After noodles we went to see how silk was actually taken from the cocoon, soaked in a tub, stretched, and stretched to create many many layers of silk which is used to both weave and to use as stuffing in quilts (used in lieu of down from ducks or geese). the top picture is one showing the different size cocoons, with a poster showing the life cycle of a silk worm. the cocoon is then soaked and spread over this half circle bar. About 80 of them are put on top of each other - then they are spread even further as a group a bit larger. After they have piles of them, they are spread out on a large table and four or five ladies pull on them and spread them over a table the size of a bed. they showed us how they did this and then invited the guys to try to stretch them - they could not! We all tried and couldn't stretch them a bit! After this demonstration we were taken upstairs where we could buy silk filled blankets and sheets - we bought a king size one for our bed and one for Hannah's bed. It would be wasted on Ben who likes to sleep under only a sheet summer and winter and still complains he is too hot - it must be his Northern China roots - the boy is always hot!
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