fedescataPeople who enjoy knitting usually don’t take time off from it, they just go on knitting year round, simply changing the type of yarn employed.
In simple terms, for summer garments cotton in various combinations is used, while, in the winter, different types of wool are usually preferred. For spring and fall, on the other hand, it is somewhat difficult to choose the right material.
Today I’m going to go over a kind of yarn I personally think is just perfect for these two seasons. It is born out of two precious yarns: cashmere and silk.
Silk, known since ancient times, is a fibre typically with little elasticity, very soft to touch, and very shiny. Its softness and sheen are much appreciated, but they are not the only valued characteristics. Silk absorbs humidity well, it doesn’t leave you with the wet feeling on the skin, and it is also a good thermic conductor, as well as an excellent electric insulator.
Wearing a silk scarf on the neck, brings a marvelous sensation of wellbeing.
Cashmere, on the other hand, is a flexible fibre, light and soft, with a great thermic insulation capability, both from cold and heat.
It is impossible to put into words the incredible softness and lightness of garments made with a mixed silk-cashmere yarn.
Surfing through the Hircus Filati site, you will find a large range of machine cashmere-silk yarn to create a great array of clothing and accessories. They will be loved by those who wear them.
Machine yarns can also be used for hand knitting. Obviously you will have too join more threads.
The sample shown below is made with three threads of mixed cashmere-silk (50% cashmere and 50% silk). The number metric of the yarn is Nm 2/28, so relatively thin.
In any case, three threads knitted together with size 3,5 needles are enough to knit an accessory or a clothing item. Surely you know that the choice of knitting needles size also depends on your “hand”. Mine, for instance, is rather loose, so if yours is tight, I suggest you use number 4 needles. Just try it over a few times, bearing in mind that cashmere doesn’t work well with tight work :-).
While knitting this small sample, I was really impressed by the softness and the sheen of the yarn. It is such a pleasure to touch and work with it, that probably, shortly, I will come up with some sort of project made with cashmere-silk.
Cheers
Alicja Kwartnik
for Hircus Filati
