Spinning Silk

Here we have C,  spinning silk thread from a hankie or matawa. She is using the strong light fiber to knit a beautiful soft shawl. I'm a little out of my depth in describing this project: as I understand it, silk worm cocoons are first pulled apart and spread out on a frame and manipulated into very thin 10x10 inch squares which can then be exquisitely dyed. The crafter buys a stack of these hankies, and will pull and pull and pull to separate the fibers, which can be spun into yarn. You can see a small bit of the iridescent unworked translucent fiber just under the wooden bowl. If your fingers are at all rough or worn, the silk sticks to you like a magnet. She alters between spinning and knitting, spinning and knitting. It's all too much process for me, but fascinating to watch C at work.