3. Carpet and knitting wools, which are long, strong, and very coarse.
Combing wools take their name from the process of "combing" which they undergo when being prepared for spinning into yarn. Combing wools are longer than carding wools; they are also harder or more wiry and less inclined to be spiral or kinky.
Carding wools—made to cross and interlace and interlock with one another—are shorter than combing, and, in addition, they possess the power of felting (that is to say, of matting together in a close, compact mass) to a much greater degree.
The first and finest clip of wool is called lamb's wool; it is taken from the young sheep at the age of eight to twelve months and, never having been clipped before, it is naturally pointed at the end. All subsequent cut fleeces are known as wether wool and are less valuable than the first clip. The ends of such wool are thick and blunted on account of having been previously cut.
Wool, unlike cotton, is not capable of being worked into a yarn without first being thoroughly cleansed of its impurities.
Wool-dyed.—A term applied to fabrics dyed in the loose or top form—as distinct from yarn-dyed or piece-dyed.
Woollen.—This term is used in contradistinction to worsted, and implies difference of material and method of manufacture. Wastes, shoddy, and blends of material other than wool are referred to as "woollen," in opposition to "all wool."