Harvesting the Wool

1. Where does wool come from?Please enjoy the information about wool. Be ready to use this information in class.

2. Sheep shearing is the process by which the woolen fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into 4 main categories: fleece (which makes the vast bulk), broken, bellies, and locks. The quality of fleeces is determined by the technique known as wool classing, whereby a qualified person called a wool classer groups wools of similar grades together to maximize the return for the famer or sheep owner. Harvesting the Wool

3. In Australia, before being auctioned all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield (including the amount of vegetable matter), staple length, staple strength, and sometimes color and comfort factor. Harvesting the wool, con’t.

4. Wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, Qiviut from muskoxen, vicuna, alpaca and camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur: it is crimped, it is elastic, and it grows in a staple (cluster).

5. Characteristics Wool’s scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, so that they stay together. Because the crimp, wool fabrics have a greater bulk than other textiles, and retain air, which causes the product to retain heat. Insulation also work both ways; the Bedouin and Tuareg (Nomads) people use wool clothes to keep heat out.

6. Characterists, con’t. • The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers. A fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while the coarser wools like karakul may have as few as 1 to 2. • Hair by contrast, has little if any scale and crimp, and little ability to bind into yearn. On sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. • The relative amounts of kemp to wool vary from breed to breed, making some fleeces more desirable for spinning, felting or carding into wool batting for quilts or insulating products including famous Tweed cloth of Scotland.

7. Scouring • Wool straight off a sheep, known as “grease wool” or “wool in the grease” contains high levels of valuable lanolin, as well as dirt, dead skin, sweat residue, pesticides and vegetable matter. • Before the wool can be used for commercial purposes, it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy wool. • Scouring may be as simple as a bath in warm water, or as complicated as an industrial process using detergent and alkali, with specialized equipment.

8. Scouring, con’t. • In commercial wool, vegetable matter is often removed with a chemical carbonization. • In less processed wools, vegetable matter may be removed by hand, and some of the lanolin left intact through use of gentler detergents. • This semi-grease wool can be worked into yarn and knitted into particularly water-resistant mitten or sweaters, such as those of the Aran island fishermen. • Lanolin removed from wool is widely used in cosmetic products such as hand creams.

9. Production • Global wool production is approximately 1.3 million tones per year, of which 60% goes into apparel. • Australia is the leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep. • New Zealand is the 2nd largest producer of wool, and the largest producer of crossbred wool. • China is the 3rd largest producer of wool.

10. Production con’t. • Breeds such as Lincoln, Romney, Tukidale, Dryable and Elliotadale produce coarser fibers of wool, which is usually used for making carpets. • In the U.S., Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or French Merino). • Small hobby flocks of specialty sheep for hand-spinning offer a variety of a selection of fleece. • Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price.

11. Yarns • Shoddy or recycled wool is made by cutting or tearing apart existing wool fabrics and re-spinning the resulting fibers. As this process makes the wool fibers shorter, the remanufactured fabric is inferior to the original. • The recycled wool may be mixed with raw wool, wool noil, or another fiber such as cotton to increase the average fiber length. Such yarns are typically used as weft yarns with a cotton warp.

12. Yarns con’t. • The process of recycling wool was invented in the heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire and crated a micro-economy in this area for many years. • Ragg is a sturdy wool fiber made into yarn and used in many rugged applications like gloves. • Worsted is a strong, long-stapled, combed wool yearn with a hard surface. • Woolen is a soft, short-stapled, carded wool yarn typically used for knitting. In traditional weaving, woolen weft yarn (for softness and warmth) is frequently combined with a worsted warp yarn for strength on the loom.

13. Wool Fibers • Wool production and use dates back approximately 10, 000 years ago to Asia Minor. People living in the Mesopotamian Plain at that time used sheep for three basic human needs: food, clothing and shelter. • As spinning and weaving skills developed woolens became a greater part of people’s lives. The warmth of wool clothing and the mobility of sheep allowed people to spread civilization beyond the warm climate of Mesopotamia.

14. Wool Fibers con’t. • Between 3000-1000 BC the Persians, Greeks and Romans distributed sheep and wool throughout Europe. The Romans took sheep everywhere they built their Empire, including the British Isles. • From here the British took sheep to all their colonies.

15. The process of making “Wool” into “Yarn” • Sheep • Raw Wool

16. Process con’t. • Woolen Yarn • Woolen Dress • Woolen Blanket

17. Pashmina • Pashmina refers to a type of fine cashmere wool and the textiles made from it, first invented in India. • The wool comes fromChangthangior Pashmina goats, which is a special breed of goat indigenous to high altitudes of the Himalayas in Nepal, Pakistan and northern India. • Pashmina shawls are hand spun, woven and embroidered in Kashmir, and made from fine cashmere fiber.

18. Sources for this ppt came from:Gourave Singhand can be found at:http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/ajoysingh-1410298-wool/