for ease of needling with no drag use wool but there is no resistance with wool so if you find you like to have a little drag and resistance while hand quilting switch to cotton that does not have a scrim (W&N has a scrim). I have also hand quilted with 100% poly (low loft not high). Quilters dream poly is unlike any other poly out there and actually feels, handles and looks more like an 80/20 blend. It also seems to needle like an 80/20 blend. Other poly's on the market (like Hobbs Poly down) are very easy to hand quilt with too. Very similar to wool in terms of needle resistence. Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 is nice too. I used to hand quilt a lot so have experimented with a lot of battings. W&N would be the absolute last choice for hand quilting. People who hand quilt with it and say they have no problems have most likely never hand quilted with wool or other battings. W&N is great for machine quilting but for hand quilting it is not the ideal unless you are doing something like big stitch quilting.