This is Merino/silk top from DM Fibers. It’s labeled top on their website. Isn’t it pretty?

I have noticed a trend online lately to call both woolen and worsted spinning preparations, roving.

Even if I can see quite clearly in the online photo that a fiber is top, it still is labeled roving.

The ever-wise Liz Gipson told me, roving is becoming like Kleenex is to tissues, a generic term for commercially prepped fiber.

I had a student in my class just yesterday suggest that roving is a term better used in searches online. A search for top would return millions of things, mostly not fiber.

So, if you are buying fiber online, and are not sure what the prepartion really is, email the seller and they will surely let you know.