Metallic yarn is the one that catches the light – used for evening wear, for Christmas decorations, and held alongside a plain yarn to add a subtle glint.
How it is made
Most metallic yarn is not metal in any meaningful sense. It is made from strips of synthetic film, usually polyester, coated with metallic particles. In another method, strips of aluminium foil are sandwiched between layers of film. A third approach twists a strip of metal around a natural or synthetic core, giving a genuinely metallic surface.
The film starts as wide rolls, thirty inches or more across. These are slit into narrower rolls, then slit again across their width into micro widths – from around 1/128 of an inch upward – and wound onto spools.
The result is usually supported by a nylon, polyester or rayon core, which is what gives it enough strength to be worked at all.
What that means in practice
Understanding the construction explains most of its behaviour.
It has almost no stretch. The film core does not give the way a spun fibre does, so a dropped stitch runs rather than sitting and waiting for you.
It can be scratchy. Those film strips have edges. Metallic yarn used alone is often uncomfortable against skin, which is why it is more common in accessories and decorations than in sweaters.
It is strong but brittle. It resists abrasion well and snaps cleanly rather than fraying.
It is slippery on the needles. Metal needles plus metallic yarn is a frustrating combination; wood or bamboo grips far better.
Working with it
Holding a fine metallic thread alongside your main yarn is usually more successful than working with it alone. You get the shimmer without the scratchiness, and the main yarn provides the elasticity that the metallic lacks.
Work in good light and check back over your rows more often than usual. A dropped stitch in metallic yarn travels.
Go up a needle or hook size from what the thickness suggests. The lack of give means a normal gauge comes out stiffer than expected.
Care
This is where metallic yarn demands attention. Heat is the enemy: the film will melt, so keep an iron away from it entirely, and steam only from a distance if at all.
Hand wash cool and dry flat. Many metallic yarns specify dry cleaning, and where the ball band says so it is worth following – the coating can be stripped by ordinary detergent.
Store finished pieces flat and away from anything abrasive. The coating is what does all the visual work, and once it has rubbed off it does not come back.
