Premium Fibers and Yarns

What are premium fibers?  Are they worth the price?  Are they easy or hard to work With? 

Premium fibers are high end but not necessarily super expensive.  They can be synthetic,  animal and some plant origin.  They can be a fancy synthetic that adds glamour and glitz.  At the top of the spectrum is the yarn made from pearls in 2012 to celebrate an anniversary of Vogue Knitting, as well as yarn made from vicuna or musk oxen (quiviut).  These fibers range in price from a few hundred dollars an ounce to nearly a thousand for actual yarn.  This goes down a bit (not much) if you can get the fiber and spin it yourself or if you can get the yarn from a wholesale site or auction site.

Not many of us can easily afford these super premium fibers.  So let's step back a bit and look at this list below. Note that the higher end fibers will be mixed with wool or cotton to bring down the price charged to the public.

• angora bunny fiber
• angora goat fiber (mohair)
• cashmere goat fiber (cashmere)
• llama
• alpaca
• bison
• possum (New Zealand possums, not the sole marsupial of North America)
• hemp
• linen
• merino
• silk
• organic cotton
• Sea Island cotton

I'm not listing synthetics because there are so many brands.  There's the most affordable and readily available Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft, but these aren't really premium.  They are however the go to for many people for many reasons (affordability by the masses, wide range of colors to name a couple). 

Even wools and cottons can go from pedestrian to premium.  Dishcloth cotton (think sugar and crème and handicrafter and kitchen cotton) can range from inexpensive but durable to more expensive but not necessarily out of  pocket expensive (think takhi mercerized cotton yarn to name one) yarns that yield some perks that the readily available don't.  Wools can range from animals that are known as meat animals (very coarse wool that is more suitable for rugs and other non wearables) to the finest merinos which can be so very soft.  

Now all this goes completely out the window when we travel to other countries than the US.  Some of the most readily available yarns in the US are actually are very expensive and desired in other countries.  Location, location, location as my favorite realtor says really does mean a lot.  Fabulous silks are commonplace in other parts of the world.  Premium cottons like Egyptian are common elsewhere.  

So while this list is incomplete at best, it is a starting place for you to consider what might be a purchase of something out of your ordinary and a way to consider more premium fibers.  Most importantly, purchase the fibers and yarns you will actually enjoy working with and wearing as well as meet your needs.  Only you can answer these questions.  Own your knitting and crocheting.  Be proud of what you create.