Eutychus Cocoon

SPINNING
A while back I bought a little bag of silk cocoons, de-gummed and ready for spinning.  Only I assumed that I needed to draft them like I would have done for silk hankies.

Silk cocoons, worms removed and degummed

  I assumed I needed then, to do something with the spider web of silk that was floating around in the air, catching on everything including my clothes. It needed to be wound on something like a stick.  Pre-drafting the silk creates a mess; silk is so light that it literally floats in the air.

At the time I bought the cocoons, I dyed some of them, and then pre-drafted them, and then spun some, while wrapping the rest on whatever I could find to wrap them on. But I just knew there was a better way.

I knew that this seemed to be the long way home, and I really wanted a shortcut.  Surely there was a a right way to spin from cocoons.  Interestingly enough (you are interested, aren't you?) I could only find a single PDF tutorial online about spinning straight from cocoons.  But when I found it, I felt like my little bag of silk had been raised from the dead, like Eutychus in the Bible!!  Finally, the right way to use these beautiful leftovers from nature. 

So yesterday morning, and throughout the day, I spun and spun silk cocoons on this tiny little spindle.  I get more compliments on my spun silk than on any wool or other fiber, so its encouraging to find another way to process it.
Its probably the most beautiful fiber in the world. Maybe not the most useful, or the warmest, but really, truly beautiful!

Blue silk dyed in the microwave with food coloring

READING
I got a new audio book yesterday called Hallucinations, and it is fascinating!  While we automatically assume they are connected to mental illness, we can at least admit to having seen a puddle of water on a stretch of pavement, only to find its not real.  We all hallucinate, from time to time, and its way more common than we realize, whether something we hear, feel, see or smell.  Really like this book and the narrator makes this almost-textbook come to life. (Did someone say Eutychus?)

PERSONAL
On Sunday we all went to lunch at a local pizza parlor, to celebrate a my daughter's birthday.  She is a doll, and I just love to be with her. 

Betsy's turning 25!

The weather was beautiful and sunny and we checked out a gardening shop, from which my daughter and son in law had bought me a gift certificate.  What a great sensory experience!
Great herbal smells, little bars of soap, potpourri, plants and what-nots.  I bought this to keep on my desk, and it reminds me of the delicate nature of life.

Wee little bird!