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Silk: The Stuff of Dreams

© Suzanne Griffith

There is not much more romantic for the fiber artist than silk. When I think of silk, I think of the brilliant colors of silk embroidery, the shimmer of silk brocade, and the artistry of the kimono. I imagine the ancient Silk Road from China to Europe through Central Asia, of walking with a caravan through the Khyber Pass and stopping in Samarkand, the 2,500 year old city where the mosques and plazas are covered in turquoise mosaic.

Silk, made from the cocoons of silk worms, used to be expensive and exotic in North America, but as world trade expands, silk has become affordable. This fiber, like wool, retains heat and absorbs moisture; it does not shrink or stretch. Although normally seen in woven fabrics, silk is a fiber that shouldn't be missed by knitters and spinners.

If you haven't knit with silk before, I think Tahki Chelsea is pretty representative of 100 percent silk handknitting yarn. You can see a good closeup photo of it at The Fiber Shop. Notice the sheen on the blue yarns. I like silk with sheen. A few years ago, I traded in some Icelandic lopi yarn that I bought too much of and came home with enough soft, thick olive drab silk yarn to make myself a vest. It's still in a bag on a shelf, although I've done several swatches with it and bought some smoky gray-black beads to make it look a little classier. I look good in the color, but it just doesn't seem like silk without sheen. This bag of yarn should teach me that when I get something on an exchange, it's not really free!

Silk for hand knitting may be at its best in a blend. Here are two examples I found on the Internet: Suri Silk, an attractive combination of alpaca and silk, and Anny Blatt Ingenue, a silk/polyamide blend.

Silk for spinning is available as tussah and Bombay, in the form of bricks, top, caps, and noil, among others, as you can see at Lady Peddler. Tussah is slightly darker in color than the white Bombay silk -- tan or ecru. I've spun from dyed silk caps. Mine are a deep variegated blue-purple color and quite easy to spin, if you don't mind a few slubs. If you want a closer-to-perfect yarn, I'd recommend spinning carded silk. Handspun silk is exceptionally good for combining with other fibers, for example, gold silk noil carded in with a fine black wool. A dyed silk single will provide brilliant color when combined with a mohair single; you might add a wool single, too. The Ashford Book of Spinning by Anne Field (Benton Ross, 1988) suggests adding a little vinegar to the rinse water when you wash your spun silk to restore that sheen I like so much. If you find that, like me, you don't like the hard feel of silk when spinning it, use some hand lotion beforehand.