Summer is just around the corner, and I'm not one to put down my knitting for the season. I go into withdrawals from knitting after an hour, usually! And I tend to knit with all fibers all year long. However, it is nice to have garments knit with fibers that can be worn on a warm summer day. I'm in Newfoundland, so I am a very happy knitter who can wear warm garments even in the summer months!
After discovering a few precious fibers that are great to wear on a warm day, my "summer collection" is growing. One yarn that I adore and is fantastic for summer knits is the Silky Way. This is such a lovely yarn with a beautiful drape for feminine, flowy garments.
Recently, I was introduced to a beautiful new fiber added to Louise Robert's amazing collection of yarns: Algua Marina. This yarn is made with Seacell, which is also known as Sea Silk, and it is truly the most luxurious yarn I have ever knitted with. It comes with 378 yards (346 meters) and weighs 115 grams, providing a gauge of approximately 22 to 24 stitches per 4 inches on 3.5 to 4.5 mm needles. Working with this fiber feels like reaching into a pot and pulling out a pile of gold! I was beyond excited!
If knitting with silk is something you've done plenty of times, then I'm sure you already know how wonderful it is. If you haven't, I want to share some of the yummy details on this yarn so you won't hesitate to grab a few skeins and knit something absolutely fabulous for yourself!
Silk is hygroscopic, which means it has the ability to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I would wear a garment knit with Algua Marina anytime of the year but summer knits in particular are very fitting for this fiber in my opinion. It is shiny, impeccably soft and smooth, and it drapes like no other! I recently knit a new design with Algua Marina and let me tell you, lace loves it!! Here is a little sneak peek;)
This is a flowy, feminine, summer tee that I designed and you can see the drape just by looking at the photo! Wearing this tee was so light and airy that it honestly felt like I wasn't wearing anything at all. It's truly amazing!
In saying all of these wonderful things, I feel it's also important to know a couple of other important details, not to turn anyone away, but so that when you do get the opportunity to knit with it, you will have the best experience possible. Silk is an unforgiving fiber, meaning that a disruption in stitches is very easily detected. Sometimes our tension varies from being tired to laying down your knitting in the middle of a row, or just knitting from one day to the next. We are not machines, we are human!
And this is normally what I love about hand knit garments. But we still want our knits to look really good! You can easily remedy this issue by manipulating the stitches yourself if you see a loose stitch or 2. Normally, blocking remedies everything like magic, but not as much with silk. Another thing I found when swatching was that short rows, for example, are visible and the interruption in stitches can easily be detected. I didn't find blocking helped with this issue.
So, if you are like me and buy yarn because you just have to have it, even when you don't have a project in mind, I suggest finding a pattern that truly showcases the beauty of the yarn. Very simple silhouettes is what you will want to look for. If you have the pattern and just need to purchase the yarn, I cannot even begin to recommend Algua Marina enough!
Being the luckiest gal in the world, I received 4 unbelievably beautiful colors in the new Louise Robert Collection in Algua Marina! I will be designing 4 (possibly more) designs using this base that will be FOR this yarn, meaning they will only include details to show how beautiful this yarn really is, because I truly believe the pattern choice is very important when knitting with silk.
So, will be you knitting with Algua Marina this summer?? - Andrea Yetman
