Zealana Air - Possum Down

I started 2013 with a post about possum yarn, should you wish to visit that post, click here.  Possum yarn is a specialty of New Zealand where the possum has been considered a pest since the early to mid 20th century.  Possum yarn is described as ultra soft, durable, pill resistant as well as lighter and warmer than cashmere.  I have been intrigued to touch and use this yarn since I wrote that post.

I even went so far as to talk to my LYS owner about specialty wool and yarn several months ago when I was investigating the qualities of wool from different varieties of sheep.   We discussed the dynamics of stocking natural yarns like those that have not been dyed as well as special and rare types of wool.  She mentioned that specialty yarns are expensive to purchase because they often come from abroad and/or use rare or exotic (think expensive) wool.  This added expense causes her customers to shy away from them often meaning the yarn must be put on sale leaving little or no profit in them for her.   Obviously the LYS owner needs to be interested in profits to stay in business so the economic reality of stocking unusual yarns is a consideration she must make.  I promised her if I found specialty yarns in her shop I would purchase them.

When I returned from my latest trip I was in need of a yarn fix and my LYS is the supplier of choice.  All I need is a few minutes of oogling, touching and thinking about yarn to help get my knitting mojo back.   While doing just that I found Zealana Air, a yarn made of 40% cashmere, 40% brushtail possum down and 20% mulberry silk.  (Want to know more about the yarn, click on the name above.)  It comes in lace weight, 25 gm cakes in several colours; these little gems run about $24/cake $CAD.  One has to remember, however, it does contain pricey cashmere as well as exotic possum down.  I knew I had to have a cake or two.

They were the same size, but one has been used already.

One of the things on my to do list has been to knit up a few fingerless gloves.  If you were to look at my stash of knitting patterns you'd see I have about a dozen patterns tucked away for the right yarn.  So with only 191 yards per cake the luscious Zealana Air possum yarn and fingerless gloves were a match made in heaven.

A quick look on Ravelry gave me Light as AIR Fingerless Gloves by Nathalie O'Shea.  This simple pattern designed for this yarn showcases its wonderful qualities.  And the tiny cables at the wrists give a certain elegance to the piece.  I did use an I-cord bind off at the top which in my mind mimics the more simple bind off at the thumb.  I have one glove done but not yet blocked:

Despite my best efforts to eliminate the ladder (seen as a line running down from where the middle finger would be in the glove) one can still see the spot where the selections meet.  My hope is that blocking will help cover that problem.  The instructions for blocking give me hope as it says this yarn will bloom quite a bit in the wash.  I also have a few antique buttons in black I want to add running up the wrist, they just need to be found~~ :-}

Oh, and I should say something about the tactile nature of this yarn.  It is luxuriously soft, bouncy, warm as can be and a complete joy to knit.  It took about 3 hours to make up this first glove, I just couldn't put it down because of the lovely fabric it makes.

So this yarn allowed me to support my LYS by shrinking the inventory of an expensive yarn and moved me into the world of fingerless gloves.  It also brought back my knitting mojo after a short vacation as well.  Win--Win--Win!