Abstract: Polyvinyl alcohol microgels which comprise stable fluids comprising water and about 0.05 to 10% by weight of polyvinyl alcohol partially crosslinked with tetravalent titanium ions, said microgels being derived from polyvinyl alcohol which has a Hoeppler viscosity of about 4 to 150 centipoises and in which at least about 50 mole percent of the monomeric units are vinyl alcohol units, said partially crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol and water having a Brookfield viscosity of about 1.15 to 2000 centipoises, said viscosity being at least about 15% greater than the viscosity of the aqueous polyvinyl alcohol solution from which the microgel is derived, are useful as sizes for paper and paperboard, in paper and paperboard coatings, as warp sizes for textile fibers, as adhesives, and as soil and dust stabilizers.