How silk is made. Wow, the cocoons look like packing peanuts! (Apologies to the vegan knitters. I know several knitters who refuse to knit with silk. That’s their choice. Me, I like the feel of a little silk in a wool blend. The 100% silk yarns that I’ve felt haven’t really appealed to me. Too squeaky.)
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Silk production is amazing. I saw a talk on how Cambodians have created work with the creation of silk threads and intricate silk weavings. And as for the squeak factor, I find handspun silk is much less squeaky than commercially spun stuff. 😀
i saw the same talk as Tia – and it was amazing.
The Cambodians are also Buddhist. They get around the not killing the worms bit by leaving all the cocoons in the sun… so the worms die on their own.
i’m undecided on silk. it’s so soft and… and… silky (har har har), but i do feel sorry for the little worms.
I know what you mean. But what about the fact – new to me – that the worms couldn’t exist in nature without human intervention? I’m not sure if that makes it more or less morally objectionable, frankly.
As kids we always kept silkworms as pets. We unwound the silk onto a piece of cardboard always leaving a little bit around the pupa which we then placed in flour to keep it warm! When the moths emmerged, quite unharmed, they laid their eggs on the sides of the box they were housed in and kept us supplied with new pets.
The cocoons were a beautiful yellow, the colour must be determined by the food.We used mulbery leaves but there was a story that if you fed your silkworms rose leaves the silk would be pink…:)
The worms themselves have the most silky smooth skin..they’re lovely animals.