Advantages of Wool

Now I know my Faithful Sherpa is listening.

A couple of weeks ago, before Social Distancing was part of our everyday vocabulary, I overheard my Faithful Sherpa in a conversation about wool. 

“Wool’s a good fiber. It regulates your body temperature, and you can wear it all the time, not just in the winter. And it’s OK if it gets wet ‘cause it’ll take a long time before you feel damp.”

I am a proud wife!
 
I always knew he listened to what I say to others about the benefits of wool, but it felt so good to hear him explain it to others!

Now this is really cool...because wool is so versatile, and so readily available, researchers have started exploring a variety of uses with wool.

In 2014 Montana State University researchers started studying the use of wool for erosion control. The MSU research team began the project several years ago.  They suspected that "wool might have advantages over the straw and shredded coconut hull used in traditional erosion control blankets, which buffer slopes against sun and rain until seeds germinate and plants take hold." The results of the recently concluded study, however, surprised them. https://bit.ly/2R3PIQS
 
So not only does wool protect your body against the cold, regulate your body temperature, and protects you, for a short while, against rain, it also protects the ground until perennial grasses have a chance to grow which will help with erosion control!
 
So, for your next knitting project why don’t you consider using wool and find out for yourself the benefits! And if you want to support local hand spinners, here are some great resources of natural, and hand spun wool to get your next project started. 

Shear Bliss Yarns https://bit.ly/3dKGsLd
SynthRider Fiber https://etsy.me/2WZIW2gKnit Picks https://bit.ly/2JxOiKk
Handspun Hope: https://bit.ly/39xu8e0