If you have decided to knit any product from wool yarn, but have never worked with it before, it is important for you to know what characteristics wool yarn has.

Characteristics: wool yarn is lighter and much more elastic than vegetable yarn, in addition, it holds heat better. It gets wet more slowly than cotton in a humid environment, but is inferior to it in strength. Unfortunately, wool yarn also has a number of disadvantages: felting and pilling. These imperfections are more pronounced if the wool yarn is loosely twisted. To improve the characteristics of a woolen thread and make it easier to care for knitted woolen products, manufacturers add vegetable or artificial fibers to wool yarn. For example, wool yarn containing acrylic. Blended yarns are cheaper than pure wool yarn.

Obviously, there are different types of wool yarn, they are divided depending on which animal the wool is obtained from.

Types of wool yarn:

Mohair. This yarn is obtained from the wool of angora goats. The fibers of mohair yarn are long and fluffy. This type of yarn is of very high quality, it does not shrink when washed and does not fall off, but pure mohair is expensive. Because of this, it is often mixed with other natural or artificial threads.

Merino yarn. This yarn is made from the wool of fine-wool sheep. Thanks to its very high quality, it has excellent thermostatic properties and does not cause skin irritation. This fiber is often found in children’s yarn.

Angora. Angora rabbit down is used in the production of this yarn. Angora yarn is very light, fine and hygroscopic. As a rule, it is included in mixed types of yarn in combination with ordinary wool, merino or acrylic. Do not wash things related from angora, it is better to use dry cleaning.

Cashmere. This yarn is made from the wool of Tibetan goats. Cashmere is expensive, but it has a great advantage: products made from it have a high wear rate. They are soft and pleasant to the touch. Cashmere is also often mixed with other wool fibers.

Alpaca. It is a valuable yarn. It is obtained from the fine wool of the Peruvian llama, alpaca. The properties of this yarn are similar to those of cashmere. Since this wool itself is quite tough, it is rarely used in pure form. Basically it is mixed with merino wool. One of the great qualities of this yarn is the variety of colors. You can find white, silver, beige, brown, black colors. In addition, pellets do not form on alpaca products. Alpaca is three times stronger than sheep’s wool and seven times warmer than it.

Camel’s wool. This type of yarn has healing properties. It is non-allergenic, light, soft and very warm.

Dog’s fur. Products connected from it are not only very warm, having anti-inflammatory properties, but with systematic wear, a product made of dog wool relieves joint pain.

Shetland yarn. This yarn is spun from ordinary sheep’s wool. Its main characteristics are strength and reliability. This yarn is well suited for creating practical things: socks, golfs, mittens, scarves.

Vicuña yarn. This llama wool yarn is considered very rare and expensive. It is used in a mixture, exclusive luxury products are created from this yarn.

Acrylic. This yarn, obtained from artificial fibers, is also called artificial wool. This yarn is durable, wearable, it is well dyed, does not roll.

Fashion yarn. This is a type of yarn of special spinning, which differs in its structure, color and other features. It is obtained by mixing natural wool fibers with each other, and sometimes with synthetic threads.

Fantasy yarn. It is made by mixing natural wool fibers with artificial or metallized ones. Exquisite models are usually made with this yarn.

From wool, which has hypoallergenic properties, manufacturers create children’s yarn.

Although wool yarn is divided into types, there are things that unite them all. For example, ways to care for products made from wool yarn.

Wool yarn care:

Wool yarns are washed by hand. It is better to use specialized detergents for wool. It is strongly not recommended to wash items made of wool, mohair and angora in powders with bleach. Things made of woolen yarn are not soaked, rubbed or twisted, all this leads to deformation of the fibers. They must be washed and rinsed in water of the same temperature, otherwise things will “sit down”. After washing wool laid out on a towel. It is not recommended to dry wool items in direct sunlight. If the yarn is marked as “super wash” it can be washed in a washing machine at a water temperature of 30;. It is advised to iron things made of woolen yarn through the fabric, without strong pressure.

It is important to consider that woolen yarn cannot be stored for a long time in plastic boxes and plastic bags, as it must “breathe”. Otherwise, it cakes and has a musty smell. If stored incorrectly, woolen yarn will fade and then decompose. Pure wool is best stored in paper bags, cardboard boxes and bags sewn from cloth. Thin yarns containing cashmere and some synthetic yarns are not advised to be wound into tight balls, the yarn may stretch, which will deteriorate its quality.

Today, all manufacturers are ready to offer a huge range of woolen yarn to their customers. We are talking about types of yarn from pure wool and mixed types. Each type of wool yarn has its own advantages and disadvantages. Both of them must be taken into account when creating a particular model, this will help to create not only beautiful and warm, but also practical models.