Silk Shawl ?

Quietly slipping in to answer you, DA! I've not made a shawl from one hundred percent silk, but I've made MANY from silk blends, ie, silk/merino, silk/alpaca... For ^those^, a lacey pattern screamed to be knitted.... JM2C, Noreen ducking back out... back soon!

I have used silk/___, blocked them in the same manner as wool, etc. With pure silk, you have a different hand to the fabric. DA

I made a sweater out of 100% silk yarn once. I gave it to the Salvation Army after a year or so because it kept growing, and growing, and growing. (Hmm. Recommended gauge was 7 sts/inch. I'm sure I didn't knit it that tightly--perhaps that was the problem.)

Georgia

Thanks, Georgia. This is exactly the sort of information I need. It is also the reason for questioning the method of finishing. The hand of silk would seem to me to require a firm stitch and more dense pattern. DA

As I recall, that stuff was a b***h to knit, too. Dragged a lot--more than cotton. I still have some and though I won't knit with it, I made some great cording for a crewel embroidery pillow that needed refurbishing.

(Oop. Actually I did knit something with it a couple of months ago: I needed a "silk or wool cloth" to rub on PVC pipe to make static electricitiy with. Hedging my bets, I knitted up a pot-holder sized object on #17s with a strand of silk, a strand of wool, and a strand of mohair. The discharge of static electricity is supposed to relieve arthritis pain. Seems to work, though no one can explain why it should.)

Georgia

There is silk and there is silk. Not all silk is good quality! There is some silk that is basically junk.

I have a sweater that I bought many years ago, with a label that says it is 100% silk. It is worsted-weight, and it pills like anything. If it weren't for the label, I'd think it was acrylic. Since it is a plain brown, and comfortably large, I like it anyway. I machine wash it (cold) and hang it to dry. It stays the same size (baggy). The gauge is close to 7 sts/inch.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has knitted silk shawls and found that the instructions to iron them with a hot iron bring up the sheen of the silk and improved the appearance, even after blocking.

=Tamar