It’s all the rage lately to knit sweaters with mohair.
For my Lakes pullover, I wanted to follow the pattern recommendation and hold a halo mohair alongside the base wool.
I was searching for a super soft but not too expensive yarn, when I stumbled on Biches et Buches’ Le Petit Silk Mohair.
Here’s what I think of the yarn, now having knit with it and worn my sweater for a couple months!
Specifications
| Brand | Biches et Buches |
| Yarn Name | Le Petit Silk & Mohair |
| Composition | 70% goat mohair, 30% silk |
| Yardage | 230 yds (210 m) per 25 g ball |
| Suggested Gauge | 19-22 sts = 4″ (10 cm) on US 4-6 (3.5-4 mm) needles |
| Weight | Lace |
| Made in | Italy, sourced from South Africa |
| Price | 8.75 EUR |
| Color sampled | Medium Blue |
Biches et Bûches Le Petit Silk et Mohair Review
Biches et Bûches
Biches et Buches is a knitting brand founded in France by a Danish and Norwegian knitting designer. They focus on wool and natural fibers in fun color palettes.
The brand first launched with lambswool yarn, in two weights: Le Petit Lambswool (lace weight) and Le Gros Lambswool (heavy DK to light worsted weight).
Over time, they expanded their yarn range and now offer a wide array of lambswool, silk mohair and cotton yarns.
From what I researched, it seems like Biches et Buches doesn’t produce the fibers themselves, but work with a variety of farms and mills.
They have a section on their website where they go into detail on the certifications for each type of fiber.
It seems like Biches et Buches makes an effort to work with mills that focus on animal welfare and environmental care.
Read more: The Best Knitting Books I Read as a Beginner
Le Petit Silk et Mohair
Biches et Buches offers 2 mohair yarns.
They have similar fiber compositions but come in different weights:
- Le Petit Silk Mohair, a lace weight yarn made of 70% super kid mohair and 30% silk
- Le Gros Silk Mohair, DK/worsted weight yarn made of 72% sulk kid mohair and 28% silk
I used Le Petit Silk Mohair, the thinner yarn.
It’s beautifully soft, light and luminous. Because it’s laceweight, it’s perfect for holding double with another yarn.
Sustainability
The mohair comes from Angora goats humanely raised in South Africa.
South Africa is the place for high quality, sustainably sourced mohair so I was glad to see that.
The silk comes from silk waste and cocoons that are recovered and re-spun.
Using silk and cocoon waste is a more sustainable and humane way of using silk, but also produces shorter, less durable fibers with a more matte, textured finish.
I was curious how Le Petit Silk Mohair would knit up.
Personally, I didn’t see a noticeable difference in quality from using silk waste vs first choice filament. My guess is the mohair matters slightly more when knitting with mohair-silk yarn.
This type of halo yarn is produced by spinning mohair around silk thread, with the silk core providing structure while the mohair provides softness, fluff and halo.
Softness
In the ball, Le Petit Silk Mohair is beautiful.
The color is vibrant, the silk core shines through and the mohair is incredibly soft.
Even in the finished sweater, I find the fabric to be quite soft.
I could wear it next to skin!
But to be honest I never do that, I have very sensitive skin and don’t like the prickliness of wool.
The Biches et Buches mohair feels noticeably softer than cheaper mohairs I’ve felt. But, softness is difficult to categorize as everyone’s skin is so different!
knitting my sweater, from gauge swatch to finished pullover
Colors
Biches et Buches offers Le Petit Silk Mohair in a whopping 50+ different colors.
They’re shade matched to match the brand’s staple lambswool yarn, so you’re spoiled for choice.
The same colors are also offered in Le Gros Silk Mohair, as well as a couple additional shades.
Read more: Yarn Review: Wooldreamers Saona
Swatches
Le Petit Silk Mohair was very pleasant to knit with.
I held it double with Wooldreamers Saona and the resulting fabric had great stitch definition and was easy to frog and fix, when I needed to.
But, in one ball there were a couple knots and clumps.
In hindsight I should have cut these pieces out of the yarn, because you can see a noticeable concentrated section of blue mohair on the sleeves where I knit with these clumps.
I must have gotten a bad ball since it only happened in 1 out of the 4 balls of mohair that I bought.
Still, I think at this price point you shouldn’t get such large clumps..
I love how vibrant the ‘Medium Blue’ color is
Le Petit Silk Mohair Review
Yarn Review
Overall, I’d knit with Le Petit Silk Mohair again!
It’s soft, comes in a huge selection of beautiful colors and has a minimal halo, while adding tons of warmth, drape and shine.
The sweater I knit is so incredibly warm, while still being lightweight.
After blocking, the mohair fluffed out slightly, creating a soft halo.
I personally prefer mohair with as minimal a halo as possible, so I like Biches et Buches’ yarn more than other mohairs I’ve tried.
I really love the finished garment and it’s definitely one that I’d knit again in the future.
Read more: Pattern Review: The Lakes V-Neck Pullover
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