Skein #24 Silk Extra Fine Textured Yarn

Image 1: Fiber Sample Image 2: Yarn Skein Image 3: Yarn Detail

Fiber

Silk

Type

Bombyx mori mawata

Reason for choice of this sample

The required expanded cocoon silk best matched this skein. Cap form mawata is easily available.

Source

Hunt Country Yarns — Middleburg, Virgina

Preparation for spinning

I peeled off two layers at a time, enlarged them into a circle and broke it into two approximately 50 cm lengths.

Equipment used

Flyer spinning wheel

Type of spinning

Short forward draft

Direction of Twist

Z

Number of plies

1

Finishing

Wet blocked

Suggested uses

Weft for garment fabrics. With a fine closely set warp, the fabric is gently machine washable. The silk fibers are strong but this soft low twist yarn has a fragile surface. With little twist for it's size, it can be used for some types of knit or crochet lace as long as the finished piece is blocked. It requires a great deal of care to avoid snags.

Notes

Maximum 54 points

Examiner 1: 51

Examiner 2: 44

Examiner 1 noted that more twist would make it stronger and more lustrous. Examiner 2 commented that this is not textured enough.

I experimented with a few ideas before I decided to do this low-twist yarn. Some people are knitting directly with fiber pulled out of mawata, with no twist at all. The yarn itself is actually fairly strong, but prone to snagging surface fibers. This is one that I think is technically interesting but not something I can use because I think it should be woven with a very fine warp. The result should be a little like dupioni, a fabric with a slub weft from irregular double cocoons.