Something you need to know about wool

1. Its possible humans started making wool after noticing that, as the fibrous hairs were scraped from the hide of an animal, they twisted together easily into lengths.

2. Clothing and other items made of wool have been found throughout much of the ancient world, from 3,400-year-old Egyptian yarn to fragmentary textiles unearthed in Siberian graves dating from the first century B.C.

3. The process of making wool fabric from fibers was rough going at first. Over time, animals were selected for more fleece, with finer fibers, and less kemp.

4. Modern wool fibers range from a fine 16 microns in diameter, from merinos, to 40 microns.

5. Wool is also biodegradable. It breaks down slowly, fertilizing the plants with a generous nitrogen content of a whopping 17 percent compared with the 6 percent nitrogen in commercial turf products. And it is water-retentive.