Our delightful Rococo cowl combines simple feather & fan lace with the magic of shibori knitting!
Three popular Alchemy yarns ~ Silken Straw, Sparky & Sanctuary ~
unite to create a fantastically fast and stunning cowl knit in the round.
The silk yarns (Straw & Sparky) relax and flow after felting, while the Sanctuary wool/silk blend fulls with a luscious halo, resulting in a dramatically rippled and sumptuously soft cowl.

A Word about the Special Technique of Shibori Knitting
While the Japanese word “shibori” cannot be directly translated into English, it basically denotes a “shape resist textile.” Most people are familiar with the concept of Tie Dye (originally called “tie and dye”), which is the most popular understanding of shibori. 3 Ties such as rubber bands or strings are secured on a piece of fabric, and then that fabric is dyed; the fabric resists the dye where it has been bound.

Gina Wilde’s shibori design is an exploration of manipulating knit fabric, harnessing the effects of working differing types of yarns together (combing felting and non-felting fibers in one knit piece). In this cowl, the pure silk yarns (A & B) act as a resist to the wool/silk felting yarn (yarn C). When felted in a washing machine, the silk yarns actually grow in the process, while the wool/silk blend shrinks and felts (or fulls). The result produces a textured and dramatic knit fabric, one that is light and airy, rather than the heavy dense fabric achieved when using traditional felting methods and yarns.