Skein #25 Silk Fine Textured Yarn

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

Fiber

Silk

Type

Bombyx mori coocoon strippings

Reason for choice of this sample

There are enough medium legnth fibers in this silk waste to make a solid yarn and hold in the smaller noils, but few long fibers that would tend to make a very fine yarn.

Source

Treenway Silks — Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada

Preparation for spinning

I carded the fiber twice and made punis. At each stage, I removed as much debris and unspinnible fiber as possible and there was still more to pick out during spinning.

Equipment used

Wool hand cards, cotton hand cards, wood dowel, flyer spinning wheel

Type of spinning

Short forward draft

Direction of Twist

Z

Number of plies

1

Finishing

Washed and blocked

Suggested uses

Weft for light-duty home decorating fabrics, such as for pillows. It should be used with a warp that can withstand the degumming process. Without degumming, it can be used for decorative mats or other items that can be stored flat or rolled, as the stiff yarn will crease. The short and irregular fibers make this yarn weaker than most silks.

Notes

Maximum 54 points

Examiner 1: 54

Examiner 2: 54

I tried several combinations of waste silks for a textured yarn. It was easier to pick the trash out of this than bugs out of the tussah noil. Noil has to be blended with something longer to make a yarn with any strength. Also, this is an unusual fiber that most people haven't seen. The fiber came roughly carded but full of trash, I didn't know it wasn't degummed until I tried to wash some yarn and it all stuck together. Almost all silks available to spinners, even the waste fibers, have been degummed and Treenway's description of the product didn't mention it.