[Ansteorra-textiles] wool fabric with lanolin

Robin Craig aceiatx at yahoo.com
Sun Dec 1 09:41:53 PST 2002


Think of wool as a type of hair.

Commercial processing chemically 'scours' the wool to get all the lanolin out
and in the process damages the fibers so that all the 'scales' stand up and
out.  This is what makes commercial wool scratchy and why your homespun is not
scratchy but indeed very very soft in comparison.  They basically strip the
hairs of all oil.  In other words, commercially processed and woven wool
usually has a bad case of dry, frizzy, split ends.  They do this because many
people are allergic to lanolin or want wool garments that are easy to launder.

Now this is generally not true for wool that you have harvested and then paid
someone to 'process'.  Many places that you can send your wool off to want you
to do the washing before you send it and they simply use their big carding
machines to card it into roving for you, so do not be frightened to do that
with your wool.  When washing wool, most hand spinners use delicate soaps like
Orvis or Woolite which is like a shampoo and will not strip the fibers.  That
is why there is some lanolin always left in.  The lanolin is what makes your
hands feel soft after you have spun awhile.

I have spun in the grease and used it to knit with, and since I don't mind the
greasy feel of the yarn or the sheepy smell, that is fine, but many people do
not like it that greasy.  Even I, liking the lanolin, would probably only use
the greasy stuff for outerwear rather than regular garments.  Things like capes
or outdoor blankets or socks to layer over other socks to help keep feet dry,
or bags to keep metal items so they don't rust.  Fabric made from fiber spun in
the grease will not allow much water to pass thru and water will even bead up
on the outside of it.  It also still retains the 'wicking' property of wool and
so whatever water does get thru will dry quickly.  This is a wonderful property
if you live in a location that often has cold soggy weather like Scotland, or
Central Texas in the winter.


Hope that helps!
-Robin Anderson of Ross



Message: 2
From: "Morgan Cain (Ansteorra)" <morgancain at earthlink.net>
To: <ansteorra-textiles at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Ansteorra-textiles] wool fabric with lanolin
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 05:55:43 -0600
Reply-To: ansteorra-textiles at ansteorra.org

Thanks for all the info!  I do have a sweater knit from greasy wool, but
didn't know that washing does not get out all the lanolin.  They must really
scrub it out of commercial yarns and fabrics.

So if we wanted to do something, we would need to use fabric we have made of
handspun, handwoven wool, correct?  At least for the lining of the
needlecases.

                                        ---= Morgan

=====
Robin Craig

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