Milkweed silk

[Wyvern]

Would anyone know where I could get some good quality milkweed silk (not seeds, just the silk)?

My milkweed really didn't do well this year seed pod wise due to bugs and some kind of mold. I am needing a few pods worth for a small project I want to work on over the winter. I want to experiment with blending the silk with wool fiber to try and spin up some yarn).

[Mona Miller]

How many pods do you need? I still have some seed pods left from collecting them to give away to teachers, etc.

[Wyvern]

Sorry for the really late reply. It looks like this year (unlike last year) is going to be a major bumper crop on the common milkweed pods so I'll have a plenty of silk fibers to play with (and a ton of seeds if anyone needs any).

I found some really gorgeous indigo dyed 50/50 merino-tercel blended wool at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival this past spring. I plan on carding the milkweed silk into it since milkweed on its own is extremely slippery and generally not strong enough for spinning on its own (has to be supported by a wool fiber). I think the color and shininess of the milkweed silk should complement the color of the wool roving and mix in well. I am not sure how it will actually blend with the wool texture wise - might be smooth/even or it might be a little clumpy which likely would give it an interesting tweed look. Had a co-worker this winter make up a blend of silkmoth silk (from the cocoons) and dog hair (undercoat) and wool. The silk blended in a little clumpy, but the effect overall was quite nice.