This evening, after sitting at the loom for half an hour, then treadling the Mazurka for an hour, I decided to pull out the silk hankies I had purchased a while back. I've been meaning to get back to them and found myself in just the mood this evening. Not making anything fancy out of them, just a pure silk artsy yarn. This stuff is fun. There is a great write-up with visuals about how silk hankies are made here: Wormspit.
Wormspit is Michael Cook's adventures raising silk worms in Texas, and his wonderful blog is here. I met him a few years back when he was in town for the Museum of Natural History's Silk Road exhibit. His silk work was featured in the show. We met for dinner along with a few other fiber enthusiasts. A fond memory of a delightful time.
As I was "drafting" apart the hankies I had the idea that I'd like to try core spinning with these. That's going to be another project... it's on my list!
I spun these hankies on a hand made spindle I purchased from Cheap Twills last December. At that time she was still living in the area I grew up in, in NH. She has since moved back to Texas, but that day she was selling hand spun yarn, spindles, gourd art, and weaving at a roadside holiday stand. This little twirlyhoo spins like crazy! I can't believe the speed it gets. The fastest spindle I have! Pics below.
While winding down the evening, I drafted six hankies and spun them up into a 16 yard, 2-ply sample. It is super duper soft and luxurious. I like it!
Y-U-M-!-!-!
I love the color of your silk hankie. I have one in a blue purple, but I haven't done anything with it yet!
ReplyDeleteThey are really quite fun, Michele. The fibers are so long and strong, making them easy to spin. Just draft out to the desired thickness of roving then add twist. They don't need much twist either--though I did use a reasonable amount since I wanted a good ply. In fact one can knit with the unspun, drafted out fibers!
ReplyDeleteI've actually knit a little bit (and I mean very little, maybe a dozen stitches) with a silk hankie. No spindle work at all, just the hankie and some knitting needles. Very interesting to play with.
ReplyDelete