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Saturday, August 24, 2013

Spinning Thick And Thin - Spider Style

Cute cat picture at the end if you can hang in there ;-). 

Hand spinners control the thickness of their yarn by how much fiber they feed out as they spin.  If you are wanting a super fine lace weight yarn, you might only  allow a few strands of wool/hair at a time.  For a chunky yarn, well, I guess there could be hundreds of strands depending on how fine the fibers are.  A Merino sheep has much finer wool than, say, a Cotswold.

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I was out early this morning taking some more pretty August foggy sunrise shots and remembered, finally, that I wanted to try to get some family photos of our garage spider collection.  The light is good there in the morning and I was hoping the dew would help showcase their beautiful webs.  Yesterday I noticed a web stretching from the roof down to the ground.  That's a big web, even by my standards.

You know I love my spiders, especially the writing spiders.  I've read Charlotte's Web several times, even as an adult.  The side of our garage is home to many, many spiders throughout the summer, in all sizes/ages from tiny babies to mongo grandparents and I like to think they are all related.  They probably are, but I don't guess I can say for sure.  In my world though, they're one big family.

This is the spider with the big web.  She is a big spider, one of the biggest I've seen of this variety.  That's a big shadow too and that was my original thought - to take an interesting picture with the spider and her shadow.   I noticed that the spider was behaving oddly though and stopped to watch.  She's writing!


You may/should want to click to biggify. 









This is where it starts to get messy.  I'm not sure why, but I thinking she's probably saying "That's enough  pictures of my butt!" 


See that mosquito?  He won't be biting anyone this evening! Be kind to spiders.


Isn't this a gorgeous web?  Spinning, thick and thin.

Wikipedia has a great article on Writing Spiders


"That is one big dang spider!"

21 comments:

Tyche's Minder said...

We have an unusually large number of spiders and webs this year. You can't put anything down without a spider attaching a web to it. Who usually eats spiders and where are they this year?

Bee Lady said...

I had a spider like that in my garden one time so I rushed in to look it up...I believe it's a "golden orb weaver"! How perfect for you. She knew she'd be ok in your garage, being kindred weaving spirits and all!

Cindy Bee

Unknown said...

That is a talented spider, wow!
And the cat comment at the end of the post was worth waiting for.:-)

Have a nice day!

Michelle said...

That is some amazing macro photography! What IS the thicker stuff she's spinning? I mean, what does that part do?

Alice said...

When that spider says she was just "hangin' around the barn", ...... she really means it.
I do think that web has it's own zip code!
Great capture of nature's finery, Sara.

Michelle said...

wow...first off that is one big and ugly spider...bleck...but wow....up close and personal seeing how and where the "webbing" comes from....WOW. pretty cool.

Tombstone Livestock said...

Looks like she was getting frustrated with her spinning wheel there, maybe she needs to change the tension a bit.

Great capture.

Janice Grinyer said...

Sara, These are the MOST amazing shots. Seriously. I was fascinated by them! These should be published somewhere in a childrens book on different methods of weaving, and making thread/yarn etc. with different 'animals/arachnids!

JUST AMAZING!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Thanks! I thought it was an exceptional find this morning. I've never seen them make the zig zigs :-D.

For more info on the spiders and web design... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_%28spider%29

The Dancing Donkey said...

Those are unbelievably amazing photos. They ought to be in National Geographic. I've never been able to catch one of these spiders in the act before. Thanks for sharing these. WOW!

DFW said...

Amazing! Beautiful pictures, as usual.

Suz said...

oh wow
yes, those should be published
and I love your kitties

Sheepmom said...

I"m so glad you caught with your camera what I've seen but haven't been able to photograph. That's a great spider! They are little miracles - thanks for showing her off!

Andi G said...

My emotions are mixed between, "yikes, a big spider!", and "oooh how lovely."

Beautiful images. Love the cute cats.

Christine said...

Excellent captures!

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

You've taken some amazing photos of one of my favorite spiders! I was afraid of them for a long time until I found out they were harmless and pretty docile--I think that their webs are as interesting as they are and your photos are why I think that!

Willow said...

Wow on the photos ... loved them right down to the beautiful kitties.

flowerweaver said...

Fabulous photos! Our spiders weave erratic, haunted house type webs. They could use some lessons from the KY spiders.

Andee said...

That is one big spider I agree with the cats. Very cool shots!

Susan said...

Flippen amazing! I loved it, do you suppose her spinnerets were clogged?
Now to go read Wikipedia......... where would we be without it?
Your photography is getting better all the time, thanks.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Beautiful! She is an artist:)

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