, the soft and fuzzy surface can make the pattern a bit more muted so that it’s never distasteful. I’ve been working on this article for months, and reading more and more sources which just contradicted each other, so I decided to just publish, and we can work things out from here! – who is still using teasels? This really explainef it all. This is the wool version of one my most popular posts about the different types of cotton yarns available to weavers and how to select the right yarn for your project. Learn how your comment data is processed. What really gets my goat is when land suitable for sheep is instead used for dairy cows.  New York, New York: Portland House. Normal wool yielded 44 hanks, which was classified as 44’s wool. Here are two different worsted wools, so you can see how slick and hard the finish is, with few wool hairs on the surface. First, that you probably do not get as many strange looks in restaurants as those that don’t wear clothes; and second, that you’ve probably heard of merino wool, and heard a lot about it. Worsted wool fabric tends to be more expensive than the same weight and quality of woollen fabric, because the pasture land needed for worsted sheep varieties is in higher demand (in New Zealand, for example, it is far more financially beneficial for farmers to use pasture land for dairy cows than wool sheep), and because worsted fabrics require more processing. The key thing about worsted yarn is that it’s comprised of straight, parallel wool fibers, with little space between them. While many forms of wool require that the fiber undergo a spinning process, this type is produced slightly differently. Can worsted wool be washed would shrinking? Hence also why patterned twill wools become less common in the 14th C archaeological record. So check whether the label says "worsted weight" or "category 4" to know what kind of yarn you are dealing with. I love wool flannel, especially when it’s made into trousers. I’d make the 26-28” size for her so it’s not skin tight. Posts like this always make me wonder what the distinctions are in Czech terminology. Appreciate any advice you can give me. Woolen Yarn is soft, light, and fluffy.  Desirable light or ‘tropical’ weight wools are generally worsted as well. The same length fibers are spun parallel to each other, making a dense yarn. Both yarns are great, but there are advantages to using certain yarns for certain projects. Being so widely available, worsted yarn is easier to use different brands in one project. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. The Craft Yarn Council has information available on all sorts of helpful tips, including more on the standard yarn weight system and the different yarn categories. The melange printing method is named after its french inventor Vigoureux. Have to ask. Thank you. If anyone wants to know the first one is Norman Kennedy a renowned fiber artist and bard. I always look forward to your posts. 'Combing' is the next process in establishing what is worsted wool. I’m here to tell you, it is not. Want to see all of the colors in person before ordering? The huge industrial site covering more than 25 hectares of land was one of the largest of its type in Europe and for decades it was a self-enclosed world. I asked for the length from underarm to wrist and underarm to where she wants the bottom of the cardigan. I created Knit Like Granny to help show 1,000,000 people the benefits of knitting & highlight alternatives to fast fashion. All rights reserved. The one drawback, wear-wise, to some worsted fabrics is that they may go shiny at areas that receive a lot of wear, such as the seat of pants and skirts, as the parallel fibres are pressed more firmly together. Let’s find out.  Fullers earth is sometimes known as bleaching clay. I just shelled out for some real wool for knitting, and was wondering why the one advertised as having long fibres was smoother, softer, and warmer. Copyright © 2020 The Dreamstress. Hand combed handspun local Romney wool from Wyammy Ranch, spun worsted with an under-spin and slight over-ply to open up the final yarn and allow a bit more air between fibers than the usual worsted yarn.  There is at least one teasel-head carding frame still in use in a commercial factory in New Zealand – which I think is pretty awesome. And every sheep I’ve seen up close appears to have a wool coat more akin to dreadlocks than anything resembling a fine suit. They set up weaving in and around Worstead, in Norfolk, and introduced new spinning and weaving techniques. Mendel Hausbuch, f. 6v, c. 1425, Peter Berber, Carder brushing woollen cloth with teasel heads. Finer wool produced 64’s and the finest wool back then reached 80’s. Worsted wool requires more processing (remember, it is made of long staple fibers only), it tends to be more pricey compared to woolens. Rug wool yarn has a rougher texture to touch and is a stiffer, sturdier yarn. ^_^ (Also, I fear my knowledge, or certainly strong knowledge, is very, very much restricted to 14th C Western Europe…), I wonder if the evolution of the wool comb from the shorter-tined ones to the longer-tined ones mark its evolution into a more long-staple-wool-only tool and helped foster the development of cards…, Re. Hope these suggestions help you. – If your reader can’t get an actual measurement to work from, the (US) Craft Yarn Council says a 26-28” chest measurement would be Child Size 8-10. I really should start checking out Czech sources more… In this particular case, I guess the mostly historical term “sukno” has a lot to do with Woolen (not the least because teasel is called “Å¡tětka soukenická”) – but at the same time, I’m not entirely sure if it’s one-on-one, because it often isn’t. Hey now if your going to mention waulking you need to include the tunes. And the confusing part is that “soukat” the verb actually means, in its primary meaning, “to wind thread on a spool”… ➥ Wool yarn is weaker in strength compared to worsted yarn due to the presence of air pockets. This requires huge amounts of irrigation which is bad for local waterways (and the run-off isn’t that great either). Worsted weight yarn is perfect for knitting beginners. – The best way to determine the size that will fit is to measure the recipient’s chest circumference. However, they are better at keeping off rain. I have a soft spot for wool, and was very glad to see an entire post on the subject. I am learning to sew and I was searching for information on wool for a rain coat. Also check the recommended gauge on the yarn label and compare to the recommended gauge for … If you’re a beginner knitter, using a light shaded yarn is a good idea. This was more or less the typical pattern of everyday life in the north German Wool Combing and Worsted Spinning Mill in Delmenhorst.  At the same time waves of Flemish weavers, fleeing unrest in the Low Countries in the early 14th century, immigrated to Norfolk in England in response to invitations to settle in England offered in 1271 to fullers, dyers and weavers. An unlimited number of knitting projects use this weight of yarn. Due to its popularity, you’ll have plenty of substitution options to choose from! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.  Millers Point, NSW Australia: Murdoch Books Pty Ltd.  2012.  London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.  2003, Collier, Billie J. and Tortora, Phyllis G.  Understanding Textiles (Sixth ed).  Even with 100% wool fabrics there can be huge differences in quality and durability, which is why I prefer to buy fabric, and wool in particular, in person rather than online, unless it is from a very reputable supplier. Hi Lynda.  Aren’t all wool fabrics woolen?