meat puddle

Look I try not to doomsay or spread panic but this shit is truly and deeply Very Bad for every single trans person in America and unless everyone makes it their mission in life over the next few days to make sure that their reps know that shutting down the government is the correct option here.

a long handmade cord in shades of blue is wrapped around a notebook which is placed on a table

three blue cords are wrapped around the notebook

the three cords are coiled and placed atop each other on the notebook

the three coils of cord are stacked inside each other, and a small cat has bent down to examine them. she was there the whole time getting in my way

here's my first series of cords braided on a marudai! i wound my bobbins unevenly and ran out of a color at a time, which was a neat opportunity to play with complementary patterns. the 12 and 8 element braids had a 35% (vs 45%) counterweight, which works better with clothespin bobbins. #kumihimo

a diamond patterned round braid is coiled on a person's hand. the braiding atand and bobbins are visible in the background

the round braid is now much longer and tied into a skein with a different short length of braid

this is the first long braid i made on this stand, which is how i found out a 45% counterweight is too much if you're using clothespins for bobbins (6g each) it ended up right around 100" and should make a pretty nice pair of bootlaces #kumihimo

she's always gotta be in the middle of what i'm doing, it's the absolute best and also so annoying since she's still certain that my braids are baby toys 😂

mitake looks like exactly what i was hoping for originally, and i'm excited to see how it braids up! so far my bobbins have been unweighted clothespins (~6g each) which is obviously ridiculous, but i've gotten pretty good results with a 35% counterweight for kongo and shi no nome

If you have an extra $10 a month to spare, here's a list of worker-owned cooperative news sites you might want to support:

• 404 Media
• Defector
• The Flytrap
• Flaming Hydra
• The Appeal
• Aftermath
• Racket
• Hell Gate
• The 51st
• The Colorado Sun
• Range Media
• Discourse Blog
• Pop Heist

thank you, it's kanmuriuchi (or yurugi), according to Claudia Wollny! i like it, but the colors-centered side is split in the middle in a way that's not my favorite. i think i'm gonna try a 16 element mitake for my next attempt at the effect i was looking for

a wooden marudai sits on the floor. the rubber mallet used to hammer it together is leaning against a laundry basket in the background. bibby feets are there

i had to make it tall™ but now i can adjust my bobbins without them dragging! #kumihimo

a side view of a braid formed underneath a marudai. there's a cream center bordered by shades of blue. pourdoor is visible in the background, sure that this is a toy

the same view showing the other side of the braid, where the two blue threads sit in the middle instead of the border

i decided to try a braid that would be a nightmare on a disk for my first time using a marudai. i love it! the original six inch legs do not give me enough braiding room, though. #kumihimo

a small lilac point cat is curled up with her nose buried in her tail, there's hoodie fabric under her and the edge of a leg that she's pressed against beside her

a small marudai sits on a wood floor, there's a cat behind it examining the threads hanging off the side

this time it's from the side instead of from above, showing the threads, bobbins, and counterweight bag better. the cat's still there too

i bought the least horrible looking amazon marudai to try this style of braiding, and i don't think i'll ever go back to a disk #kumihimo

a round braided cord sticks out of the back of a cardboard disk. it's patterned with diamond shaped red roses that have yellow centers and green leaves at the sides with a white background surrounding the flowers. you can see stray threads and bobbins in the background

this is my first try at a sixteen strand kongo gumi! two ends of size 10 cotton per strand. #kumihimo

two kumihimo braided cords sit on a notebook on a table, one orange/yellow and completed, one blue/green still in progress on clothespin bobbins and a cardboard disk. a small lilac point cat is blurrily regarding them, because obviously these are toys for baby.

i started learning kumihimo and forgot to post about it! it's nice how easy it is to make a cardboard disk

this makes it sound like the rat was a beloved pet of the stand owners

thank you for using alt text!

would you be willing to use alt text?

that's a shame but thank you, still!

may i ask for a link to said gizmo?

as someone with extremely severe allergies (a single breathful of air makes my throat close some, i do not go outside without an n95) they are not correct that there are better medications, and epinephrine as a first line for any food allergy reaction? a whole epipen?? what is happening here.

the book controlling people by patricia evans goes into how that happens and why! while i have a few quibbles with her framing ('every framework is wrong, some are useful' is one of my favorite frameworks haha) i still found a lot of value in the book and recommend it often

If you want to make sure you're not giving Substack any traffic, btw, @labeler.antisubstack.fyi labels any Substack link even if it's on a custom domain

i've been making quart sized lemonades with about a cup of frozen fruit blended into it. turns out as kind of a thin smoothie which is more pleasant than it sounds. they've been helping a lot!

a finished teal lace knit bag sits on a leather notebook on an inlaid wood table with a tiny green pack of cards in front and most of a sitting small cat behind it

the same bag, but with the top opened and the cat absent

the same bag, but the green pack of cards is also enclosed within it, and the cat is absent

the same bag, but the cat is sniffing one of the drawstrings

i finished the bag i've been knitting! size 10 cotton worked on antique 1.6mm(ish) needles, at about 12 stitches per inch. turns out it perfectly fits my set of tiny card decks!

a teal lace drawstring bag is in the process of being knit

i've been in good enough health to knit again lately, so of course it's time to make more little bags. this one is size 10 cotton worked on approx. 1.6mm needles

thank you so much! and thank you for letting me ramble about my knitting haha

a crocheted and embroidered drawstring bag in blue

a crocheted and embroidered drawstring bag in rust and cream. the embroidery is an elizabethan blackwork pattern

here are a couple of those early bags. i was so happy when i found a site of actual elizabethan blackwork patterns! i need to try embroidering over stockinette next, it's a kinder grid to work with

i was actually just obsessed with fancy little drawstring bags as a kid haha! when i learned to crochet and embroider, eventually i realized i could put them together and make bags. then i learned lacemaking techniques and knitting and kept iterating. it's been very satisfying

a dark blue knit lace bag, complete with i-cord drawstring and with a good bit of light grey/cream cat hair. some of it's knit into there forever. it could really use blocking

a teal knit lace bag in progress. there's cat hair knit into this one too, it's just less contrasting.

i was right in thinking it was close to my recent knitting! i've been knitting lace drawstring bags in size 10 crochet cotton on approx. 1.6mm antique steel needles, and getting a very similar gauge (same stitches per inch, unsure on rows)

these are lovely! may i ask what type of thread and needle size you're using?