WHAT IS WOOL?
Wool = one fibre, the lengths vary, it is scaly under the microscope like human hair.
The raw fleece is an organisation of single filaments, mixed up with shit, strands of grass. Marked in places with blue identification dye.
The fleece is carded and combed, the filaments sub-grouped into more ordered fibre masses for the spinner.
The spinner uses a wheel to wind the yarn from fibre masses, teased into manageable units by two fingers.
The strength of the yarn depends on the ply, namely how many single filaments are united in even strands.
Once the wool is spun it can be dyed. Wool dyes well, it sucks up liquid colour like a dream.
Our best knitters are the ones who manage to combine the functions of each garment... disguise, face-framing, symbolic circle growing... with good colour/yarn combinations and an eye for detail.