It is possible to knit from any continuous length, whether it be deliciously soft wool yarn or a ball of common household string. Knitting directly from the silk Mawata Cap, which we sell to you as a fibre, can work equally well.
Mawata Caps are created by pulling out the cocoons over a former creating a silken web pocket. As the fibres have not been broken from piercing the cocoon it is possible to wind a continuous fine thread from the cap. It is therefore possible to knit straight from it.
How to;
Your 100gm Mawata Caps will arrive as a ‘stack’ as each cap only weighs a tiny amount.
Find the edges of the stack, slip your hand inside the pocket of the single cap and gently pull apart.
Keep your hand in the pocket and with the other hand begin to pull from anywhere along the edge. It is not necessary to seek a single thread as the knitting would be too fine, the amount of fibre shown in the photograph will give an adequate thickness of yarn.
The fibres will slip readily to form a roving. If you want to, this roving can be spun into a yarn using a hand spindle or spinning wheel.
For this project, the roving is the yarn for your knitting, treat it as any other. The knitted fabric is soft and textured as shown in the photograph.
Susan Litton’s experimental knitting shows there are simply no rules! The first segment is knitted directly from the Mawata Cap, the second from Stainless Steel wire and the third from Japanese Spun Silk yarn. She used size 10mm of the handmade Surina needles.
