Preparing a Silk Cap for Knitting

Each silk cap is made up of many layers of stretched out silk cocoons. You can use them for spinning, but it is really fun to hand draft them into a yarn and knit with them. They do make beautiful scarves.

First things first, lotion is your friend. Silk caps will want to catch on dry skin.

To prepare a silk cap for knitting, the layers must be separated and then drafted. To do this, simply hold the cap at the top middle with one hand and and place your other hand inside the cap and grab what will feel like threads (this is a layer). Gently pull on this layer by moving your hands away from each other. (Note: The layers are much thinner than you might expect and it is easy to pull more than one layer out.)

Now you will be working with the one layer of silk. This layer should still resemble a cap. (If you have pulled out more than one layer, you can repeat the above process to get to one layer.) Place both hands in the cap and pull your hands away from each other stretching out the silk cap as far apart as your hands will go. The next step is to poke a hole in the center and then pull again until the circle you have just made breaks.

You now have a length of silk that is thicker than others in spots and we need to make it as uniform as possible by drafting. To do this, start at one end with your hands about 6 inches apart and pull the roving until the length between your hands is about 1/8 of an inch in diameter or whatever you choose.

Repeat this for all layers and knit!



Susan Matheson
©2008

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