Silky as silk

100% pure Tussah silk

This is how the fibers are looking right off the bag, nice and soft sliver.

This is how it looks while spinning.

It's really not looking much like silk with all that fuzz, so I was a little nervous at this point.

Then I plied it, washed it.

I got this result.

The skein is very soft with a nice shine still a little fuzzy to my taste, about 100 grams, 400 yards.

Still it is very nice, I will spin what I got but I guess I'll have to go with bombyx/mulberry to get the results I really want.  Anyways it was a fun experiment I will probably dye some later when the weather will warm up, I can't open any windows at the moment.

Even more Merino/silk

Dawson from Ashford.

I like this colour blend it gives a heathery denim yarn.

This is how the sliver looks like.

This is the 2 ply yarn resulting from that sliver.

First skein, 250 grams/662 yards.

Skein #2 250 grams/642 yards.

Skein #3 250 grams/400 yards

Skein #4 250 grams/586 yards

Here they are all together.

A beautiful pile of very soft yarn.  It's been keeping me busy, it's really worth the resulting yarn I think this is absolutely lovely.

Pickwickflock...cotswold lamb fleece to yarn

Test skein

It was lovely to spin. It's soft, lustrous and a little fuzzy.

Test knit

I knitted it with 4mm Knitter's Pride Dreamz, as it got some fuzz I did try larger needles as I would do for mohair to see how it would react.

Now the real deal!!!

376 yards/150 grams

It is very nice, soft, lustrous... still need a good wash.

The final result...

washed with shampoo and rinse with some hair conditioner, then I used the salad spinner to drain off all the water and to finish a good whack.  The photo is showing it drying.

I named the first skein Big Pearl... and I think it deserved some little ribbons.

This one is even softer as I didn't twist as much as the test one, and it really does make a difference.

It even got a twin!

A blog about fiber / Un blog rempli de fibres

Fibers!!!!


This is not about diet. I have to confess for years I've been addicted to fibers, I'm a knitter and I enjoy shopping at the local stores feeling the softness, the colour schemes of their yarns, until they closed one after the other. My options were buying yarns at the large surface stores and getting low quality, knowing very well the results wouldn't meet the time invested. I fired up the computer to my rescue, I started searching for good yarn stores in a larger area to see if I could nourish my addiction, all I found was for one: long distance driving (time + cost of fuel) second: price of yarn. I wasn't happy, I went back searching for on line stores instead, this was an interesting search 100s of on line yarn stores to look at, compare quality, price, shipping and overall services.

It's not like I don't have any patience as you can see I crocheted this large filet curtain... so there was time to start a new adventure. Click here, click there, first I found out most on line stores were from the US and since I'm living in Canada I was trying to find good deals here first but it's not easy the postal fees are very high, so I though to check ebay, really nothing local, looking at the first 3 pages all the sellers were in China, thanks but no thanks. Then I turned looking to the US if I could find something interesting. DBNY yarn girls got some very good quality yarn and fair shipping with sales and discounts, I ordered on January 6th 2012 the order didn't get shipped until January 11th even with payment confirmation on the 6th, delivered on the 17th, the yarn was well packed in perfect condition. For an average of $2.52 per skein including the shipping for top quality well known brand 100% mercerised cotton it was a really good deal as they were selling on this side of the border even on sale from $6.00 to $9.00 per skein and not including the shipping. From my experience, I can say it's worth taking the time to check if you are looking for deals.

http://www.discontinuedbrandnameyarn.com/shop/