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Date Posted: 23:07:14 11/23/02 Sat
Author: person
Subject: This sneak is from Dela sneaking Excalibur ^^Thought i'd let yall know
In reply to: WOOLY SHEEP ROCK! 's message, "WOOL WOOL WOOL" on 18:30:56 11/23/02 Sat

> >face=wingdings>AS THE WEATHE RIS GEETING COLDER, ITS
>TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT KIND OF WOOL TO USE!Wool is a
>fiber that comes from the fleece of sheep and some
>other animals. It makes durable fabrics used in
>manufacturing blankets, clothing, rugs, and other
>items. Wool fabrics clean easily, and they resist
>wrinkles and hold their shape well. Wool also absorbs
>moisture and insulates against both cold and heat. All
>these features make wool popular for coats, sweaters,
>gloves, socks, and other clothing.
>Wool fibers are nearly cylindrical in shape.
>Overlapping scales on the surface make the fibers mat
>and interlock under heat, moisture, and pressure. This
>property of wool fibers is called felting. Felting
>increases the strength and durability of wool fabrics.
>It also enables wool to be made into felt.The
>guidelines of the United States Federal Trade
>Commission (FTC) define wool as the fiber from the
>fleece of sheep. Wool also includes such fibers as
>alpaca, from alpacas; camel's hair; cashmere, from
>Cashmere goats; mohair, from Angora goats; and vicuna,
>from vicunas.
>Worldwide production of raw wool totals about 5
>billion pounds (2.3 billion kilograms) annually. The
>leading wool-producing nation is Australia. Every
>state in the United States produces some wool. Texas
>ranks as the leading producer.Sources of wool. Almost
>all wool comes from sheep. These animals—and their
>wool—are classified into five groups, depending on the
>quality of the fleece. The five classifications of
>wool, listed here in order of quality, are (1) fine
>wool, (2) crossbred wool, (3) medium wool, (4) long
>wool, and (5) coarse wool, or carpet wool.Fine-wooled
>sheep include the Merino and breeds with Merino
>ancestry, such as the Debouillet and the Rambouillet.
>These types of sheep produce the finest wool, which
>makes high-quality clothing.Crossbred-wooled sheep,
>such as the Columbia and Corriedale are crossbreeds of
>fine- and long-wooled breeds. Their wool is used for
>rugged clothing.Cheviot, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxford,
>Polypay, Shropshire, Southdown, and Suffolk sheep are
>in this group
>wool used for carpets and industrial
>fabrics.Coarse-wooled sheep include the Karakul and
>Scottish Blackface. The wool of these animals is used
>mostly for carpets and handicraft yarns.Types of wool
>are determined by the quality of a sheep's fleece. The
>quality depends on the age and physical condition of
>the animal and by the climate in which it lives. An
>oily substance called yolk covers the fleece of a
>healthy sheep. Yolk consists of wool grease and suint
>(dried perspiration). It protects the sheep from rain
>and keeps the fleece from becoming matted.Young sheep
>produce the best wool. The softest and finest wool,
>called lamb's wool, comes from 6- to 12-month-old
>sheep.
>Sheep that have been slaughtered for their meat
>provide pulled wool, sometimes called skin wool or
>slipe wool. Dead wool comes from sheep that have died
>or are seriously ill. Fleeces soiled by manure or dirt
>are called tag locks in the United States and stain
>pieces in England and Australia.In the United States,
>FTC guidelines classify wool into two categories.
>Virgin wool, also called new wool, has never been spun
>into yarn or made into felt. Some fabrics are made of
>fibers that have been reclaimed from previously spun
>or woven wool. Recycled wool is the name given to
>these products. Fabrics made from recycled wool are
>sometimes called shoddy.Processing of wool involves
>four major steps: (1) shearing, (2) sorting and
>grading, (3) making yarn, and (4) making
>fabric.hearing. Most sheep shearers use power shears,
>and experts can clip 100 or more animals a day. They
>remove the fleece in one piece so the various parts
>can be easily identified for sorting and grading.
>Different parts of a fleece vary in quality. For
>example, the best wool comes from the shoulders and
>sides of the sheep, while the poorest comes from the
>belly areas.During the 1990's, researchers in
>Australia began to use a process that eliminates much
>of the hard work involved in shearing and produces
>higher quality wool. The process, known commercially
>as Bioclip, involves injecting sheep with a protein
>that causes them to naturally shed their fleece. This
>process must be further refined before it can gain
>widespread use.
>In most parts of the world, sheep ranchers shear their
>animals once a year, in spring or early summer. But in
>some regions, the fleeces may be cut off twice yearly,
>with the second shearing occurring in the
>autumn.Sorting and grading. Workers remove any
>stained, damaged, or inferior wool from each fleece
>and sort the rest of the wool according to the quality
>of the fibers. Wool fibers are judged not only on the
>basis of their strength, but also by their (1)
>fineness (diameter), 2) length, (3) crimp (waviness),
>and (4) color.There are three methods of grading wool.
>The blood method involves comparing the fineness of
>the wool fibers with the fineness of Merino wool. The
>count method involves counting the number of
>hanks—that is, 560-yard (512-meter) lengths of worsted
>yarn—that can be spun from one pound of wool fiber.
>The most precise method involves measuring the
>diameter of the fibers in units called microns. A
>micron equals 0.001 millimeter (1/25,400 inch).Fiber
>length is important in determining what processes will
>be used to make yarn and fabric. Carding length
>fibers, also called clothing length fibers, measure
>less than 1 1/2 inches (3.8 centimeters) long. French
>combing length fibers range from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches
>(3.8 to 6.4 centimeters) in length. Combing length
>fibers are more than 2 1/2 inches (6.4 centimeters)
>long.
>The natural crimp of wool provides the fibers with
>elasticity. This property enables wool fabrics to hold
>their shape after being stretched or twisted. The best
>wool fibers have many evenly spaced waves.The color of
>most wool ranges from white to dark ivory. White wool
>is the most desirable because manufacturers may have
>to bleach darker wool before it can be dyed.Making
>yarn. Woolen mills scour the wool with detergents to
>remove the yolk and such impurities as dust and sand.
>Wool grease from the yolk is processed into lanolin, a
>substance used in hand creams and cosmetics.
>After the wool dries, machines card it. The carding
>process involves passing the wool through rollers that
>have thin wire teeth. The teeth untangle the fibers
>and arrange them into a flat sheet called a web. The
>carding machines then form the web into narrow ropes
>known as slivers.After carding, the processes used in
>making yarn vary slightly, depending on the length of
>the fibers. Carding length fibers are used in making
>woolen yarn. Combing length and French combing length
>fibers are made into worsted yarn. The processes used
>for the two kinds of yarn are similar. But worsted
>slivers go through an additional step called combing,
>which removes impurities and short fibers.
>After carding or combing, machines stretch and
>slightly twist the slivers to form thinner strands
>called rovings. Spinning machines then twist the
>rovings into yarn. Woolen yarn is bulky and fuzzy,
>with fibers that lie in different directions. Worsted
>yarn is smooth and highly twisted, and its fibers lie
>parallel.Making fabric. Wool manufacturers knit or
>weave yarn into a variety of fabrics. They use woolen
>yarns in making flannel, homespun, melton, Saxony,
>Shetland, and tweed fabrics. Worsted yarns make such
>fabrics as broadcloth, crepe, gabardine, serge,
>sharkskin, twill, and whipco >face=Idelasneakexcaliberfromhazyridgetofatalblow>rd.
>Almost all wool fabrics except felt are made from yarn
>(see \l "").Wool may be dyed at various stages of the
>manufacturing process. Dyeing that takes place before
>the fibers are spun is called stock dyeing or
>topdyeing. Dyeing that occurs after the fibers have
>been spun into yarn is called yarn dyeing, package
>dyeing, or skein dyeing. If the dyeing takes place
>after the fabric has been woven, it is known as piece
>dyeing. Most fabrics with fancy designs are stock dyed
>or yarn dyed. Piece dyeing is used for solid-colored
>fabrics. See \l ""
>All wool fabrics undergo finishing processes to give
>them the desired appearance and feel. The finishing of
>fabrics made of woolen yarn begins with fulling. This
>process involves wetting the fabric thoroughly with
>water and then passing it through rollers. Fulling
>makes the fibers interlock and mat together. It
>shrinks the material and gives it additional strength
>and thickness. Worsteds go through a process called
>crabbing, in which the fabric passes through boiling
>water and then cold water. This procedure strengthens
>the fabric.
>Some wool fabrics tend to shrink when dry-cleaned. To
>prevent such shrinkage, some manufacturers pre-shrink
>the fabric. One popular process, called London
>Shrinking, uses water and pressure to shrink the
>fabric. After the various finishing processes,
>manufacturers cut and sew the fabric into clothing and
>other products. History. About 10,000 years ago,
>people in central Asia began to raise sheep for food
>and clothing. The art of spinning wool into yarn
>developed about 4000 B.C. and encouraged trade among
>the nations in the region of the Mediterranean Sea.The
>first wool factory in England was established about
>A.D. 50 in Winchester by the Romans. The wool industry
>soon played a major part in England's economy. By
>1660, the export of wool fabrics accounted for about
>two-thirds of England's foreign trade.Merino sheep
>originated in Spain. In the early 1500's, explorers
>from Spain brought sheep to what is now the United
>States. England discouraged the wool industry's growth
>in the American Colonies so that the colonists would
>have to rely on English goods. But colonists smuggled
>sheep from England. By the 1700's, spinning and
>weaving were flourishing in the United States. The
>British began breeding Merinos in the late 1700's. In
>1797, they brought 13 Merinos to Australia and started
>that country's Merino sheep industry.
>In the 1800's, many pioneers brought sheep with them
>while traveling to the western United States. As a
>result, the production of wool and wool fabrics spread
>to nearly all parts of the United
>States.

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