I'm Surrounded By...

...Silkworm moths having   S.   E.   X.

Once the above is complete (right now it's all about diverting my eyes because this scene is playing out all around me) the male goes off into a corner of the egg carton in search of a cigarette and the female...

gets to the serious work of laying about 500 eggs.

 Now, it might just be my middle-agedness talking here but, I find the below picture exciting!

Soon there will be 100 of these lovely, lovely SILKEN cocoons emptied out and ready for spinning action! That's enough for some tiny fibery adventure. So, I'm guessing in about a week the Roman Holiday will have wound down and the real fun of harvesting lustrous silken noils shall begin in earnest. Meanwhile, I'm going to give these kids their privacy.

They're Alive!

It's a dark and rainy Saturday morning, happy Halloween. You never know what kind of trick-or-treating weather the little ones are going to endure up here in northern Wisconsin. Again this year it looks like the kids will be going out dressed up as warm winter coats.

As for me, I'm so out-of-the-loop I thought Halloween was tomorrow. My big plans for today were to make a bunch of tatting mistakes and then try to untangle them. But first I wanted to peek in on my lovely, white cocoons. That's when I noticed a rusty red syrup in the corner of the box and something flitting about. CAN IT BE?

(Just look at the tiny fuzzy fluff on this character.)

Yes! They're alive! At least one is anyway. This little moth is all alone and perched atop another cocoon. I'm wondering, does the little moth know that this particular cocoon is the next to spring to life? Once transformed they only live for 5 days or so during which time all that they do is procreate and lay eggs. Kind of a bummer to be the first and only one out.

It is also kind of a bummer to think of more rusty colored syrup goo to come as the remaining 99 hatchlings complete the transformation. I figured as much and now I know: Allowing the cocoons to hatch definitely adds a good bit of extra work to the silk harvesting process. These guys are really going to make me earn those silk noils. Still, I must admit this is the most exciting part of the process. It's quite an amazing change that takes place. What crazy goings on in these little silken capsules!

Quiet Respite for the Good, Little Silkworms

Well, we're all snuggled up and tucked in now. The little silkworms have completed their spinning stage. I have exactly 100 cocoons!

Left: After having chosen a favorite paper roll  in which to spin, these little silkworms are in the process of building their cocoons. Right: The lovely, white cocoons once the outer fuzz is removed. These characters should be hatching forth in the days ahead.

Except for one lone wolf who appears to have a tremendous appetite and little interest in the handy-dandy toilet paper rolls that are so conveniently beside him!

I do think he's a smart lad because, as I took this photo - with the evil intent of making fun of him on this blog and saying mean things like, "Looks like you're just going to be a worm for life!" -  he gave me this pose...

,,,where he's making a little poo.

O.K. Think of me what you will for even playing at this entire experiment but I say,  "Glass Houses to you."

If you think I'm odd I understand. It's like I'm forcing everybody to give too much thought to where milk comes from. Besides, you know you love silk, which very interestingly  happens to rhyme with milk. (Coincidence? I think not.)

Aw, aren't they just as white as they can be?

And, now we wait.

I love waiting. I love waiting, and weekends with cold snaps of crisp, wintery weather when everybody says, "Time to hunker down and make soup!" And I say, "Time to persue something fiddley!"

So, while we're waiting for the great silkworm transformation, and for somebody to make soup,  I'm going to try my hand at what initially might appear to be something fiddley but, which  in all actuality is a fantastically aerobic workout for the fingers. (No, the new running shoes haven't gotten much use as of yet but, you have to admit from the first picture above I've certainly made excellent use of the shoe box.)

For your intermission amusement I'm going to create lace out of little, cottony craft puffs merrily tinkling with jingle bell embellishments for the festive holiday season ahead. And, I'm going to use only the items in the below photograph:

Above: plastic Aero tatting shuttle, pale yellow craft fluffs, little, tin jingle bells, small coin spindle.

First, using the coin spindle I shall twist the "fluffs" into fine, tight thread. (So far it's a bit like a crazy car chase isn't it?)

I'll then load the shuttle bobbin and commence to tatting (and cussing because it's fiddley and I only just obtained my first-ever shuttle last Saturday so I'm still knotting up a bit, though I do get the overall concept, which is half the battle...right?)

And why speak further? It simply goes without saying that these are indeed, most exciting times for The TREADLER.

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.)

Soon They Will Own Me

I've just spent a couple of hours fussing over my silkworms. The world's only domesticated insect certainly can be high-maintenance. But, it will be worth it when I have all that lucious Bombyx Silk right? Right?!!

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Why are Bombyx silkworms considered a domesticated insect? Because, you will not find them in nature, ever. Now, there are all kinds of other worms out there from tent worms to Tussah worms but, Bombyx Mori are totally and completely domesticated. What I am raising here is where fine silk comes from. (I mention this only because as I meander about on the internet I see that there are many misconceptions out there, people who believe their trees are being "infested by silkworms".)

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If I knew there would be a plentiful supply of mulberry leaves available to me over the next several weeks my job as caretaker would be decidedly easier. You can get a silkworm to switch from the mulberry chow diet to fresh mulberry leaves but, it is quite a trick to get a silkworm to switch from the fresh leaves to the mulberry chow. So, rather than spoil the little dears and make them all finicky and then have a hard frost destroy the only food they'd be willing to eat, I've simply been feeding the mulberry chow. This makes for a bit more work with clean up and and feeding time.

Above you can see the mulberry chow as it is drying out. The silkworms do not drink and must obtain the water they need from their food supply. Today I carefully replaced the drying food with fresh mulberry chow just like I did yesterday, etc., etc. This picture is interesting because you can see the fine layer of silk that is on the drying mulberry chow. The worms are constantly throwing down a layer of silk. They entwine themselves with the old food and each other and they're very fragile so I'm finding myself really fussing over the feeding and cleaning process.

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Were I to be feeding fresh mulberry leaves I could lay a net over the worms and gently layer new leaves above the netting. The silkworms would crawl up through the holes of the netting to get to the fresh leaves then I could just lift the netting with the worms and the new leaves all together and clean out beneath them. That process is called "netting up". The mulberry chow is dense and heavier and so I fuss about with a paintbrush lifting worms from drying chow to fresh, moist chow...

Here you can see they are enjoying a breakfast of fresh chow. The silkworms are officially 8-10 days old now. You will note that they are growing fast and furiously compared to just a little over 1 week ago.

And, as Claxton has not had a single solitary paternal instinct kick in I'm definitely on my own with these little angels who will soon need to be fed fresh chow several times a day. I may have to knit a special carrying pouch and take them with me everywhere I go. And, as much as I want these little guys to thrive I don't want to risk being known as "the worm lady". I need a Mary Poppins-type to come help me. She can make a musical adventure out of feeding them their mulberry mash while I go about my other business.

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And I do have other business because I made another cotton cloth pattern. It shall be posted forthwith which likely means sometime next week as I have to squeeze my knitting time in between these fussy, fussy feedings.

Coochie Coochie Coo

Our little silkworms are growing up:

Date of birth: Most hatched forth from Tuesday, Sept. 15th thru Thursday the 17th (the year of our Lord 2009.) Measurements at birth: Really small about the width of a pencil line. Measurements as of today, 9/21/09: About the width of a nice strand of fingering weight sock yarn to be precise-ish.

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Here's a little-known-fact: If a 6 lb at birth baby grew as fast and furiously as a silkworm, in about 28 days that child would weigh 60,000 lbs! During a normal life span a silkworm will increase in size by 10,000 times. Which brings me to a whole other can of worms, where to put these rascals three weeks from now? I mean we're prolific with them, which is fine and dandy while they're the thickness of a strand of sock yarn, but what happens when they're as wide as my finger? And, from what I understand each and every silkworm requires 3 square inches of personal space by the time it reaches the cocoon-spinning phase! In addition to that they each need their own toilet paper roll in which to crawl and spin the individual cocoon. I'm telling all my friends, "Save your toilet paper rolls. It's an emergency!" I'm calling in favors from everywhere.

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Egad! Claxton just might have to give up what little bit of territory he has been able to maintain around the old homestead / fiber factory. It's gotten bad enough I'm starting to feel a smidge sorry for him myself! (I'm not sure that either of us knew what he was signing up for when we exchanged trapped-for-life vows.)

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What's worse, I'm starting to question my silkworm parenting skills. Those are a lot of mouths to feed and I hate to admit it but the other day I failed to even remember them in a discussion Clax and I were having about pets:

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Claxton said: "Lambikin's (the fiber-bearing rabbit) is getting incredibly old."

I said: "Yes, All the pets we obtained when the kids were growing up seem to be living forever!"

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Claxton said: "Now that the kids are grown there may come a time when we won't want to be saddled down with pets any more."

I said: "Yes. It is nice to have the count down to just the two little dependents: Madge (she's the family parakeet) and Lambikins (the cute little pet rabbit), OOPS! I mean 502!"

(See?!! I'd forgotten all about the silkworms! What kind of mother is that?)

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Well, as it turns out so far we're doing all right. Here's a close-up of the fam:

Don't they make that green, mulberry chow look simply scrumptious? And, there's something mesmerizing about watching silkworms frolicking about in a plastic shoe container too. (They've outgrown the petri dish.) It is sad to know that they're due to become dormant shortly for a resting phase and shedding of the first skin. But, rest assured they'll come out hungry and ready for round two. And, rest assured again, I'll be there with my trusty camera to record and share all the precious moments. There will be a few such dormant phases ahead and each time the silkworm will shed its skin and prepare for another growth spurt. These changes promise to be dramatic filming.

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Meanwhile back in the fiber studio I've charted another free washcloth pattern that I intend to share tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the First Day of Fall and the pattern is entitled, "The Last Rose of Summer." Stop by and print up a copy of that!

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Hatching Silkworm Eggs

Once upon a time there was a beautiful oriental princess enjoying a cup of hot tea beneath an old mulberry tree. Plop! A bright, white oval drops directly down with a splash into her hot beverage. What's this? A cocoon is floating in the center of her tea cup. The princess reaches in with her chop stix and and grabs one silken thread from which the cocoon was spun. As she pulls at this thread the glistening orb begins to spin like a bobbin unwinding a long and most lustrous fiber.

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Now, the princess was a textile and fiber artist / knitting and weaving addict and so naturally she immediately thought, "Oh Yes! This will do nicely as part of my next project!"

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The eggs are hatching. I had to hurry up and try to mix their mulberry chow!

It does look scrumptious but, is "not for human consumption" so we'll never know. As I added the hot water and began to stir the chow I noticed the kitchen smelled a bit like mown lawn. I opted to follow the microwave cooking directions as I must have misplaced my double boiler needed for the stove top preparation. After a good 5 min. nuke and a little stirring we had hot food. Shortly there after we had room temperature food and I dished some up for the little characters.

Look closely. Here are the tiny silkworms picnicing on a big green scoop of delicious mulberry chow.

The worms are about the width of a pencil line

I've counted approx 75 tiny silkworms so far. In the morning I'll have a pretty good idea about how many of the 500 eggs will hatch. I'm getting thermometer readings of a steady 84 deg. F.  Maintaining a temperature of 78 to 88 deg. F.  is said to be most important, especially during this first week or so. It is also important that the petri dish remain covered to keep the food moist and yet, the attentive insect owner must be watchful for moisture or condensation build-up as even the tiniest of water droplets could form within the dish and drown the little tikes. There may be some pensive, pacing up and down the corridors as we make our way through this initial 72 hours. As I've never gotten to have that herd of sheep I've always wanted I'm pretending that this is my flock and it is lambing season.

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Claxton has been busy boiling water. (We don't need any.) My job is to gently lift each new worm with a small, soft paint brush away from the hatching area over to the feeding area. Even as tiny as they are these little silkworms are already creating nearly invisible silken fibers. They hang from them off the tip of my paint brush as I individually lift them away from the eggs. If they are left to crawl over the eggs they will drop silk making it difficult for the others to hatch forth.

My Silkworms Are Here!

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Back in college I once sent my sister a post card that had printed in bright, bold lettering, "Do you still have a crush on your postman?" (I thought that was so hilarious at the time.) Anyway, when this little beauty of a box was sitting on our doorstep I thought of the vast variety of assorted strange cards and packages that a postal worker runs across over a career.

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I'm getting ready to take the old spinning wheel on down to the Bayfront Harvest Festival in Duluth so, not much time to share all the excitement that was to be had yesterday as we set up the nursery and nestled the petri dish of silkworm eggs into their new cozy, warm environment.

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Here' they are! 500 itsy, bitsy silkworm eggs.  Thankfully nobody emerged in transit as the little characters need to eat straight away once they get movin'. From the vast amounts of research I've done in preparation (doubtful anyone believes that) the eggs will become a light blue-grey when they are very close to bursting forth with life. They start out as little yellow eggs when the mother moth first lays them then slowly change to a darker color. Once the eggs have darkened they can go into a dormant artificial winter (refrigerator) for at least 2 months. Around 10 days after they come out of the artificial winter the eggs begin to hatch. These were removed from the refrigeration stage at Mulberry Farms when they were packaged for shipment so exciting things should start happening any day now!

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Tomorrow I don't have any harvest festivals to go spinning wool at so I shall prepare their special mulberry mash diet then. It will be good to have food at-the-ready. I'll take a few pictures to share of that fiasco. Meanwhile, I've got Claxton thinking up names. I have a good feeling that we're going to need quite a few.

Raising Silkworms (Again)

Before I launch too far into overzealous enthusiasm let me say I've tried raising silk worms before. The above pictured is my entire harvest from the last effort. The moths never even hatched forth! That time I started out with 200 silkworm eggs, a very cold, dry house and a certain wide-eyed innocence that well, I don't ever seem to shake off because HERE I AM AGAIN!

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Stupid Spin Off magazine! Stupid Interweave Press! Seems those people are always "egging" the poor fiber-addicted soul on in some way or another. This time in their Fall 09 issue, that plagued my home last week, there's a fascinating article by Michael Cook on page 44 entitled, "Growing Your Own Silk". He describes the silkworm as, "the world's only truly domesticated insect", and "an amazingly efficient yarn-producing animal". Next thing I know I'm at it again! It would seem that any idiot with a charge card and internet access deserves a second chance. The house is still cold and dry but, this time I'm starting out with 500 silkworm eggs so, I expect to virtually double my success. Couple that with the above pictured bounty and I could be sitting on 9 cocoons by the end of the year!

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I informed Claxton that we have about 4 shipping days in which to prepare the nursery. To be honest, my spouse does not appear to be quite as excited as one might expect. But I will admit to his credit that he did listen to a great deal of worm-talk over dinner. He was also agreeable to touring the estate with me whilst deciding where to place the new babies petri dish once they arrived. (The eggs must be kept at a nice, comfortable temperature away from direct sunlight.) When I went on a bit about how I hoped that all 500 eggs hatched and wouldn't it be fun to build a miniature haunted house for the worms to live in at Halloween he blurted a few cussy words, "I really don't give a (cussy word) about these worms or where they live." But that's just the nervous paternal anticipation talking for he was very helpful during the brainstorming session about how we're going to keep the little eggs at a steady 78 to 80 deg F. in a house that likes to hover in the low 60's. He was also agreeable to over 4 different potential locations for the entire operation. Each worm will need its own personal space, and with 500 on the way...well, I've said it before but, these truly are exciting times for The Treadler.