A History of Yarn

Yarn was initially a by-product of wool and its thought early man invented the art of twisting the strands out and making fibres. As the centuries progressed, man learned to extract yarn from other by products such as plants but it's only been recently, with the invention of machinery, that yarn is more commonly made from man made fibres. Mohair and Kashmir is produced from goats, alpaca and rabbits are also sources of Yarn.

The origins of Yarn are unclear in history, some believe that yarn originated from the middle east and was brought to Britain during the Crusades. By the early 1600's, knitting and lacemaking were commonplace across the globe. Sailors spread the art of knitting around the world following their trade routes. Knitting was portable, small and gave them something to do on the long journeys.

Yarn came into its own in World War II, when women and children knitted their yarn for each other and for their men fighting in the war. Knitting for the war effort really highlighted knitting as a practical and useful art form.

Yarn is used in lots of craft forms today, such as embroidery, tapestry, crochet and lacemaking. New products for producing yarn are formed every day, as scientists find out how more and more natural resources , yarn can be made out of successfully.