An in depth overview of the expensive vicuña yarn. Is it value on the lookout for, what does it really actually really feel like knitting with, and why is it so costly?
Are you dreaming of shopping for some vicuña wool? Have you ever ever ever heard that it’s each the softest and most costly commercially obtainable yarn and now chances are you’ll be questioning what the fuss is all about? You then purchased proper right here to the right place due to on this textual content I’m going to uncover the wonders of this invaluable fiber along with you.
First, the place does it come from? Vicuña (engl. vicuna) wool is obtained by the South American camelid (Lama vicugna) with the selfsame set up. These elusive and really shy animals dwell contained in the Andes at altitudes of three,200 meters (10,500 ft) and above between Peru and northern Chile.
The small mammals with a shoulder excessive of solely 75 – 85 cm produce terribly high-quality wool that has been valued provided that occasions of the Inca and before (even throughout the present day, the Vicuna is the nationwide animal of Peru). The simplest fine quality vicuna wool has a suggest thickness of 12-14 microns and the right consolation problem of all naturally obtained fibers. The consolation problem is 99 (out of 100) and one might say it’s the benchmark for all completely completely different fibers.
As in contrast with that, cashmere (15-19 microns) and Child Alpaca (~22.5 microns) practically appear coarse – notably as the same old is much a lot much less managed/standardized and divulges a hundreds wider vary of diameters (the point out variation of vicuna fiber is solely 19.5%!). The staple measurement is significantly transient (the point out measurement is solely 30.9mm; present) making it significantly laborious to spin.
The fibers are furthermore terribly delicate and that’s why most vicuna yarn and merchandise are provided undyed. Nonetheless, that doesn’t point out it’s straightforward to interrupt. Essentially, the frequent tensile power varies between 40 and 64 N/ktex, which is considered “very resistant” (present).
In its pure sort, it has a really creamy and easy golden brown colour harking back to cinnamon that I personally really actually really feel is to die for. It’s such a nice colour that you possibly can probably be uncover in lighter and richer hues relying on the producer (and presumably portion of the physique it has been obtained).
Studying tip: The ten most costly yarn on the earth
Knitting with vicuna wool
Now, it is a knitting weblog and important portion of this textual content material is certainly the knitting qualities of vicuna yarn. How delicate is it? What regarding the sew definition? And in the long term, is it value it? Let’s have a look.
1. (Perceived) Softness and Consolation problem
I’ve knitted with many a weird fiber in my 30 years of knitting. One might say it’s type of my specialty and principal curiosity. Cashmere, angora, qiviut, yak, you identify it. And it’s my sincere conviction that none of those aforementioned fibers come near vicuna wool. It’s outstandingly delicate.
And in distinction to Cashmere, the place an excessive amount of the perceived softness is created by the well-known halo (which paradoxically is an affect you in all probability can purchase with brushed merino wool as appropriately), vicuna yarn has a extra sturdy softness. It’s extra of a softness you come to know after carrying it for an prolonged time than on the primary contact (even whether it is really terribly delicate to the primary contact as appropriately).
The knitting yarn I had the pleasure of touching and utilizing furthermore was very lightweight – what most individuals would establish lace yarn. Because of this, the knitting I produced was outstandingly light.
Just some months beforehand, I be taught a report about Dhaka muslin and the best way through which Marie Antoinette favored it. The material was so skinny, that a whole robe was acknowledged to swimsuit by way of a hoop. An attribution I believed sounded a bit an excessive amount of like a fairy story in the interim. Nonetheless now, having knit with vicuna, that’s really precisely how the knitted supplies I produced looks as if.
It’s very troublesome to pinpoint nevertheless it certainly definitely practically looks as if what I produced with vicuna yarn is weightlessly delicate. Optimistic, the high-quality gauge (1.75mm needles) really helped. Nonetheless I ceaselessly knit with such small needles (and most industrial knitting machines use similar-sized hooks) and that supplies doesn’t even remotely really actually really feel like this.
So, I would positively say that the yarns I sampled so far delivered on their promise of luxurious softness.
2. Knitting Qualities
I furthermore need to discuss regarding the knitting qualities as that is really equally as attention-grabbing for lots of of my readers. Optimistic enough, feeling this ultra-soft thread gliding effortlessly all by way of my fingers – practically with out noticing – and touching the working progress is pure pleasure. I is likely to be mendacity if I acknowledged one factor fairly the other.
On the identical time, the thread is dangerously skinny. Not that it’d break at any time (on a facet uncover: an issue chances are you’ll expertise with lace cashmere yarn). No. Nonetheless, due to it’s so skinny and delicate, it’s fairly troublesome to deal with. Quite a lot of (my) knitting strategies problem contained in the resistance the yarn has to offer, its weight, its friction, and many others. And that’s practically totally lacking with vicuna yarn. There is no such issue as a resistance. You barely uncover it in the slightest degree. Because of this, it’s fairly troublesome to knit with.
In actuality, there’s the thought accompanying your knitting that each sew most definitely prices you 5 cents or so. And there’s no denying which can be a element why I knit so fastidiously as appropriately. Nonetheless the yarn itself is a serious set off as appropriately. And speaking about worth: Knitting a swatch to get gauge felt like almost certainly in all probability essentially the most excellent waste of cash and it took some basic convincing to take movement (nonetheless really, with such an costly yarn, swatching is much extra essential).
And correct proper right here’s however but yet another peculiar concern I seen: Vicuna are shy “flight animals” and their coat totally blends with their setting contained in the Peruvian Andes. Nonetheless I do ought to say that the affect is comparable in your needles and I personally had a tough time seeing the stitches. Not solely due to they have been so small, nonetheless due to this brownish greyish tone affords little distinction within the course of your fingers.
On prime of that, the yarn I used for my pattern knit (by Pascuali) was a 4-ply woven spun thread. And that makes it very “splitty” – irrespective of utilizing considerably blunt Knitter’s Delight Karbonz dpns (and positively not my HiyaHiyas). Even fixing a mistake, usually a easy matter of utilizing a crochet hook, grew to turn into an act that required large focus.
Now, really, I’ve not sampled each vicuna yarn on this planet and neither do I’ve the cash for that. Nonetheless then as quickly as additional, there aren’t an excessive amount of corporations promoting this invaluable fiber in a hand-knitting fine quality, so I really actually really feel my assertion is also very genuine nonetheless.
3. Is on the lookout for vicuna yarn value it?
The elephant contained in the room is, really, whether or not or not or not on the lookout for vicuna yarn is value it. And that’s positively a really troublesome query. Constructive, it’s outstandingly delicate and the colour is solely pretty. On the identical time, it’s not 10 occasions as delicate as cashmere or child yak, nevertheless it certainly has 10 occasions the value tag.
The knitting difficulties I confronted, and concepts you, I establish myself an skilled knitter, are actually nothing it is best to low worth every. Nothing an skilled knitter, like myself, can not deal with nonetheless nonetheless one issue value noting.
On the top of the day, I would say it’s a novelty concern and certainly not loads of a holy grail. I beloved having knitted with it so far, nevertheless it certainly definitely’s nothing that has me excited to avoid wasting numerous quite a few up cash for the subsequent 10 years till I should buy sweater elements of vicuna yarn. It’s a loooot of cash for significantly little little little bit of yarn. Nonetheless, for a knitter who has every issue, it’s really a once-in-a-lifetime expertise. Even merely touching it’s.
How hundreds does vicuna wool value?
Vicuna is the most costly commercially obtainable fiber on the earth. For a very very very long time, it was far costlier than gold (a indisputable fact that modified as a result of dramatic rise of the gold worth prior to now 2 a number of years and the elevated manufacturing of vicuna wool). There are solely a really chosen few producers who promote vicuna yarn to retail prospects.
Pascuali, AR Königstein (each based in Germany), and Windy Valley Muskox are in the interim the one corporations I do know of that promote vicuna yarn to crafters. A one-ounce skein of vicuna yarn in the interim prices between 250 and 300 US {{{dollars}}} (as of January 2022).
Just lately, a cross-breed between alpaca and vicuna, the so-called paco vicuna, has been launched. A particular few farms in Peru and the U.S. maintain these animals and a few of them promote their fibers. Paco Vicuna wool is form of as delicate and delicate. For the time being, costs for a one-ounce skein of the right fine quality paco vicuna wool vary between 150 and 200 US {{{dollars}}}.
After which, really, there is also furthermore guanaco yarn. Guanaco and vicuna are fastidiously associated and the Guanaco produces an equal yarn. As they dwell usually in decrease altitudes, the yarn is a tiny bit so much a lot much less delicate. It’s far more sturdy to offer as, on the very least so far, the yarn isn’t really harvested in a large-scale industrial technique.
Why is vicuna wool so costly?
Everytime you try the value of vicuna yarn – if yow will uncover it within the market in the slightest degree – then the frequent knitter will get a shock. As I merely acknowledged, it usually sells for 250 – 300 USD per ounce. For a similar worth, you’d get sweater elements of the best hand-dyed merino yarn. So why is vicuna wool so costly?
By the Nineteen Sixties, the inhabitants of vicuna was decreased to a mere 6,000 animals (primarily resulting from poaching) and thus it was declared an endangered animal. Because of the immense conservative efforts, the inhabitants has elevated inside the following a number of years to above 350,000 all by way of the altiplano (present). Nonetheless, the animals maintain elusive.
The truth that every vicuna solely produces about 500 grams of wool per 12 months and wool can solely be obtained from the wild and free-ranging animals after large large-scale hearding actions (commonly known as chaccu), along with its shortage, is a huge ponder figuring out the astronomical worth. In 2017, solely spherical 9.6 tons of vicuna wool have been produced in Peru in step with SERFOR.
On prime of that, producing vicuna wool is also very labor-intensive. The pure fiber is pre-dehaired manually to take care of the same old of the expensive fiber. A employee requires one month of working eight hours a day (30g per day) to dehair 1 kilogram of vicuna fiber (source).
It have to be well-known, nonetheless, that the easy employee in Peru is simply a small a part of the final worth chain and a very powerful chunk goes to the yarn processors in Italy which create the final phrase luxurious objects, notably Loro Piana. A single scarf (200 x 70 cm) will set you as soon as extra by 3,500 to 4,200 Euro (as of January 2022) for a lot of who purchase it from this Italian luxurious producer.
Vicuna FAQ
Correct proper right here on the top, I wanted to reply a few ceaselessly requested questions. Nonetheless be at liberty to remark beneath if there’s one issue else you want to know.
The place does vicuna wool come from?
A lot of the commercially obtainable vicuna wool comes from Peru, with hundreds smaller elements from Argentina and Chile. Just lately, animals have furthermore been launched to Ecuador. A lot of the yarn, nonetheless, is being processed in Italy, the place luxurious producers like Loro Piana specialize inside the bizarre fiber.
Is vicuna wool frequently brown?
By basic acceptance, vicuna wool is deemed to be too delicate for any harsh dyeing (which frequently entails pretreatment with acids) and is thus provided in its pure cinnamon-brown state. Loro Piana furthermore affords vicuna merchandise within the market in black, gray, darkish brown, and blue tones. I’ve not seen the uncooked yarn being provided in a single different colours nonetheless brown (and solely as rapidly as in black).
Paco vicuna yarn is, nonetheless, obtainable in a lighter hue as appropriately.
Vicuna vs alpaca wool
Vicuna are acknowledged to be the ancestors of the now-domesticated alpaca. So, the fibers share an excessive amount of the traits. On the identical time, alpaca yarn has usually a for for for much longer staple measurement, is far thicker (as so much as 18-30 microns on frequent), and is accessible in many alternative pure hues.
When as in contrast with a wonderful royal/child alpaca yarn, one will certainly uncover a distinction, nevertheless it certainly definitely’s not like vicuna wool was twice as delicate – in all probability 20-30% softer. Child camel yarn will potential be similar to it as appropriately and may very successfully be a “funds” different for any particular person who likes the pure brown tone and softness nonetheless can not afford the astronomical ticket of the so-called “gold of the Andes”.
