Wovember was an annual blog campaign running from 2011-2017 centred around celebrating natural wool throughout the month of November. It was started to raise awareness of the importance of labelling commercial fabrics correctly (i.e. not using the term ‘made with wool’ for something made from a fluffy synthetic fibre). You can read more about Wovember and lots of other woolly information on the website.
To celebrate, throughout the month of ‘Wovember’, alongside some of my usual wool posts, I will also be sharing some information about wool and some resources & books I have found useful during my first couple of years starting in fibre, in the hope that it will encourage others to try crafting with natural wool in some way during November (and hopefully after).
What is Wool?
One does not need to be scientific to work with wool; it’s soft, fluffy and warm. However, I like to know a little wool biology to understand why it has these properties.
Wool is a protein fibre and like human hair, is part of the Keratin group. Each wool fibre is comprised of many different internal components surrounded by cuticles that cover the surface like scales (this site has a really good interactive diagram and more scientific explanations). The Woolmark Company also have a very short Youtube video showing the structure of wool here. These cuticles are surrounded by glands on the sheep that produce lanolin – the waxy substance that allows wool to repel water. Each of the components give wool its specific characteristics.
Why is wool so unique?
A very brief explanation of the properties of sheeps wool
Insulation: All wool has crimp. This is due to the arrangement of cells in the cortex and varies depending on the breed. Crimp gives wool natural elasticity and helps trap air between the individual fibres which reduces heat loss. This makes it useful for both clothing and house insulation.
Absorbent: The cuticle that surrounds each fibre has pores that allow moisture to travel through the fibres. This along with the air pockets created by the crimp, means that wool can efficiently absorb moisture from the body and transfer it into the atmosphere. Alternatively, it can also generate heat through absorbing moisture from the atmosphere (wool can absorb up to 30% its own weight in moisture before feeling wet). This means wool can help regulate body temperature when worn (and why its described as being able to keep you both cool and warm).
Flame Resistant: Keratin proteins contain high levels of nitrogen and due to wools high moisture absorption it requires much more oxygen than other materials in order to burn. This means that typically wool will not sustain a flame and instead, will smoulder for a short time before extinguishing itself.
Felting: The cuticle scales are arranged much like tiles on a roof – they are smooth in one direction, but cause friction in the other. For example; if you hold out hair from your head and run your finger along it from root to tip, your finger moves smoothly, if you move it from tip to root there is more resistance. Heat and agitation can lift the cuticles at their ‘open’ end causing them to interlock with other fibres aligned in the opposite direction. This process cannot be easily reversed, so makes a strong fabric without the need for chemical processes (although it is not as useful if felting is unintended!).
Renewable & Biodegradable: Sheep grow a new fleece every year and require a regular trim to prevent a multitude of health problems such as overheating and parasites (there are very few sheep breeds now that can naturally moult). While there are sheep, wool will never run out. Washing textiles made from natural wool does not release harmful microplastics into waterways and when it comes to the end of it’s useable life, it can be composted and biodegrades in a relatively short space of time (short video of a wool vs an acrylic jumper biodegrading on Youtube).
Websites for Further Reading:
- http://wovember.com/
- http://www.campaignforwool.org/about-wool/
- https://weatherwool.com/pages/the-science-of-wool
- https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/875-wool-fibre-properties
I’ve given a very basic overview of all the wool science, so if you are looking for further explanations, then do visit the links in the post to websites with further information. A quick internet search will also bring up lots of results and I highly recommend having a look if you are so inclined.
Happy Crafting!
Loose Ends 