Why Don’t Sheep Shrink In The Rain?
Getting wet isn’t REALLY what makes wool shrink; it merely exacerbates the friction between the wool fibers, which is stronger in one direction than another, so when agitated in the washer or dryer, they migrate in relation to each other in a process called “felting.”
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Show Notes
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Fiber: a threadlike structure forming part of the muscular, nervous, connective, or other tissue in the human or animal body
- Felting: the process by which wool or another textile can be agitated, often along with moisture or heat, to cause the fibers to migrate amongst themselves and mat together into a dense smooth surface
- Ratchet: a device consisting of a bar or wheel with a set of angled teeth that allow motion in one direction only
- Wool: soft curly or wavy hair forming the coat of a sheep or similar animal, especially when cut off the animal & prepared for use in making cloth or yarn
- Mammal: a warm-blooded, bony, & hairy/furry animal, the females of which give birth to live young and nurse them with milk
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