Weird

Seriously people, the black strand of yarn/thread is made of SILK AND STAINLESS STEEL!!!!!!

The green is a super fine merino. 

The scarf is the Kusha Kusha Scarf, designed by the folk at Habu Textiles, who are the mad geniuses who decided that it would be a good idea to make a yarn out of stainless steel.  

I will admit, though I had heard plenty about both the yarn and pattern online for a long while - you can't be a knitter and NOT hear about such an interesting concoction - I had no intention of actually knitting one myself until a blog friend of mine made one about 5 or 6 years ago.  I was truly impressed with how beautiful it was...but I still wasn't willing to actually track down a kit for myself. 

Apparently, randomly stumbling on one while on a trip to visit my brother was an entirely different story, though.  The cute little shop in Chicago had the kits on the shelf, and so home with me one came.  

Best of intentions...other projects which took precedence...yadda, yadda, yadda. 

I finally decided to start my Kusha Kusha this week while I was waiting for my new sweater swatch to dry.  Fortunately, the good people at Purl Soho have free instructions on how to interpret the pattern.  (Japanese style charts only...something I don't have experience with.)  So with pattern, explanation, and needles in hand I set to work.  

I'm not sure what, exactly, I expected.  

It's...well...it's weird. 

You would never guess that there's metal in the yarn, in part because it's so very fine.  It actually feels quite soft to the touch, and is easy to work with.  BUT, it does make a fabric that - even when knit in a super-loose gauge - has a definite shape and body to it. You make a stitch, and it stays put....that simple.  

I'm looking forward to finishing this one up so that I can see what the finished fabric does.  I'm not sure that I'll ever knit with this yarn again, but I'm very glad that I'm knitting with it now.