is there any way to tell if it's wool?

[dandelions2]

When Amy bought all the leftover Fisherman's from the Michael's clearance some of them didn't have labels, but were in the same section, so she bought them all. I could tell that one of the skeins was acrylic cause it was shiny and soft, so I got a different one and as far as I could tell it looked like wool.

Well, I dyed it today and I can't get it to rinse clear...I only tried for a few minutes, but I've never had to do that before. Everytime I've ever rinsed there was nothing to rinse out - all the color took. Is there any for sure way to tell if it's wool? I'm scared to use it now... :goodgrief

[lifetapestry]

A trick from a Turkish carpet salesman: try to light it on fire.

Now, I don't mean you should toss it in your fireplace, but ideally you would knit a swatch and then hold a match underneath it, in the middle. If it has any poly or nylon content, it will melt. It should be hard to light on fire if it's all wool (lanolin allegedly keeps it from burning).

I think I said this same thing on an MDC thread not long ago-- and pointed out that you rarely see sheep on fire.

Karla

[pmcgary]

You can bleach or burn a piece of it. If you place wool in bleach it will "eat" it. Wool will burn and turn to ash - acrylic which is plastic will melt....The smell of wool will be like that of burnt hair (no big surprise there since basically that is what it is..sheep hair....)

[dandelions2]

I think I'll do bleach...fire scares me...although, bleach is quite scary in itself...ahhh, the lesser of two evils. :lol:

[Nada]

Definately the burnt smell test. Works every time, LOL!

Nada

[mamapez]

Oh no! :irked I'm never buying unlabelled yarn again. Even if it is a great deal.
Of course, now that we are getting a new LYS, Michaels won't be a problem anymore! :dance

[Arwyn]

Haven't had this problem myself, so I can't vouch for this, but what about felting a swatch? Felting = wool, no felt = acrylic?

Let us know how all these fun tests turn out!

[dandelions2]

Yeah, I'm gonna do the felt swatch thing cause dh burned some wool, acrylic, and the "mystery" yarn and we couldn't tell a difference. They all burned the same and all smelled horrible. I tried dipping wool in bleach, but nothing happened. So I'm gonna felt some.

[danaTCT]

anything with acrylic will NOT dye with kool aid if that's what you are using. even if it's a blend it will not dye as well as 100% wool. so, if your yarn took all of the dye, it's not acrylic, it's most likely 100% wool. did it resemble and smell like the other fishermans?

when i dye, i dye till there is nothing to rinse out. when i run it under hot water none of the color bleeds out, until i wash with something then it might bleed a little. otherwise, it never loses dye when being rinsed.

[pmcgary]

with this one you need to LEAVE the yarn in the bleach. I think it may take 10 or 15 minutes b4 it "vanishes"....I have never done this test.

[dandelions2]

Well, it didn't take all of the dye with any of the reds, but with the orange it did and it was almost instantaneous! I've never had color rinse out either. I'm just gonna try to felt it and see what happens. I guess things aren't looking too good, though. :goodgrief

[pmcgary]

From everything you have written here it is my guess that you are dealing with a wool/acrylic blend.....you would see it doing stuff for both types of yarns with the testing and dying......

[dandelions2]

Well, that just sucks! But it is a logical explanation.

[pmcgary]

there are knitters out there who have used the blends for cover I would think.

The soaker might need to laundered more often - so it wouldn't have been a total waste of money!

[dandelions2]

well, i was dyeing it for my swap person, but don't want to send out something that might or might not be all wool, kwim? I guess i'll make something else out of it just to be on the safe side. thanks.

[pmcgary]

Just put it aside as I am sure you will come up with something to use it for later!