it begins with silk

This is the fiber that was bathing with my little duck the other day. 

Purty, isn't it? The colorway is called "Chocolate Mint," and the fiber was battified and sold by Naomi, whose shop is here. 

If you are a spinner, you can appreciate the soft, smooth, delicious fiber from the moment it arrives until the moment that it's a completed object. If you aren't a spinner, just imagine how soft and shiny a fluffy ball of 4 types of wool plus silk would be. 

(If you're a spinner or knitter, check out Naomi's fibers and yarns. They are always exquisite. She also makes lovely jewelry.)

I went to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool festival in October, where I took a class on my wee Finnewig inkle loom (no, "wee" and "inkle" are not the same thing), tried out lots of wheels, bought a couple (ahem) of spindles, and bought a book from Sarah Kilbourne, the author and descendant of William S. Skinner, a Victorian silk entrepreneur. American Phoenix details his arrival in the United States in 1845 and the creation of a successful silk business. It also tells about how that business was destroyed by the Mill River Flood in 1874 and rebuilt. I'll report on it soon.

In the meantime, I do want to tell you about one of the books that I read during those long days after the hurricane, when we had no electricity. I liked  Howe's first book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I reviewed here. This one, I loved. I just wasn't feeling as verbose...


The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
  From the ornate dining-room of the doomed Titanic to the sitting- room of a medium, from the mean streets of 19th-century Shanghai to the investigations of
William James, Howe leads the reader through the illumination of one woman's mind and soul.  So much research went into this book! - and yet the reader is never pummeled with it.
One of the most delicious, sensual, and satisfying books I read all year.


When I say "one of the most," I mean that it wasn't on the same level as The Night Circus (reviewed here) - but few books are. Erin Morgenstern = genius. I wish for a new book, but in the meantime, there's a new Flax-Golden tale every Friday to make me happy. Today's tale is "Tools to build the stars." (Hint: visit her site every Friday...) And, if you have a few minutes hours to while away, brew yourself some tea, go to Pinterest, search "Night Circus," and settle in...