leicester+wool

Good English wool with a very lustrous, light and long staple, spinning 40's to 44's yarns. The weight of a fleece is 7-lb. to 10-lb. and it is used for such fabrics as Sicilians and linings. It is the choicest of British long wools, and averages 10-in. staple (see also Border Leicester)

The wool obtained from this cross is classed as of 44's to 48's quality, and is of firm and curly character, and demi-lustre. The cross is between the Leicester and Cheviot and has now become a definite breed in South Scotland and the wool is known as " North."

A high-grade crossbred wool and one of the most useful wools of commerce. It is obtained by crossing merino ewes with Lincoln or Leicester rams. It has a staple of good and regular length and is soft in handle. It is used extensively for mixing with shoddy and mungo fibres to impart bulk and spinning qualities. New Zealand wools in the main are fairly free from vegetable matter, and this gives the wools a value very often more than like qualities from other countries. Merino wool is a small part of New Zealand production, probably not more than 5 per cent. The wool is generally free from vegetable matter, but is rather "lean" in character, the quality is not equal to the better-known Australian types, while the shrinkage is fairly heavy owing more to heavy grease rather than earthy matter.

Wool from cross-bred sheep and is of a quality equal to some of the Down wools. The crosses are Cheviot, Border and Leicester.

Very fine wool yarn, spun from the Leicester fleece and used solely in the early 19th century for knitting shawls and the like. It was made single and up to six-fold.

English long wool, having a strong, long and glossy staple, used for dress goods; also the wools grown in Indiana and Kentucky. The chief British lustre wools are Lincoln, Leicester, Notts, and Yorkshire (see under each name)

A valuable variety obtained from the Border-Leicester sheep.

A term applied to wools produced Joy breeding from two types of pure bred sheep. North - This is a cross between Border Leicester and Cheviot. It is by far the most important and valuable and is usually classed as demi-lustre wool. It has a 6-in. staple and spins 46's quality. South Ireland- - Similar in quality and length to North wools, it is clean, but not so nice in handle. Scotch Cross is between Leicester and Blackfaced, and between Cheviot and Black-faced. It is inferior in quality. Other well-known crosses are: - Down-Cheviot, Leicester-Down, Down-North, Leicester-North. These are, however, never used for breeding. Lambs or hoggs are fed and slaughtered as they reach condition for the butcher, hence these wools are chiefly from skins. Very good half-breds are also grown in Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, Derbyshire and Warwickshire. Eastern Counties' half-breds are very good hosiery types, but are heavier, not so attractive, and have more grey fibres.

These are classified as: - (1) Lustres; (2) Demi-lustres; (3) Downs; (4) Special wools; (5) Half-breds. They are divisible into two chief sorts - long wools and short wools. The long wools include the Lustre and Demi-lustre wools, and the short wools comprise Down wools and Special wools. Lustre Wools are Lincoln, Leicester, Notts and Yorkshire. Demi-lustre Wools are Border Leicester, Cotswold, Romney Marsh, Roscommon, Wensleydale and Devon. Short Wools include the Down Wools, Special Wools and Half-breds. Down Wools are Southdown, Shropshire Down, Suffolk Down, Oxford, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset Downs. Special Wools are Cheviot, Herdwick, Blackfaced, Welsh and Shetland. Half-bred Wools are North, Scotch Cross, South Ireland and others. There are also the " Skin Wools," which are comprised of wool removed from the skins of slaughtered sheep (see skin wools). A description of each type of wool is given under its name.

(See knitting). All yarns used for knitting are termed hosiery yarns in Leicester, but in America only yarns actually used for knitted footwear come under this term. These yarns are much softer than required for weaving. Miscellaneous Yarns - Goat wools, such as llama and alpaca are employed in spinning. yarns for the knitting trade. Vicuna and camel yarns are used to a limited extent. Ramie yarn is specially employed for knitting gas mantle fabrics. Soft spun flax yams have been used for making underwear fabric. Chenille and other manufactured threads are used to a small extent in warp knitting. Composite yarns, such as union yarns - spun from a mixture of wool and cotton fibres; cordon yarns - cotton and worsted singles, doubled together; wool and rayon or spun silk, cotton and rayon or spun silk are largely used to produce self or two-colour effects. Fancy yarns, such as slub yams, voiles, and curled and loop yarns are also employed. Hosiery Yarns (Cotton) include condenser, hosiery, condenser lisle thread, mercerised and sewing cottons. Condenser yarns are spun in coarse counts from low-grade cotton, Indian and American. They are carded, condensed and mule spun, and possess little twist. Hosiery cotton yarns vary considerably in counts and qualities, practically all varieties of Indian, American and Egyptian being used in varying proportions to obtain suitable mixture for quality and price. Cheaper yarns are carded and mule spun. American and Egyptian cotton yarns are combed mainly with the object of removing seed particles. High-class Egyptian and Sea Islands cotton yarns are super-combed. The chief features of a hosiery cotton yam should be: (1) Regularity; (2) cleanliness; (3) fullness. Regularity prevents the making of cloudy fabric, showing thick and thin places. Cleanliness is essential, as the seed particles clog the eyelet hole in the yam guides and cause breakages. Fullness is desirable to cover the loop interstices. Elasticity and pliability are quite as essential as tensile strength. Yams are usually soft spun and if two-fold soft doubled, average twists in two-fold being 2/10's 6¹/₂T., 2/20's 8¹/₂T., 2/30's 10T., 2/40's 16T., 2/80's 20T. Softer twist less 25 to 30 per cent of average (T= turns per inch). Lisle thread is a comparatively hard-twisted and doubly-gassed thread in which there are no projecting fibres. It is always of a two-fold character, and the doubling twist varies from 24 to 34 turns per inch in 2/60's. It is used largely in the manufacture of ladies' hose tops and feet and for lace hosiery. Mercerised yams are used largely in the fancy trade, a comparatively soft twist again being employed. Sewing cottons for seaming, linking and making-up are specially prepared in two to six cord open and reverse twist. Woollen and Worsted Yarns include lamb's wool, wheeling, skein yarns, gala yams (woollens), worsted, crossbreds, fingering, cashmere, dry spun botany (see under each name). Worsted and crossbred yarns of various qualities are used. These yams are spun softly with " hosiery twist." The drawing may be open, cone or French, and the spinning may take place on cap, ring or flyer frames. The chief essentials of hosiery yarn are softness of fibre, fullness, minimum of twist consistent with the requisite tensile strength, regularity, pliability and elasticity. Cashmere Yarns, as used in the knitted goods industry, are spun from short, loose and weak wools as well as from better qualities by French drawing and mule spinning. A small proportion of real cashmere is used for outer garments. In recent years nylon yarns have been largely employed.

A fine, thin, plain-weave cloth, woven from camlet yarns, 30-in., 60 yards, usually dyed bright red. Camlet yarn is spun from lustrous wool, Lincoln or Leicester. The Dutch introduced the cloth, but they used camel hair or goat hair. Other qualities are made from hard twisted worsted yarns about 36 X 40 per inch, 2/30's 2/34's. In the 17th century a camlet of wool and silk was used for making gowns. It is mentioned in Pepys Diary, in 1664: " I put on my camelott suit, the best I ever wore in my life." In the latter part of the 17th century camelots of various colours were highly esteemed. First made in Montgomeryshire on the banks of the river Camlet. The true camlet is made in India of camel hair (see Patu Khudrang)

A fine, thin, plain-weave cloth, woven from camlet yarns, 30-in., 60 yards, usually dyed bright red. Camlet yarn is spun from lustrous wool, Lincoln or Leicester. The Dutch introduced the cloth, but they used camel hair or goat hair. Other qualities are made from hard twisted worsted yarns about 36 X 40 per inch, 2/30's 2/34's. In the 17th century a camlet of wool and silk was used for making gowns. It is mentioned in Pepys Diary, in 1664: " I put on my camelott suit, the best I ever wore in my life." In the latter part of the 17th century camelots of various colours were highly esteemed. First made in Montgomeryshire on the banks of the river Camlet. The true camlet is made in India of camel hair (see Patu Khudrang)

Wool term for lustre wool such as Lincoln and Leicester which makes strong yarns for fabrics where much wear and strength are required. Single and two-fold counts are produced up to 30's and 2/36's or 2/40's. Mohair and alpaca wools are also termed lustres, and all are worsted yarns.