Merino Wool Throws & Blankets

May 8th, 2012

Choosing a wool throw or a blanket one must include merino wool throws & blankets among the options. Merino wool products are well known for their warmth, resilience, natural elasticity and softness. These properties make merino wool the ideal material for quality sleeping environment. Merino wool provides throws & blankets with lasting texture and comfort and also resists microbes and dust mites.

merino wool blanket

In order to help you choosing the best merino wool throw or blanket, we have put together this article, so read on! Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing a wool scarf for style, warmth and comfort

May 1st, 2012

When weather starts getting cooler, what is the first choice of all the accessories that help to keep you stylish and also provide comfort and warmth? Of course, it‘s a wool scarf!

I remember wool scarves of my childhood well – they were all hand-knit by my mother or grandmother and were long, fluffy and very warm! And they did their work perfectly during those long cold winters. Read the rest of this entry »

Cashmere Throws – a Luxurious Choice

April 18th, 2012

Having one or some cashmere throws is a wish by many who seek for true luxury and comfort at home. The feeling one wraps him/herself in a cashmere throw is incomparable. Although there are lots of quality types of wool that allow a throw be really soft and warm, cashmere yarn is certainly a king among them.

Soft, warm, comforting – the amazing lure of cashmere throw is undeniable. There is simply hardly anything more exquisite next to our skin than a feather-light touch of cashmere. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Care for Wool Throws (1)

April 5th, 2012

Wool throws can be found almost in every home. Their role as comforters, warmers and interior accessories is important in our lives. And in order our wool throws served us long and were as beautiful as on the first day we owned them, we have to know some basics of a proper care.

How to clean a wool throw?

Usually the information of how to clean your wool throws can be found on a label of each throw. Pure wool throws should be either washed by hand or taken to professional dry cleaners. Never machine wash your wool throw! This will not only damage a throw but will also cause shrinking and loss of shape and maybe even color. Read the rest of this entry »

Alpaca Throws for Cozy and Stylish Home

March 29th, 2012

It is difficult nowadays to imagine a home without a wool throw or two. Although many types of wool are used in wool blankets and throws production, alpaca throws are considered among the best. Apart from superb qualities of alpaca wool, alpaca throws are appreciated for their smoothness and elegant looks.

You can read about the qualities of alpaca wool yarn in one of our previous articles. But in short – alpaca wool is collected from a South American animal alpaca that is grown in the Andes specifically for their high quality fiber which had been used for textile items and clothing for ages. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing Wool Types (7): Camel Hair

March 21st, 2012

Camel wool and yarn and products made of camel wool are not very common in everyday life but nevertheless our overview of wool yarn types would be incomplete without it. Camel hair is an animal fiber collected from the camel. The most satisfactory camel fiber is gathered from the two-humped Bactrian camels. There are two types of camel wool – the outer protective one called guard hair, which is coarse and inflexible, and the fine, shorter fiber of the insulating undercoat.

Unlike most other wool types, camel wool is collected not by shearing or plucking but gathered as the animal sheds its coat. Both the outer coat and the undercoat are gathered at the same time, and later with the help of combing (frequently by machine), the coarse outer hairs are separated from the finer ones. Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing Wool Carpet

March 12th, 2012

Wool carpet is very beautiful, durable and luxurious. It also feels great underfoot. Wool yarn is the most expensive and chick fiber to produce carpets.

Wool carpets have lots of benefits but also some drawbacks, so let‘s become aware of them and choose the right carpets for our homes.

  

Carpet wool is the one shorn from sheep – it is then spun and woven or twisted into carpet. Fleece of New Zealand sheep is considered the most luxurious in wool carpet production. There are wool rug made from goats wool, llamas wool or alpaca wool, too. Wool fiber is durable and the carpets can last 60 years or more if properly cared for (remember the ancient Oriental wool carpets that last for 200 years or more?) Read the rest of this entry »

Wool and Yarn Production Process

March 4th, 2012

Wool of different animals is probably the first fiber to be transformed into cloth. The ability and knowledge of how to spin wool into yarn developed several thousand years B.C. and encouraged trade among tribes of the Mediterranean Sea. Nowadays wool yarn is produced not only from sheep but from other animals – e.g. camels, goats, rabbits – as well. Wool and yarn are highly valued material in textile industry.

  

The value of the wool yarn is based on fiber diameter (the smaller – the finer), staple length (the longer – the worthier), and density (the tighter – the better). Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing Wool Types (6): Lambs Wool

February 24th, 2012

Lambs wool is wool which comes from the first shearing of a sheep (lamb) at the age around 7 months. The fleece is 50mm or shorter. It is exceptionally soft, slippery, resilient, elastic, and has supreme spinning properties. This is the highest quality of sheep’s wool on the market.

Labs wool animal lamb

Its soft silkiness and warmth allow lambs wool fiber to be used in the production of apparel worn close to the skin. Lambs wool also has other valuable qualities – it is the most hypoallergenic of all wool sorts and resists dust mites very well, and therefore makes an ideal choice for bedding and linens. Most of woolen children wear is made of lambs wool. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing Wool Types (5): Sheep Wool

February 8th, 2012

Sheep wool is the fiber that is harvested from the body of most sheep. It is an extremely complex protein, which evolved through ages for the protection of warm blood animals in a great variety of living and weather conditions. Each time the sheep is sheared its wool keeps growing and replenishes itself.

Sheep come is a variety of breeds – there are more breeds of sheep than breeds of any other livestock species. More than 1000 distinct sheep breeds are grown worldwide. They come in different sizes, shapes, and colors.

Sheep breeds are classified according to the type of wool fibers they grow (fine, medium, long or carpet wool; or hair), their primary purpose (meat, milk, or wool), and/or by other specific physical or production characteristics.

Wool fiber is known for high resiliency and elasticity – it can be bent more than 20,000 times without danger of breaking or any damage. Read the rest of this entry »