Skanny was valued because it was one of the few forms that could be pulled through the ground material rather than being couched on the surface of the cloth. This type of gold thread was often used for the hair of angels that were depicted in ecclesiastical embroideries.
Source: TOLMACHOFF, Eugenia (1947). 'Ancient Russian ecclesiastical embroideries,' Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club, vol. 31, pp. 3-56, p. 15 in particular. Download here.
https://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/articles/nb47_emb.pdf (retrieved 27 March 2016)
GVE