How can you tell what the fiber is?

[Mominpink]

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum and new to knitting. I learned from my grandma when I was young and then just about a year and a half ago started knitting again. I really enjoy it. And I really love this site. It has been so helpful. My question is I just bought a nice clean bag of miscellaneous yarn at Goodwill. None of it had any labels so I can't tell what the fiber is. My question is, how can you tell what kind of fiber it is? It feels like wool and cotton but I'm not sure. :thinking: Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Nuno930]

A good way is to cut off a small piece and burn it ( don't burn yourself or your house!).

If it melts, it's synthetic,

if it smells like burnt hair it is (animal) fiber,

if it smells like burnt wood/paper/leaves it is plant fiber.

[Mominpink]

Thanks for your help. I'm going to try that tonight after I put my son to bed. I don't want him getting any ideas!

[ekgheiy]

Thanks for your help. I'm going to try that tonight after I put my son to bed. I don't want him getting any ideas!

[Julie]

Also...try felting the ends together (video here) if it is 100% wool, it will work! If not, it most likely contains synthetic fibers. :D

[MaggieL]

Nuno,

How did you learn that bit of infor?

[rebecca]

nik...is a genius; yep

[Nuno930]

Yeah... that is right... I am just a genius!



and I *might* have picked that up from crafster.org

[BinkyKat]

gee, setting fire to something to see what it's made of just seems like something i would do ...there's a crafster tip on it?