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The Quick Story of Pearl Yarn

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pearl yarn zealanaVogue Knitting is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its resurrection this year, and as part of the happy event New Zealand yarn company Zealana produced a limited edition fine weight yarn spun with pearls (some kind of fancy spinning technology allows the pearls to be permanently infused into the cell walls of the tencel the fiber is made from). The yarn is said to be luminous, silky and nourishing because the pearls help keep your skin hydrated.

Just 500 skeins of the yarn were made — presented in cool black jeweler’s boxes — and 100 of them went to String Yarns in New York City. They went on sale Friday and literally sold out overnight. The yarn went to just a handful of retailers across the country (you can find them on this Ravelry page; free signup required) and several were reporting the yarn had already sold out.

This is one I’m sure to never get my hands on; I’m not sure I even want to know how much such a thing would cost (none of it’s turned up on eBay yet). Would you shell out the cash for a yarn made with pearls? Spill it!

[Photo by Zealana/Yarn Sisters.]

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Comments

  1. It looks beautiful and I’m sure it feels amazing to knit with it. Yeah, I would buy it if it wasn’t TOO expensive. But it’s almost too pretty to knit with. I would probably just keep it in the box and stroke it now and then. Is that weird?

  2. WoW ~ how cool is that?! It always amazes me with what they come out with. Makes you wonder what’s next?!
    ‘hugs from afar’

  4. I’d like some pearl yarn. Not because I knit (one of very few people in Sweden sho didn’t learn how to knit in school) or use yarns very often, but because I love fiber and especially unusual fibers. Haven’t seen this one before, but have had my eyes on another pearl yarn, Sublime Bamboo & Pearls dk. (I even had to google DK, that’s how much I know about knitting yarns…).

    Of cause I do love pearls as they are, but pearls used for yarns are so low grade they wouldn’t be suitable for jewellery anyway. At least I assume that’s the case, kind of like which beads are milled in to MOP powders/pigments.

    @Christine: Hope not because that’s what I do too! Both with my beads and my yarns and embroidery threads. 😉

  5. Christine: It’s not wierd. Tangeling it up, intentionally, then using it as a holloween costume wig would be wierd.
    As for buying it, no. I’m sure its very costly.
    Besides, they have to pry open the shell to get to the pearl, so any one animal only makes one pearl. Rather crewl to the animal, but then they almost die in the process of creating a pearl anyway, even naturally. Let alone if humans seed them.
    I really don’t like the idea of killing animals just to get pretties.
    But then they also harvest the animal itself for food not just the pearls.
    I do eat meat and feel bad about it, but just can’t seem to give up my chicken and fish.
    I feel very bad for the chickens especially.
    Ok, I’ll stop now. ^_^

  6. Nah, I can’t afford it. i have one skein of yarn currently. Im waiting on good prices at the thrift store, or a good sweater to be the right price.

  7. I am really curious as to why they say that the pearls would hydrate the skin. You have to be careful with pearls ensuring that they get enough moisture from the air so I can’t see them hydrating anything.

  8. I was able to get a skein at my LYS, it cost about $45 for 617 yards or 100 grams. I can get a shawlette and maybe some mini fingerless gloves out of it so I didn’t think the price was too much.

  9. I missed the boat on Pearl, but I called Yarn Sisters and they were kind enough to call me back! They are starting another line of their pearl yarn as Black Pearl in a variety of colors that supposed to be out in the late fall 2012!

  10. I would buy it in a heart beat and knit it up in to a scarf too, so I could snuggle it around my neck. It was very reasonably priced as well, only $35 per skin and its 617 yards. Other fibers are much pricier considering the yardage. just hope I get a crack a the black pearl coming out soon.

  11. I would buy it in a heart beat and knit it up in to a scarf too, so I could snuggle it around my neck. It was very reasonably priced as well, only $35 per skin and its 617 yards. Other fibers are much pricier considering the yardage. just hope I get at crack a the black pearl coming out soon.

Have you read?

Add a Little Lace to Your Knitting Patterns

If you’re new to lace knitting or just aren’t sure how to incorporate the technique into garments, check out these tops and sweaters that use lace as a decorative element.

The easiest lace out there is eyelets, and you can practice them plenty with this eyelet covered sweater from Knitcro Addict. It uses light/DK weight yarn and is worked in four pieces knit flat. It’s intended to be a little cropped and a little oversized, and includes sizes XS to XXL in the pattern.

If you’re in parts of the world where it’s getting colder as you read this, the Nora sweater from Bummbul might be a good choice. This is actually a great one for learning lace because it’s worked in super bulky yarn, which makes it easier to see what you’re doing and makes the lace super graphic. This one just comes in one size, with a 42 inch (106) cm bust, but that could fit a variety of people depending on how much ease you like.

Minimi Knit Design has a cute allover lace cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up. It’s worked in lace weight mohair held double, which maybe isn’t the best for those new to lace (because it can be hard to rip out) but it sure is pretty. Sizes range to fit from 30 to 66 inches/76 to 168 cm bust measurements.

If you’d rather not have lace all over your sweater, you can knit the Lumi sweater from Originally Lovely, which has a chevron lace pattern on the yoke and is otherwise worked in reverse stockinette stitch. (It’s worked inside out so you don’t have to purl every stitch.) The pattern has 9 sizes from XS to 5XL and uses worsted weight yarn.

Or try the super romantic sookie blouse from Trust the mojo (available on Ravelry). This sweet top is started working flat from the bottom up and has a V-neck and I-cord edgings. The sleeves are worked separately in the round, and the pieces are all joined together to work in one piece to finish off the top. It comes in eight sizes and is available in English and French.

You can also pair lacy sleeves with an otherwise plain top, like on the Starflower Wrap from Annelise Driscoll Gingrow. This intermediate pattern makes a wrap sweater with generous lacy sleeves and a double wrap belt. The pattern has nine sizes, from XS to 5XL, and is available for free from Hobbi.