Silk

Tonight's headlines contained news that the recent earthquakes in China has quite adversely affected the silk industry, here and throughout Southeast Asia. Much of the silk-producing worms and habitat has been destroyed, and it will take years to recover.

This news comes on the heels of my learning more about silk worms. Recently, a local proprietress of a shop showed me the steps of making silk. According to her, single worm cocoons are used to produce single strands of silk thread. But there are also double cocoons (with 2 worms each) that are used to make silk batting for comforters. Seven thousand double cocoons are needed for each comforter. She showed me the steps of removing the silk from these double cocoons. (Connie)