What is wool?

Answer 1

New wool is wool that has not been used before. It is also called "virgin wool".

(The answer previously in this space described superwash wool, not new wool. The article from which the answer was taken was confusingly titled such that it appeared to be describing new wool.)

Answer 2

Pure new wool is wool that has not been used before. Pure new wool can be any of the wools. Pure merino pure, lambs wool, alpaca. Virgin wool and Pure new wool can be synonymous. Always look for the woolmark.

Answer 3

Any type of certain fiber, such as cotton or flax, prepared after a special process. Also, a sheep/lamb/goat's hair.

I would say that the word "wool" refers to fiber made from sheep's fleece (or hair).

Other animals fur can be used to make yarns, but then they most often would be referred to in different words.

For example:

• mohair is from the angora goat
• alpaca is from the alpaca
• angora is from a rabbit
• cashmere is from the cashmere goat
• givuit comes from the artic musk ox
• camel is from a camel

In addition to yarns made from animal hair/fiber/pelts/fleeces, there are Vegetable fibers: cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo, to name a few.

There would also be manmade yarns, such as: acrylic, nylon, polyester, and spandex.

Yarns that wouldn't easily be categorized in the above manner, would include silk, and a newly manufactured yarn made from soybeans (soy milk), and milk! Yes, I said milk--the best description of the process is like when you make cotton candy, when you put the cone into the spinning cotton candy and roll it around to get the candy on the cone.