Ito Kinu = Shakerag Splendor

One of the most beloved Modern Daily Knitting patterns just got an amazing upgrade with a new silk yarn.

The combination of Amy Christoffers’s Shakerag Top and feather-light Ito Kinu yarn may be summer top perfection.

Ito Kinu is a laceweight yarn, but can be knit at a bigger gauge.

I’m currently swatching for my own Shakerag Top and knitting with Ito Kinu in weather that’s 85 degrees and about the same humidity—and it’s one of my loveliest summer weather knitting memories in a long time.

Bonus (for me, at least) is that it’s tweedy. Its multicolored flecks add interest and depth to the yarn.

Yes, Clara Parkes is 100% right that wool can be comfortable year round, but there is something sublime about knitting and wearing soft, breathable silk in hot weather.

Please Swatch

Please swatch to avoid disappointment or making a chihuahua-sized sweater.

The size of needles you may have used to knit other Shakerag Tops (or lace-sized yarns) may be too small for this project. Even as a very loose knitter, I went up needle sizes for my swatches.

Note that the gauge in the pattern is for double-strand fabric, not single. Who didn’t notice at first? That’s right, me, who now has lots of other swatches just using a single strand.

I knit three quick swatches in Gold Oak to get a feel for the yarn, as well as finding my gauge numbers.

I first tried the needle I would start with for a lace yarn. Holy tightness, Batman! I was off by 2+ stitches per inch!

I went up three needle sizes and got within one stitch per inch, then up two more sizes and finally got gauge.

There is a grabbiness to silk noil yarn that lets it shift gauge and still hold structure.

Looking at all three of my swatches, I would use any of them. They all look and feel great, but only one matches the gauge of the Shakerag Top.

What Is Silk Noil?

Ito Kinu is made from 100% silk noil. Silk noil is made from the silk waste of other products.

Usually when I think of silk, I think of the shiny, drapey kind. Silk noil is not that kind of silk.

It’s not smooth and is made from broken, short pieces of silk that aren’t aligned in any way. The photo shows unspun silk noil on the left, and some leftover bombyx silk (the shiny kind) on the right.

Silk noil makes a wonderfully textured, matte yarn. This yarn is not as drapey as shiny silk yarn, and the combination of the texture and matte surface makes it cling a bit instead of slipping on your needles.

I wouldn’t recommend using metal needles for the other type of silk yarn, but silk noil, given its grab, knits just fine on them.

Silk noil yarns are sometimes called bourette yarns, or raw silk yarns. Technically raw silk is silk that hasn’t had the gummy bits washed out, but I think silk noil, which is washed and not at all sticky, is called raw silk because the fabric has such a rustic quality to it.

Another plus for silk noil is that it is environmentally friendly since it is made from the waste of other yarns and fabrics. It’s also wallet-friendlier than bombyx silk.

Playing with the Colors

Ito Kinu is great for marling colors together (just ask Cecelia Campochiaro) and the colors available are gorgeous!

I’ve been playing with marling different colors for my Shakerag Top and think I’m going to use these three somehow: Gold Oak, Violet, and Rose.

I like one strand of brown marled with pink or purple in the double-strand stripe. I’m deciding whether to alternate the three in single the strand stripe or just go with one. The whole range of colors is so much fun to pair and play with.

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