Now THAT is what silk should look like!

This:


not this:


In trying to poke around at the cocoons to avoid touching the icky stuff, I ended up matting them together into a sad mess. Done. Stick a fork in them. I've enough pride to know I'm beat.
-but I couldn't stay sad for long, because just look again at what arrived from the marvelously talent Carol of http://www.silkworker.com !


Gorgeous incredible handpainted silk top! The colourway is Trumpet Solo, and when I saw it on the website, my heart dang near skipped a beat. Complete lovely silky goodness. I'm spinning it on my favorite drop spindle, my Lambsy Divey All Day Lollipop, spinning it fairly fine, hoping that when I Navajo ply, it will be lace weight-ish, and will then be knit into a shawl/wrap. Don't know what pattern yet, I'm just enjoying the spinning. Happy happy spinning!

Bombyx Mori project ends with a splat

EEEEWWWWW! Lord in Heaven! I am trying very hard to process my silkworm cocoons so that I can be done with the whole "silkworm saga" and we never need speak of it again, but, seriously, YUCK! What the heck?! I thought that by letting the moths emerge from their cocoons I would be left with fairly clean, empty cocoons. Yes, allowing the moths to emerge damages some of the silk, but I'm planning to spin it, not reel a continuous strand, so that was fine. Plus, added bonus of no bad karma-stifling issues. Yea! ........dude.
What was left behind in each cocoon --and let me pause here to say that not every worm that spun actually made it to the pupa stage, a few died off and left me with nasty dead wormies-- but the ones that did pupate into moths and emerged, well, they thoughtfully left me with a pupa shell (?) in each cocoon. <'scuse me while I get a breath mint, I just vomited in my mouth a little bit>
So Gross! I have to pull each cocoon apart and try to 'pop' out the pupa shell, but some of them don't want to pop, they want to get tangled. And once their tangled I've discovered that if I keep trying to get the buggy part out, it gets all smooshed in the blob of silk. Lord have mercy, I don't think I have the strength to finish this. I'm touching dead bug guts and stuff! And NO! I am NOT taking pictures of this part of the process!!! Once finished, we will never speak of it again, and I will deny any knowledge. I'll take pictures of the 'de-bug gutty' silk blobs, if I get that far. Dear readers, I'm going back in.......give me strength!

and the moths emerge....

Wicked cool- bombyx mori moths! Sorry for the crappy photos- semi cheap camera combined with moron photographer= blurry pics. I'll see if LD can't get some better pictures when more moth emerge. They are fabulous looking creatures! I really wish I could have zoomed in on this little moths face. She is beautiful and fierce looking.
Now that the silkworm experiment is coming to a close, I've decided that bombyx mori silkworms are not something I will try to raise again. If I get any viable eggs, I'll find someone who wants to give it a go and gift them the eggs. I am amazed and awed at the amount of work that goes into producing silk, but I am also a bit saddened by the process and what has been done to these creatures over centuries of domestication. *and please remember, this is just a blog- only my opinions and thoughts. I certainly do not look down on or judge anyone for anything* It is fascinating, but sad that once they emerge from their cocoons, the rest of their life cycle consists of mating, laying eggs and dying of dehydration. They still have rudimentary wings, but can no longer use them to fly. sad. At some point, I may try to raise one of the wild native to North America breeds of silkworms, but for now I'll stick to spinning soy or bamboo silk, renewable resources.


and while I couldn't get a decent picture of the moths, Draco, our bearded dragon did a fab job of posing for this picture. He is beautiful and fierce too.

Pretty posies and pierced nosies

Check it out! After many many years of wanting to have it done, I finally sucked it up and did it! Well, no, I didn't do it myself, so I guess that should have said 'had it done'. And I like it! I've been told many times that I didn't have the right 'nose' for a piercing and was asked if I was sure I wanted to draw more attention to it, and now I can tell those peeps to put a sock in it. I think it is kind of cute, and trust me, it is very rare for me to think that anything about myself is any kind of cute. But my nose stud is. :) and if nothing else, it does draw attention away from my Dumbo ears!
Not much fibery goodness going on. I'm still stalling on the gauge swatch for LD's sweater. I hate gauge swatches. Really really hate them. But a finished object (sweater/hat/socks, whatever) that doesn't fit, well that just sucks. Far worse than the suckiness of knitting a gauge swatch. So, I will get to it. eventually.
But for now, I'll share a pretty picture of some of the flowers in my backyard. I tried growing nasturtiums in pots for years, w/o any sucess at all. Threw some in the ground this spring, and, viola! They are growing like crazy. And the clematis blossom surprised me, we just planted that vine this year. I thought it would take a year to establish.















Oh, and the silkworm caterpillars! Well, we have a few straggler caterpillars, but most of them look like this:

post in two parts.......Part 2

Tomorrow, we celebrate the birthday of a wonderful man. The love of my life, my husband (known here as Lead Dog, or LD for short). In honor of LD, I'm posting 25 things I love about Doug. I could have gone to 50(and beyond), but felt that might be a bit boastful. :)

25 things I love about Doug

1. He is hot. Sorry, but he is. He is so good looking that even after more than 10 years, it still gives me butterflies to look at him.

1. He is kind. I have never heard him say anything mean spirited to anyone- myself included.

3. He loves animals, and they love him back. Any questions that I had in the beginning of our relationship about his character were stifled when my monster of a cat- who in 8 years had never gone to a stranger and would barely allow me to pet and love on her, immediately went to Doug, purring. I've never seen a dog or cat that didn't immediately warm to this man. He has a good soul, and animals can sense that.

4. He cooks. Most of the time, he cooks better than I do.

5. He knows how to operate the vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer. Knows how to operate, and frequently does!

6. After our first 'hook up', he said he would call the next day.....and he did! He is very dependable- if he says he will do something, it is done. He has never let me down.

7. He loves his Mom and Dad. He does not try to blame any mistakes or disappointments in his life on his parents. He calls them regularly. He introduced me to his folks on our third date.

8. He has integrity. He is willing to work for the things he wants, never trying to cheat the system or look for a handout.

9. He has close male friends that he has known for 30+ years and is not afraid or embarrassed to tell them that he loves them.

10. He told me that he loved me for the first time on the phone. And when I called him back to clarify what he had just said, he did not make a big deal out of it. He loved me and told me. Like breathing. No drama or strings attached.

11. He is unbelievably good looking, and he is completely unaware. He is concerned about his appearance only to the point of good personal hygiene and wanting to make sure his clothing is clean and appropriate for the occasion, but has no idea that he makes women weak in the knees.

12. He has a strong mechanical aptitude, but doesn't mind asking for help or looking up instructions when he needs to.

13. He respects his elders. He recognizes that a lifetime of experience deserves respect/

14. He sees me with eyes wide open, warts, wrinkles, selfishness and all, and loves me anyway.

15. He holds doors open for people.

16. He lives life without fear or reservation. He is open to trying new things, without worrying about looking foolish.

17. He quit his job, sold his home and moved 150 miles away from his family and friends because he understood that I couldn't move my children away from their family and friends. It was not even up for discussion. And he has never once made me feel guilty about it.

18. He stops to ask for directions when needed.

19. He has never met a stranger. He makes friends more easily than anyone I've ever met.

20. He is non-judgmental. Open minded to all cultures, religions and lifestyles.

21. He cried at our wedding. And was not embarrassed or ashamed.

22. He is very self-assured, without an ounce of conceit.

23. He offers help to anyone, friend or acquaintance, without expecting anything in return.

24. He would go to the ends of the earth and do anything within his power to make me happy. the sound of my laughter makes him smile.

25. He is a wonderful man, with a beautiful soul. And I am the luckiest woman on earth.

A post in two parts.....Part 1

I have spinning caterpillars!



This is my first completed cocoon! -yeah, I said 'my' first cocoon. Like I did any of the work!





and this is the second cat, starting his/her cocoon basework.






All in all, this has been a fascinating experience. (and they say I'm the 'normal amount of normal' Ha! shows what those blog tests know!!)