Ooh, Everyone Loves a Sale

Limited time offer! We're selling our cones of undyed 100% Bombyx Silk 8/2 at 20% off. We just have too many, so our overindulgence becomes your advantage. This is a heavy, lovely yarn. At 8/2, it's hardly what you'd call a "chunky" yarn, but in the silk world, this is considered fairly heavy. Knit with it. Weave with it. Or just sit and look at it and let inspiration carry you away for a while...
10-005 on Cones
P.S.  we're just working on 2 new knitting kits, a shawl and a scarf, that use this yarn. Stay tuned. The sample is absolutely glorious.

New Stuff

We just wanted to let you know that we've added a whole bunch of new things to the Sanjo Silk website. It's always so much fun when this happens, and we don't like to keep all that to ourselves.

Uber-yummy 10-207, which is a 65% Silk 35% Linen. It's got a soft drape of silk, and the lovely bast fibres of linen.

You spinners are in luck! We've got some great new things on the site for you. We know you've been waiting for Silk Mawatas (silk hankies), and now we've got them. You can spin right from these. They're also wonderful for nuno felting. And they dye gloriously (we have some in the studio shop).

We've also got the spinning version of the yummy Silk Linen yarn at the top of this post. This silk linen fibre combines the lustre of silk with the slight crispness and "tooth" of linen. So lovely.

This is so much fun we can hardly stand it! It looks like a box of silky cinnamon buns! They're actually sample boxes of silk spinning fibre. There are 2 versions, each with a different selection of silks. Such a great way to try out some different silks and silk blends. Also wonderful for felting, need I say?

And finally, this beautiful tussah silk. We call it "Highlights" because it has a range of tones from golden to soft brown along its length. Very fine. Very beautiful.

Check them all out! We also want to remind you that the Canadian dollar is in shrinking mode right now. This is especially good news for our American friends. When you buy, it's like getting an additional 20% off when your credit card sale goes through! And for our Canadian friends, remember when you're comparing prices that American prices are about 20% higher when you convert to Canadian bucks. Such is the way of global economics...

Mexican Silk

We tend not to think of Mexico when we think of where in the world silk comes from. But in many ways, it's an ideal place to raise silk. Typically the indigenous weavers have woven their work largely from either cotton or wool, using the silk as inlays for the decorative bits.

During a recent trip to Teotitlan, in the state of Oaxaca, I managed to track down a man who has a very small scale sericulture endeavour. He raises the silk worms, and then his wife handspins the silk into this spectacular, lumpy yarn. His production is so limited that he looked completely baffled when I asked if I could purchase a small amount. This spool was hand-wound, and the man and his son had to put their heads together to figure out what to charge me. Oh my, how dear is that?

Here are 2 images. One is of a traveler spinning some of this precious silk; the other is of the local lady doing same. Can you tell which is which? Who has the better technique? Or posture, for that matter???