Silk Hankies

So I found something new, and I had to try it. :) Silk hankies, is a sort of residual product of the silk industry, when they have taken off all the long fibers from the silk cocoon, they are left with the inner shorter fiber and this they stretch out onto rectangular forms to make what is known as silk hankies or mawata. I bought orange and yellow from VickeVira on etsy, they were lovely dyed and beautiful. But I found out, I don't like to spin silk hankies. I looked at what information I could find on youtube, to figure out what to do. I found that making a hole in the middle and then stretching it further and further was the best way for me. I now understand that silk is stronger that steel and it hurts your hands to pre draft this. It turned out that a kind of yanking tugging motion with the hands far away from each other was easiest. Spinning it without pre drafting was just a nightmare.

But the result is beautiful, I mixed the colours and I am going to ply it with some white wool to make the most of it. The picture didn't catch the beautiful shine it has though. 

I think spinning silk top would be a totally different and more expensive experience.