Adventures in Silk

I showed you the mawata (also known as silk hankies) I got from Stitches South a couple of weeks ago.  Essentially they are square, thin layers of silk.  I decide to knit mine without spinning them first.

I had four different colors of hankies, each without about 15-20 layers.

This is what a single hankie looks like.

I gently stripped off each layer of silk.

The layers are very thin (see the layer on the left).  You can see right through them.

I poked a whole in the center of the layer and started stretching them into a thin loop.

When the loop was the thickness of about a worsted weight yarn, I broke it to make just one long line of silk.  Silk as very long and very strong fibers.

I rolled the strands up into a little multi-colored ball.  It is alarming how small the ball is, but if I did the math right, it should be enough for a pair of adult mittens ( I hope...)

Here is what I started to knit.

Pretty colors, yes?

This was a very fun if slightly frustrating project at first.  You have to keep your hands really smooth and moisturized or the silk catches on them:

My picture is sideways  but you get the point.  Sticky fibers.

I sent some silk hankies to Porpoise as well.  She said she is going to spin hers, so it will be interesting to see the differences in the way they knit up.