Miss Stinkfinger

That's what my mother used to call me, laughingly, when I was small. It was appropriate yesterday, when I was cutting open dozens of silkworm cocoons to degum them.

When I counted out the 1500+ cocoons and sorted them, I thought they were thoroughly dessicated. Imagine my surprise when I opened my cedar closet and sniffed the stench of moldy organic matter.

So now the bulk of them are in the freezer, where at least they don't stink and a few hundred have been dried in the dehydrator. So, while Alyson made Cioppino from TJ, I cut open a hundred or so cocoons. At least the nasty brown color is cooking out along with the smell. It will take a lot of work, but I'll have a nice mass of degummed silk when I'm done.