Q 01/05

Angora wool, prized by knitters for its fluffy halo, comes from the coat of which animal?

A) Goat

B) Rabbit

C) Sheep

D) Alpaca

Answer · why

B) Rabbit

Rabbit fur, not goat hair, is the source of Angora wool; the similarly named Angora goat produces mohair instead.

Q 02/05

Polar fleece, developed in Massachusetts in 1979, can be made from which recycled household items?

A) Glass jars

B) Aluminium drink cans

C) Plastic bottles

D) Old newspapers

Answer · why

C) Plastic bottles

Plastic bottles made of PET can be turned into fleece, and Malden Mills chose not to patent its new fabric, so rival makers copied it and it spread qu...

Q 03/05

Which fabric pattern is thought to take its name from a nineteenth-century dance craze?

A) Pinstripe

B) Harlequin

C) Chevron

D) Polka dot

Answer · why

D) Polka dot

Polka dot fabric became fashionable just as the polka swept dance floors, and many other products of the era borrowed the same name to cash in.

Q 04/05

Which word in a phrase for nervous suspense once named the bent nails that stretched wet woollen cloth on a frame?

A) Tenterhooks

B) Heartstrings

C) Loggerheads

D) Cliffhangers

Answer · why

A) Tenterhooks

Tenterhooks pinned newly washed woollen cloth to a wooden frame called a tenter so that it dried without shrinking; fields full of these frames left '...

Q 05/05

Tyrian purple, the dye reserved for Roman emperors by the fourth century, was extracted from which marine animals?

A) Cuttlefish

B) Sea urchins

C) Jellyfish

D) Sea snails

Answer · why

D) Sea snails

Sea snails of the murex family secrete the pigment in their mucus, and it took tens of thousands of them to make the dye, which is why purple cloth si...