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Silky Cashmere Fingering from Lotus Yarns

Silky Cashmere Fingering
Fibre: 55% Silk/45% Cashmere
Yardage: 400 yards/20oz (365meters/55grams)
Hook: Aluminium crochet hook 4/0 (2.5mm)

The yarn came in hanks, and at fingering weight, can be easily unwound from the hank (either on a swift or the back of a chair) and made into centre-pull balls. Although I haven’t yet managed to make a decent centre-pull ball because the tail end of the yarn was always disappearing into the ball as it gets bigger. Maybe next time.

The yarn is viciously soft and shiny – thanks to the combination of silk and Mongolian cashmere. The yarn also has similar qualities to a thread that I am quite familiar with – rayon. Rayon is artificial silk (viscose) and is quite shiny too. However, Silky Cashmere has resiliency that rayon doesn’t have.

I started using this yarn following a necklace pattern that I designed (originally for cotton) some time ago. Then I enlarged this pattern to make a shrug/scarf. I thought that this was a good way to get to know the yarn better, using only small quantities of the yarn for testing.

Five motifs completed.

Now what I have in mind for this yarn at the moment is a lacy bolero made up of motifs joined together in the free-form way. I completed five motifs following charted patterns in Duplet 112 and Duplet Swimsuit 3.

Motifs from Duplet crochet magazine.

The motifs are then arranged on the table in the order that I intend to join them. I thought of the largest motif going on the upper back of the bolero and the smaller motifs on the shoulder/upper arm and the smallest motifs for the sleeves. The motifs are all different.

The motifs as joined.

Before joining the motifs together, I made a ch-mesh outline around the motifs. I prefer to work the mesh of the type “dc, ch 3, dc.” Then I started joining them beginning along the upper portion of the bolero (the shoulder line). I decided to keep ths line fairly straight so the bottom portion may be irregularly shaped and could be more visually interesting.

Detail of the motif on the right sleeve of the bolero.

The motifs selected for the bolero have strong edges reinforced by sc’s. I need good sturdy motifs and not light ones. I selected flat motifs for the back and shoulders and the last two motifs at the cuffs have 3-dimensional flowers. I wanted to keep the main body of the bolero fairly flat while the ends of sleeves can have a more 3-dimensional design.

Detail of the motif on thee left sleeve of the bolero.

Detail of the motif on the left sleeve of the bolero.

Hopefully, I will be able to make a size and fit that takes advantage of the mild resiliency of silky cashmere fingering yarn. This means a bolero that’s a bit fitting around the arms and shows off the lace design against the skin.

Detail of the motif on the back of the bolero.

I didn’t use any needle joining for the motifs. This time, I used wholly crocheted joins. Work is much faster this way and teaches me to join irregular shaped motifs.

The work in progress.

The shell for my motifs bolero is complete. I took measurements yesterday and this is definitely in size Medium, one size larger than the first attempt, the bolero in purple colour.

The bolero shell - this is a modified version of The Glitter Girl Bolero as found in the book "100 Crochet Projects."

Now working on the pattern a second time, it is now quite obvious that the bolero’s shape takes from tailor’s patterns. The V-stitch increases resemble darts employed in tailor’s patterns to shape a garment. The V-stitch seem most suitable for this purpose as the stitch is quite simple to work and use for increase and decrease in crochet shaping.

Previously, I have attempted shaping with more complex stitches, and those failed rather easily. It is much better to start with simple stitches to build complex shapes and constructions.

I am now working on the motifs for the bolero. Again, I am using Duplet magazine as reference for the motifs, and as usual, I modify the patterns to produce new ones.

My favourite reference for this project is Duplet Swimsuit Edition #3. There are leaf and flower motifs there that are quite useful.

I am making motifs using and modifying patterns from the Duplet Swimsuit Issue.

Colors were challenging at first, not so much because it was difficult to work out a scheme but moreso because I had to work with current stash. I didn’t really want to buy new threads for this project.

Lavender is the base color of the bolero. Yellow compliments lavender so I used some of the threads in my stash that had the yellow tinge. There is the pale yellow in rayon and variegated cotton in ochre. Green was slightly trickier because what I had in stock were brigher shades of green that didn’t seem suitable. Luckily, I still have a half ball of cotton in dark green which I felt added contrast to the colour combination without being garish.

I can never work on a single project continuously which is why I usually have two works-in-progress, one to distract from the other.

In this case, it is the yarns I ordered recently from Lotus Yarns. I decided to work with Tibetan Yak 2. It is fine yak in natural dark brown colour.

I have never worked with yarns in hanks before, so this was the opportunity to learn how to make a ball of yarn from a hank. It wasn’t easy and the task demanded patience as I work without a swift or ball-winder. I work manually with my hands.

When my husband saw me working I expected him to tease me for buying something that needed more work to use. But he didn’t. He looked rather please and excited, and asked if I wanted him to hold the hank of yarn for me. As it turns out, what I was doing reminded him of his grandmother way back in the 40′s and 50′s just after the War in England. He was the swift for his grandmother’s hanks of yarn.

I felt happy and found the act of making a ball of yarn from a hank all the more worthwhile. It was a rather meditative act and by touching the yarn I felt that I was learning more about the material. In my mind I was imagining what I could do with yak fibre.

I finished a 50-gram hank into three balls of yarn. I was so happy with what I accomplished.

A hank of Tibetan yak yarn, and the 3 balls of yarn that I made from it.

In the morning, I started crocheting. I decided upon a triangular motif. I thought that to work with yak yarn, I would work in motifs rather than a large piece. I felt that motifs would give me the chance to learn much quicker the qualities of this exotic yarn.

With a 2.2mm hook, I made several motifs to make a strip. Probably, this would be a lace scarf, I am not yet sure. The texture of the fabric is amazingly soft and it is almost weightless. I have always wanted to work with lace yarn like this.

First time to work with lace yarn and I love it!

In the afternoon, I managed to clean up my studio and organize the stash a little bit. I brought in one of the unused tables on the balcony so now I have an extra table for working. Next on the agenda is to remove the capiz lamp hanging in the middle of the studio and to transfer that to the bedroom. Without the lamp the light will be much brighter so I can work much better in the evenings.