It is attractive as a material, durable, fire, static, dirt, and noise resistant, in addition to being comfortable, due to its elasticity. However, for wool to be transformed to a rug (for example) from a part of an animal’s body, requires a lot of carefully planned steps.
Worsted
System Woollen System
To begin with, there are two types of ways to produce wool; worsted, which produces worsted wool, and woolen, which produces woolen wool. The worsted system, is made from wool that is longer and arranged so that they are parallel to each other. In general, products that are made from the worsted system are smoother and stronger and are used for high quality outer clothing (such as suits), or for clothing worn to skin (such as underwear). On the other hand, the woolen system is comprised of wool fibers of shorter length that lie in random directions in relation to each other. The woolen system produces products that are usually rough to touch, but warmer then their counterparts in the worsted system, things such as blankets, coats, and rugs. The process for both of these systems is long a complex, particularly for the worsted system, so a good knowledge of the steps is very helpful prior to execution.
After shearing the wool off of the animal, the first step is scouring, the washing process that removes the accumulated sweat, dust, and wax.
figure 4: a sheep being shaved for its wool.