Oct 11, 2009

UPDATE: Silkworms Are Spinning!


Ah, where does the time go? This has been a weekend for those last, fond farewells as the little babies are growing up and heading off to enjoy the next phase of life.

Here's a bird's eye view (through a paper towel roll) as one of the little characters spins a silken knook for itself. I haven't captured it here but, in the proper light I can see the silkworm working away inside as it spins layer upon layer of lustrous cocoon. Much like children, and I know I'm getting weird here, each silkworm seems to be developing at its own pace. Some are spinning away and others are still rather small and slow to mature.

It's all good though for certainly there is no rush to be made through this life. My mother had 5 children and we each learned to walk, talk, make our individual strides at different ages. She always said, "Who cares about the "when". Nobody walks down the isle on their wedding day in a diaper." No pressure, no drama, no rush to grow up. And, so it is with the silkworms. They each will do their own thing in their own time.

As for the character pictured above, there shall be a two week respite for this one before any new action is to occur from this dormant cocoon. Then there will be a final bursting forth, a new emergence and after that I shall claim that discarded silken capsule for my handspinning and knitting adventures! Oh joy!

An aside: What the heck? I've decided I want to tat and cannot find a simple tatting shuttle anywhere across this town or the next one over! (It's a modern world when the only way you can obtain a tatting shuttle or an old fashioned washboard is online.)

2 comments:

Sara Strand said...

Oh my. Your babies are growing so quickly. Have I already missed their first birthday? Whatever shall I get these little guys??

And an aside: I think that LOTS of people walk down the aisle in diapers. We just don't know about it. I should have because I almost peed myself during the ceremony because I didn't go before. Even though my mom asked me several times. I felt like I was 5 again. And again, she was right. :( I'm confident that had I actually peed in my dress it wouldn't have been noticed. I think the tulle would have absorbed it. Or my shoes would have been yellow.

Skeleton In My Closet said...

Very cool! I love (most) bugs and find them facinating. This sounds like a really interesting project and similar to something I would do.

Josie