I found the Textile Directory incredibly slow to load (and I am on broadband) but once there it provides information and explains for the laymen the characteristics and uses of natural and manmade fibres. This is a reference site and worth adding to your favourites I ended up printing out half of it so I had the information to hand.
Added correction: people have let me know that they did not have the same problem with download times so I have corrected this.
I have corrected the comment about this site being slow to load as it appears others have not had the same problem
lots of good information, especially as I’m not an experienced knitter – thanks. As for broadband – no problem loading. I’ve been experiencing seriously slow times on the web 11-1pm and 5-7pm PDT which may account for the slow load.
I clicked the link and it loaded immediately to the Internet Centre for Canadian Fashion and Design. Is this where I was supposed to end up? There was lots of fiber dictionary type definitions and source information.