Virgin wool

Dear users, dear authors,
what can you do with virgin wool? What has been your experience with it? Can it even be used directly in handicrafts?

Absolutely!

Virgin wool as 100% wool is, however, only suitable for hand washing (or the machine’s wool wash cycle) and must be dried flat so that sweaters and the like don’t lose their shape.

Depending on how the virgin wool has been treated, it can be sturdy and scratchy or very soft. Scratchy virgin wool can be treated well with a lanolin bath, though, and then becomes much softer.

Virgin wool becomes machine-washable when blended with synthetic fibers or cotton, such as sock yarn. Mine even goes into the dryer (please test with a gauge swatch first if you’re not sure).

I love virgin wool against the skin because it has a high capacity for absorbing moisture without losing its warming properties. You really learn to appreciate that during menopause. 

KnitBig-FeelGreat has already described it perfectly—there’s nothing more to add, except perhaps that I personally make sure the virgin wool comes only from mulesing-free sources.