photo above: All three sizes of Muga spun silk, thickest to thinnest. (L-R) Carmela (15/2), Caramel (20/2) and Carmelina (30/2).
There have been many times when I've wished we had muga silk in the same size as our most popular bombyx silk "Kiku" (20/2). Guess what?! We now have a limited supply of 20/2 Muga silk! CLICK HERE to order
MUGA SILK
Muga silk is naturally a rich gold color and was traditionally reserved for royalty.
This silkworm is ONLY found in the microclimate of the Assam region in India. Muga silk is relatively rare.
The Antherea assama (muga) silkworm is a ‘cousin’ to the Antherea mylitta (tasar or tussah) silkworm. Both silkworms eat leaves that contain tannin--the same substance in tea that stains the cup--so both silks are naturally a golden color.
The caterpillar producing muga silk eats leaves from Som (machilus bobycine) or Soalu (litsaea polyantha). The tussah silkworm eats the leaves from one of these trees--Arjun (terminalia argun), Asan (terminalia tomentosa), or Oak.
Why 20/2 Muga?
Nine of our free weaving drafts use our most popular yarn, Kiku (20/2 bombyx silk) CLICK HERE to see the free drafts. These use 2 skeins of Kiku:
--Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend (4-shaft)
--Playing with Point Twills (4-shaft)
--Shimmering Waves (4-shaft)
--Squares of Lace (4-shaft)
--3 of a Kind (4-shaft)
--Glittering Diamonds (8-shaft)
--Summer Trellis (8-shaft)
--Interlacement (8-shaft)
--Ice Crystals--uses one skein of Kiku and 2 skeins of Gekko (8-shaft) [see photo in gallery below]
You can substitute Caramel for one of the Kiku skeins in the drafts.
COLORS:
Muga silk goes with just about every color. I favor deep colors, such as #302 Walnut, #57 Raven Black, #318 Dark Blue Jeans (aka "when black is too black"), #4 Rendezvous Blue, #207 Peacock, #220 Persian Night, or #321 Teal Ocean [see photo in gallery below].
But I also love saturated bright colors with muga, such as #12 Pomegranate, #307 Jen's Red, #20 Bordello, #209 Wild Bordeaux, #51 Jubilee, #219 Silk Pajamas, #14 Mermaid Tears, #9 Emerald Dream or #314 Leap Frog [see photo in gallery below].
I also like some of the mid-value colors, too. #956 Periwinkle, #955 French Blue, #214 Glacier, #215 Eucalyptus, #40 Winter Sage, #9510 Evening Spirit, #22 Ballet Slipper and #15 Azure Blue [see photo in gallery below]. Now you see why I say Muga silk goes with just about every color!
And, of course, you can never go wrong with natural white [see photo of natural white with the mid-value colors in gallery below]. I can just picture Ice Crystals using Caramel in place of the periwinkle blue [see photo of scarf in gallery below].
TO ORDER:
Caramel (muga silk yarn) CLICK HERE
Free Weaving Drafts CLICK HERE
