Reeling
Unwinding the long thread of silk from several softened cocoons at once and twisting them into one raw silk yarn.
Also: silk reeling, charkha reeling
To reel silk, the cocoons are first soaked in hot water to soften the gum. The end of each cocoon is found and the filaments from several cocoons are drawn together into a single thread, which is wound on a reel. One cocoon gives a filament far too fine to use alone. The reeled thread is called raw silk. It is then twisted, and may be degummed and dyed before it goes to the weaver. Reeling takes skill, since the thread must be even. Some reeling is still done by hand, but most silk is reeled in small mechanised units.