The most luxurious weaving yarn on the market. Spun in Italy from 100% pure wild vicuña fiber, this lace-weight yarn is warm, elegant, and soft as a cloud. It comes from the same Italian mill that supplies the haute couture fashion houses, and this yarn is used by many elite designers for their finest woven goods. Our 2/28 lace-weight vicuña yarn has the warm cinnamon hue of natural vicuña and an unbelievably soft hand. It will produce scarves, shawls, and other fabrics of unparalleled luxury. Excellent as both warp and weft, although we recommend warping under gentle tension. For more information about vicuña fiber and the vicuña trade, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions on our main vicuña page.

Each order is wound by hand onto a 4” styrene bobbin. Available as a one gram sample (14 meters / 15 yards) or as a full bobbin containing 20 grams of yarn (280 meters / 300 yards). The full bobbin size arrives in a handsome black gift box. Each lot is individually numbered and includes a certificate of authenticity.

* All Shepherd Textiles vicuña products are imported under license by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Our vicuña is fully traceable to healthy wild populations listed in Appendix II of the treaty. Please note that all sales of vicuña products are final.

One of the rarest and most exclusive of the natural fibers, Cervelt® is spun from the winter coat of the Scottish red deer (cervus elaphus scoticus). The deer's downy fibers are remarkably warm and fine, with an average fiber diameter (AFD) of only 13 or 14 microns. It is an excellent textile fiber, but its production is limited by nature: a full-grown red deer produces only about 20 grams of usable down fiber each year. Our 100% Cervelt Yarn, Lace Weight (2/28) is a pure Cervelt yarn intended for weaving or machine-knitting. This is the same Cervelt yarn used by Savile Row tailors and Italian fashion designers, perhaps most famously to knit a $1,500 pair of Cervelt socks. The yarn is excellent as either weft or warp, although as a short staple fiber (~1") it can snap if warped under too much tension. It is also sensitive to moisture and performs best on the loom when the relative humidity is between 50% and 70%. Like many short-staple fibers, Cervelt has to be spun with a high twist, so the yarn will feel crisp (not fluffy or soft) on the bobbin. However, the yarn will relax after wet finishing and the true softness wil develop. An excellent choice for weaving warm, elegant garments with beautiful luster and drape.

Approximately 14,000 meters per kilogram. Available as a 1-gram sample on a bobbin (14 meters), a full bobbin containing 20 grams of yarn (280 meters), or a 100-gram spindle (1,400 meters). Product of New Zealand. Cervelt® is a registered trademark of Douglas Creek Limited.

Shepherd Textiles 100% Royal Alpaca Yarn (2/28) is the finest alpaca weaving yarn on the market. Fewer than 1% of all alpaca fleeces are fine enough to be classed as “royal,” which is defined by having an average fiber diameter (AFD) of only 18 or 19 microns. The resulting yarn is exceptionally soft, comparable to the best cashmere, but also very strong on account of the long staple length. Our Royal Alpaca Yarn, 2/28 performs exceptionally well as both warp and weft, and we use it as one of our primary yarns for weaving coverlets, shawls, and tartans. Stronger, warmer, and softer to the touch than similar weights of wool yarn. Approximately 40 wraps per inch (WPI). Recommended tabby sett of 30-36 ends per inch (EPI) depending on the desired finished cloth feel.

Sold in 1kg cones. Approximately 14,000 meters per kilogram.

Product of Peru. Handwash in cold water; lay flat to dry.

One of the world’s most exclusive fibers, lotus silk is produced from the fine threads found inside the stem of the padonma lotus (nelumbo nucifera). According to tradition, lotus silk was invented 100 years ago by Daw Sa U, a master weaver living in Shan State in Myanmar. She discovered how to painstakingly extract the bast fibers by snapping open the stems, twisting out and drying the threads, and spinning them into yarn which she wove into robes for local monks. This process is extremely delicate and slow, and it requires the threads from more than 30,000 lotuses to make enough yarn to weave a single yard of cloth.

Our Lotus Silk Yarn (10/1) is produced according to Daw Sa U’s traditional method. It is handspun on Inle Lake in Myanmar in the workshop of Ms. Kyin Mo Win. It is a single-ply yarn measuring about 1,100 yards/100 g., and appropriate for warp or weft.

Please note that real lotus silk is not as soft as mulberry silk, nor does it have a high luster. This is, in fact, a very rustic yarn that is celebrated in Myanmar not because of its softness but because of its spiritual connotations. In Theravada Buddhism, a lotus flower growing up and blossoming on top of muddy water symbolizes the pure mind attaining self-awareness in the midst of worldly illusion (samsara). Spinning and weaving robes from lotus silk is an act of merit-making, and garments made of lotus silk are especially appropriate for monks, nuns, and all those who aim not to harm sentient beings. On the bobbin you may feel that the raw yarn feels a bit like cardboard, however, when it is woven and broken in it becomes much softer and develops a hand similar to fine linen.

Product of Myanmar. Hand wash in cold water; lay flat to dry.