Scarf in cashmere-cotton in north sea
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£190.00 — ex VAT
Knitted scarf, hand-framed with cashmere and cotton in the south-west of the British Isles.
Sizing
48" (122cm) in length and 7" (17.5cm) in width.
What we have here is a small but deceptively warm little scarf. It is designed to wrap around the neck twice, or once if looped into a cow hitch. It is a single layer of tuck-stitch for much of its length, but its end are a double layer of rib, which help the scarf hang tidily at the front.
The yarn is a blend of cashmere and cotton — two-thirds the former and one-third the latter. It is spun by the most old and venerable spinner of cashmere in the British Isles, beside a loch in Scotland, fine to the tune of exactly 2/36 Nm. It is exquisitely soft and bouncy, warm and yet light and breathable.
It is hand-framed: made by a single knitter, who controls with expertise quality and tension on hand-operated contraption. You tend not to see this very often, these days, in the British Isles: it is a technique of the past, being slow and difficult and possible only through long experience and uncommon expertise.
One more knitwear term: it is hand-linked together. There is no stitching here. None at all. Instead, the little knitting loop at the end of each section are linked to the next by knitting needle and hand. By hand. Painfully slow and skilful work that equals seamlessness and, all being equal, superior knitwear.
There are two shades of cashmere-cotton here: a very dark, dull blue, and a middling grey. There's more of the former than the latter, but both colours are twisted prior to knitting, and so you thus get a good, satisfying melange through the knit — enough to keep the eye occupied, but not so much as to distract.
Makers of
The scarf is made by knitters in the south of Britain. Founded 100 years ago, they work with small, hand-operated contraptions overseen by one person — rather than huge, automated machines. It is perhaps the only maker to do so in Britain: slow going, but results bearing out the toil involved.
