Thursday 25 August 2022

Yak silk shawl

 Back in June I bought a lot of yak silk blend on a sale. The colours are fadeable, much like the game Blendoku, remember that? In total it's 12 colours, doubles of some. 



The yarn is Fru Valborg Silky Yak Singles (65% Merino, 15% Yak, 20% Silk). Since it is a single ply it is not suited for socks, or even sweaters, because it won't hold up well to friction and it will likely pill. But for shawls and hats and such it's perfect.


I wanted to use the entire fade I put together of them, so I decided on a shawl. Here's nine of the colours, arranged in order in a zig zag in the bag:



I spent a lot of time doing maths, I wanted a specific shawl shape rather than a plain sailing one, and I wanted the stripes even in width. The point of a shawl knit sideways need to be a much longer one in rows compared to the other stripes to look similar. 

Here's a sketch of the shawl I am planning:



I already begun knitting, and it looks like it'll work out as planned. I am keeping careful track of how much yarn I use.

Want to make a similar shawl out of 12 colours you have? I am planning to post the pattern here when I am sure my math holds up.