How to find out yarn content....aka mystery yarn

How-to Questions
1

So I bought the yarn and salesman said it is cotton/acrylic.

I haven’t bought other than craft type acrylic (the cheapest, thin kind) for a long time. I was using it for craft projects and horse bridles for my kid’s toy horses and the like.

It feels slightly scratchy. I remember my grandma’s “kitchen cotton” she used for something, and it feels nothing like that. My grandma’s afghans she made me, one is wool, one is acrylic. This yarn feels scratchier, more like the wool.

How would I tell what fiber this is? Is it like fabric where you do a burn test? And then what?

Thanks,

Sue

2

Is there no wrapper on it?

3

yes, you can do a burn test. If it melts, it has acrylic in it.

4

How do you tell wool from cotton?

Do they both do the same thing in a burn test?

Sue

5

Cotton burns steadily and has a sweetish, almost burnt-sugar smell. Wool burns more slowly and may go out by itself. It has a powerful smell like burning hair.