The iPod and fiber play

I enjoy listening to certain books. I particularly enjoy listen to books when I can knit or spin at the same time. I could probably clean house while listening but somehow, it's not nearly as much fun, or satisfying.

I just finished "Under Orders" by Dick Francis, one of my favorite mystery writers. His heroes are ordinary people who persevere and the stories are well written. All of his books touch, in some way, horses and usually horse racing. Growing up as a horse crazy girl, this just adds to the appeal of his writing. Even non horse people will enjoy his mysteries however as the main character usually explains his thinking and "horse terms" while not being boring about it. Before he became an author, Dick Francis was a steeplechase jockey and he brings a lot of knowledge to his writings.

I have now started listening to "Vision in White" by Nora Roberts and I am continuing to dye silk sliver while doing that. The silk dyeing consists of putting quart jars with Wilton cake dyes in them, water and previously wetted Bombyx silk sliver. I finished a batch on Sunday for the Ravelympics and decided to just keep dyeing the rest of the silk.

Has anyone ever figured out how to dye either cotton or silk sliver and keep the integrity of the sliver without using the microwave? I always end up with a flat squished sliver when I rinse the excess dye out and have to squeeze the sliver. After it is dry I can usually "pop" the silk and it regains some measure of it's former loveliness but cotton remains squished. I'm sure there's a secret out there somewhere but I have yet to discover it.

The Wilton dyes tend to have a somewhat pinkish red but I am trying to counteract that by putting in some brown. No particular reason for the brown, it just seemed like a good idea. Studying color charts would probably help but I love the playing and since I am usually happy with the results, this way is faster. (This carefree attitude probably comes from having as much silk as most spinning shops. You spend enough years developing a stash and you have extra to play with when you want.)

Note: I'll add pictures from the second batch of dyeing later. Just so you know, and I remember, the brown did make for a much richer red--who knew? Well, I suppose if you study those color charts you would know but I like to feel I have discovered something on my own.