Black cashmere, wet-finished

I finished twisting the fringe today and finished it as I did the sample – threw it in the washing machine on “warm”, which I know sounds abusive but is the recommended treatment for this particular cashmere.  I then tossed it in the dryer for about 10 minutes, pulled it out while still damp, and pressed it dry.  (Do not try this dryer trick with wool, kids – or at least do a sample before you do, or you may wind up with a felted mess!)

Here are the results:

Full-shawl view of the black cashmere weft

(I am afraid you will have to click on the photo to get the larger, 500K view to really see the pattern; it was hard to photograph since there is such low contrast between the dark colors.)

This shows off the pattern more nicely:

Closeup of the pattern in the center of the shawl.

And here is a close-closeup of the pattern in the center:

Closeup of the pattern in the black cashmere weft shawl

Photos, however, cannot convey the incredibly luxurious drape and “feel” of the shawl…it is unbelievably soft and warm, and the silk just glows.

I like it better than I did initially, though I still think I can do better with the rest of this warp!