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Silk Top, Tussah (Bleached)
$8.25 – $63.67
100% silk.
Combed top, bleached but still an ivory-cream colour. Staple length is about 6 to 7 inches. If you plan on using your silk for blending, Tussah silk is nearly always a better value fibre than Cultivated silk.
Silk top is easy to dye, using either acid dyes, fibre reactive dyes, or natural dyes.
For spinning, silk top may be spun all by itself or used for blending with a myriad of other fibres.
Related products
Nylon – Fake Cashmere (Top)
100% Nylon.
Extremely clean combed top, possibly the whitest fibre we carry. Staple length is about 3 to 4 inches which makes this top-notch for blending with almost anything. Few would spin Nylon all by itself, but it has a great reputation for adding strength and durability to other fibres, especially when spinning yarns for socks. This is a fine grade that you won't even notice when blended in at a rate of 20 to 25% or so, by weight.
Surprisingly, Nylon dyes beautifully with acid dyes. It also takes natural dyes well using the usual premordant methods for protein fibres. We love the moniker of "Fake Cashmere", but your fingers will never confuse it from the real thing. It feels more like those puffs they stick inside pill bottles. Maybe it is.
Silk Top, Muga
100% Muga silk.
This also goes by the name Assam silk, and it's from a worm native to India rather than further east. The colour is a glorious tan to almost caramel-golden-brown with a wonderful sheen. Apparently it is a myth that Muga silk cannot be dyed, though we have never tried to do so. Usually difficult to find, and always expensive.
PRODUCT of INDIA
Sock Blend – Superwash BFL/Nylon Top
80% Superwash Blue-faced Leicester wool / 20% Nylon
Not suitable for wet felting!!
Very clean combed top. Staple length around 5 to 6 inches. BFL is not as soft as Merino, but has excellent durability in a sock yarn. Spin Off Magazine did a whole sock issue a couple of years ago and BFL was the winner so far as the best choice for spinning your own sock yarn. We have the mill custom-blend this for us, to save you from having to do the tedious job of combining wool and nylon together in a thorough way. This dyes up beautifully, either before or after spinning. The ovory-white colour is also real nice just as it comes. Would also be a good choice for kid's clothing.
PRODUCT of CANADA, made from imported fibre.
Tencel (Top)
100% Lyocell.
Very clean combed top, in "natural" white. Staple length is about 4 inches. Technically this manmade fibre is called lyocell. It's in the rayon family and made from wood pulp. Tencel® has been embraced by spinners and knitters alike, because it is fantastically soft with a terrific sheen and wonderful drape. Excellent for lighter summerwear as it absorbs moisture well.
Tencel® can be spun alone or blended with other fibres. An intriguing choice for those that can't wear wool. <
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers can resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We don't know how Tencel® responds in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the Tencel® alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.