Talking Wool Threads

With the blossoming this year of new lines of wool thread, there seems to be some confusion out there about terms for wool and wool threads.

Wool is the carded and spun fur from various animals, most commonly sheep and goats. Sometimes wool from a particular breed of animal or animals of a particular age are called something special. Examples of this are:

• Cashmere – a breed of goat
• Mohair – a breed of goat
• Merino – a breed of sheep
• Lambswool – wool from sheep that haven’t been sheared before, usually sheep younger than 7 months old

These names have nothing to do with the structure of the thread, yarn, or fabric, but only with the source of the wool.

While knitters classify their yarns by thickness and have a universal set of measurements that are used in labels and as references world-wide, stitchers are not as lucky. We describe threads by their structure and for wool there are three main types:

• Tapestry Wool – a thick, single-strand wool that hass multiple plies. It cannot be separated and is used on larger meah canvas, usually 10 and 12 mesh.
• Persian Wool – wool with three two-ply strands that are easily separated. This wool was originally made by the Paternayan Brothers to repair Persian rugs, hence the name. One strand works on 13 to 18-mesh.
• Crewel Wool – a very thin two-ply wool that is about the thickness of two strands of embroidery floss. Crewel wool is popular for many different kinds of embroidery. It always comes packaged as single strands.

In addition to these there are other wool threads that do not fall into these groups. Here are three popular ones:

• Vineyard Merino – a thinner two-ply single-strand wool, slightly thicker but more lofty (compressible) than a strand of Persian Wool. It covers 13 to 18-mesh canvas
• Lorikeet – a nine-strand hand-dyed wool, very soft. It must be separated to be used. Two strands of Lorikeet are a bit thinner than 3 strands of floss.
• Vineyard Strandable Merino – a new wool from the makers of Vineyard Merino, it is made of six easily divided two-ply strands. Each strand is about the thickness of a strand of Lorikeet.

In the 70’s pretty much every needlepointer stitched exclusively with wool. As more threads became available, wool became less popular. Today it’s experiencing a new popularity. If your associations with wool are of scratchy, rough threads, look at today’s wools. You’llbe delighted.