Fri 17 Feb 2006
I’m back from a three day weekend trip from visiting the relatives in 90210 as well as a drama filled week of quiting my job due to a psychotic delusional boss. Amoung job hunting, I have been trying to finish up my oatmeal and sapphire blue sweaters completely before I start any other projects. With the oatmeal sweater I am on the second sleeve. After that, neckline and seaming. It sounds so simple but as you guys know it is still time consuming.
In other news, by the magic of eBay saved searches I finally came across an ellusive stock of “Columbia Silk Ice” yarn from the 1930’s. Some of my pattern books called for this yarn but told me little about guage. I had an idea what I wanted to substitute it for but still was weary to buy anything to discover it’s all wrong. The eBay seller was kind enough to send me a little inch swatch of this yarn in return for some of the patterns copied from my vintage pattern books.
The yarn was just as I thought, 2 ply silk wool blend. It is pretty much dead on to the yarn I want to use for all these patterns which is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool & Silk. JaggerSpun is 2/18th and has a luxurious silk sheen to it coming in many vintagey colors like jadite, rose, peach, pale pink as well as some copper and warm beigey honey colors I saw required in some vintage patterns. In the picture on the left is a peachy gold vintage yarn swatch next to a greyish JaggerSpun swatch. Though the vintage looks a little loftier, I think its because it has been handled more. When twisted a little it seems to be the thickness of the new.
February 18th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Glad you came across that sample of the Silk Ice–I too have been wondering what I could use in its place in some patterns that request it. Thanks for sharing!
February 18th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
I was wondering, will you dry clean a garment made of the Jaggerspun? Or use another method? Since the original “Silk Ice” probably predated dry cleaning (don’t know when it was developed!), there might be another way to do it.
February 18th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
I believe my preferance would be to hand wash any wool, silk or cashmere knit garment in Eucalan. I used to use Woolite but heard that leaves a residue that builds up over time. I’ve noticed that it makes clothes a little more starchy and it’s hard to completely wash out.
I’ve been using Eucalan for the last few months on the few cashmere knits as well as silk tops I own. It really leaves garments soft and plyable, not starchy with a strong scent left behind.
I always try to take note to read any articles written on the perils of dry cleaning. I’ve always been skepticle of it since I started wearing clothes with tags that called for it. I used to not be able to afford it, well, still can’t really. I always hand washed and have only ever had ONE garment with bad fabric dyes bleed onto itself. Considering I’ve only had one problem out of the way too many clothes in my closet that I hand wash, I never dry cleaned my clothes more than a handful of times.
From what I have read dry cleaning is actually not “dry”. It basically is some harsh chemical wash that just evaporates quicker than water. The process also puts clothes in with this chemical into a large drying machine. This seems on key since I started using the home dry cleaning product “Dryel” as a lazy alternative to dry cleaning and hand washing which you basically put this chemical fulled dryer sheet in a steam bag in your dryer.
I’ve read dry cleaning breaks down fibers over time. Though it might not be significant enough in the first few years you wear something, if you tend to keep quality classic styled garments over 5-10+ years like I have with some vintage cashmere sweaters, you’ll behind to see a differance. Maybe I am just prejudice against dry cleaning. I remember my mom dry cleaning lovely sweaters and getting them back with holes in them.
I’ve also read that it is cheaper for clothing companies to stick a dry cleaning tag on a garment than go through the tests required to put a more detailed list of washing instructions on a garment. This may go for yarn manufactures as well.
My suggestion is to maybe test hand wash a twist of a couple yards of the yarn to see if color bleeds if your worried about it.
As for myself, I definately will go with hand washing.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Wonderful info–I appreciate the thoughtful reply. I’m still new to Eucalan and it’s good to hear a significant vote in its favor.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:53 am
I am trying to find patterns for 2ply wool and silk, but they are so hard to find.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 am
I believe when I was researching this yarn I was looking at some of the 1930’s Columbia knitting books I got from Iva Rose. You might want to check a few of those out. They were very lacy pullovers.