Glossary of terms used on this site

Found in Mongolia. The yak grows coarse outer hair, sometimes spun into a coarse yarn which is woven and used in making local tents. The fine under hair of the yak is used weaving thinner cloth for warm clothing.

The basic component of most, particularly woven or knitted, fabric. Yarn, sometimes referred to as thread, is either a collection of small lengths of natural or man-made fibre which are spun and twisted together or endless extruded natural or man-made filament.

Spun yarn can be a blend of two or more fibres. Any yarn can be made thicker or stronger by plying, doubling, twisting or folding two or more single yarns together. The term ply is often used to describe the thickness or size of hand knitting or hand embroidery yarns.

There are thousands of different yarns made in a variety of different ways for an infinite number of different fabrics. Fancy yarns are made by combining two or more similar or different yarns or by introducing contrasting materials into the yarn.

The following terms are used to describe certain types of fancy yarn ( See fancy yarn and spinning):

• bouclé
• brushed
• chenille
• corkscrew
• gimp
• knop
• loop
• marl
• slub
• snarl

See count.