Fiber Terms

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We have complied a bunch of weird words that you will hear if you are in the fiber community long enough. We hope you will find this list, though not exhaustive, a fun thing to look at and keep in your vocabulary. If you know of a word we have missed, please e-mail us- we will be sure to include it here. They are in alphabetical order.

A good fiber vocabulary includes these words......

  • Apparel Wool - Wool used for the manufacturing of clothing fabrics.
  • Bellies - Short wool from belly of sheep.
  • Black Wool - Wool from sheep containing grey, brown or black wool.
  • Blood or Blood Count –Denotes fineness: "more blood" means finer wool. ( see our wool systems page)
  • Braid –Long, coarse, lustrous wool.
  • Break -The fibers contain a break on the lock a certain point, but is strong above and below the weak spot.
  • Breech (or Britch) Wool - Coarse hair fibers on lower hind legs; generally the lowest quality wool of the entire fleece.
  • Buck Wool - Wool shorn from rams or wethers.
  • Burry Wool - Wools heavy in burrs, These require special and expensive processing.
  • Canary Stain - A yellowish coloration which cannot be handwashed out. Certain types of bacteria] growth are believed to be a contributing factor.
  • Carbonizing - Removal of burrs from wool by immersion in sulfuric acid and dried in extreme heat.
  • Character - A term describing the total of all characteristics that make wool attractive to the eye such as color, crimp, brightness, and sound tip.
  • Combing - Manufacturing process in which the short fibers (noils) are separated from the longer fibers which are combed into a continuous strand of parallel fibers called top. Processors who have French combs can comb your fibers
  • Cotted - Fibers that are matted together usually found on older or ill sheep.
  • Crimp - The natural waviness in fibers: fine wools have more crimps per inch; coarser wools have fewer crimps per inch.
  • Dingy - wool that is dark greyish and lacks luster.
  • Doggy - Short, harsh, coarse; lacks crimp and elasticity.
  • Down Wool - Wool from breeds that originated in the Downs of England; the wool is medium in grade, short, wiry, lacking crimp and often contains black fibers.
  • Felting - The process of locking wool fibers together to make a solid piece of fabric, using heat, agitation and soap .
  • Grading - Separating fleeces into groups according to fineness and length.
  • Grease Wool - Wool as it is shorn from the sheep, before any processing. Grease is from the lanolin.
  • Handle - Refers to the actual feel of the wool; a good "handle" has great resilience and softness, fineness, and length
  • Hank - A 560-yard unit of wool yarn wound on a spool or reel. Or some would say a skein of yarn
  • Kemp - Chalky white, brittle, weak fiber which may be mixed with normal fibers in a fleece.
  • Lanolin - wool grease that has been processed for use i.e.- hand lotion.
  • Lock - A group of wool fibers that cling naturally together in the fleece; also known as a "staple".
  • Lofty - Fleece that springs back to normal position, very elastic, and bulky compared to its weight.
  • Luster - Natural gloss or sheen in a fleece.
  • Pulled Wool - Wool removed from the skins of slaughtered sheep.
  • Purity - Is the absence of dark fibers, kemp or hair.
  • Raw Wool - Grease wool before scouring. A fleece right off the sheep.
  • Roving- A continuous strand of fiber that has been washed, and carded; this fiber is not aligned and makes a nice woolen yarn.
  • Scouring - Another word for washing the wool or animal fiber. It is separating the dirt, grease, and vegetable matter from wool.
  • Scurf- A dandruff like substance on fibers. Sometimes caused by illness and sometimes growth as in the case of mohair goats. If it due to illness, scurf will be waxy and hard and will not come out of the fiber.
  • Second Cuts - Short pieces of wool from the shearer clipping off the wool left from a previous stroke.
  • Soundness - It relates to the strength of the fiber; free of breaks and tenderness;
  • Staple - The length of a lock of fiber.
  • Sunburned Tips - The end of the lock that has been weathered. Sometimes these tips are weak and will break off in the carding process, and sometimes that will add depth of color to the roving if they are strong.
  • Tender - Fiber that is weak and breaks all along the length of the fiber due to poor nutrition or sickness.
  • Thrums This is yarn that is left after a weaving project. In Spinderella's world, it is incorporated into washed and dyed wool to make novelty yarns
  • Tippy - The tip or weather end of the fibers are encrusted making the fiber break and increases pilling in the process.
  • Top - A continuous strand of fiber,that has been washed, carded, and combed; the fibers are aligned in the same direction. This makes nice worsted yarn.
  • Virgin Wool - Wool that is used to make fabric for the first time; not recycled.
  • Woolen - A term for a type of yarn. Spinning a woolen yarn is not combed, the fibers lie in an uneven fashion. Woolen yarns hold more air, and loftier and make for a warmer garment.
  • Worsted - Longer length wool fibers that are made parallel during combing into a product called top, then spun into a worsted yarn. It is also a wight of knitting yarn that is approximately 1200 yards per pound.
  • Yolk - The combined secretion of sebaceous (oil) and sudoriferous (sweat) glands in the skin. Yolking can cause yellowness in a fleece.