Luxe Yarns for Knitting At Home
Filed under: Apparel

Sometimes there exists the mistaken notion that do-it-yourselfers are not interested in luxury products. Made by hand, no longer only implies a cost cutting measure and no where is this more evident than in the products available to home knitters. What better way to give yourself a gift than to use the finest fibers available on the market.
The fine fiber yarns available both through specialty shops and the Internet offer a range of products for those who don't care if the raw materials cost more than the average finished sweater one might find in a high-end retail store.
We've previously written about String, a knitting store with branches in New York and Greenwich, which now offers customers its exclusive Cashinetta yarn. This chunky 100% cashmere yarn is available in 7 colors and each 160 yard ball of yarn sells for $180 a piece.
Other entries in the luxury yarn market include products from, Windy Valley Muskox, a family farm located in Alaska. The company is devoted to providing knitters with unusual high quality yarns from exotic animals. There is pure Qiviut, which is from the fine undercoat of the Muskox and sells for $90 per 218 yard ball. According to the manufacturer this rare fiber is considered warmer than wool and finer than cashmere. This unusual fiber is also hypoallergenic and will not shrink. They also offer Vicuna another rare fiber from the almost extinct ancestor of the modern day alpaca. The Vicuna lives only in the upper regions of the Andes Mountains and the methods of obtaining the fiber under strict regulation by the Peruvian government to protect the remaining animals.. Vicuna yarn, only available in its natural cinnamon color, is offered for $300 per 214 yard ball of yarn.
Tanglewood Fiber Creations offers hand-spun and hand dyed cashmere through local knitting stores and on-line retailers. One aspect of their unique natural cashmere is that the great natural variety is seen in individual skeins and is priced accordingly. The hand dyed cashmere is offered knittingcentral.com for prices ranging from $144 to $180 for various sized balls of yarn. They also offer hand spun yarn that has been laced with vintage beads, again by hand, for the knitter who likes the combination of the natural textured cashmere and a little sparkle. Knitting Central sells 50 yard balls for $189 on-line or at their store in Westport, Connecticut.
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