Worsted is a type of wool
yarn, the
fabric made from this yarn, and a
yarn weight category. The name derives from
Worstead, a village in the
English county of
Norfolk. That village, together with
North Walsham and
Aylsham, formed a manufacturing centre for yarn and cloth in the 12th century, when pasture enclosure and liming rendered the East Anglian soil too rich for the older agrarian sheep breeds. In the same period, many weavers from
Flanders moved to Norfolk. "Worsted" yarns/fabrics are distinct from
woolens (though both are made from sheep's wool): the former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, and harder than the latter.