Grounding
These are called Grounding, and they're out on both ravelry and payhip. You can use the code SLIPPERS for 15% off in either place through the end of the week. Or, if you're a Rampant Nonsense member on Patreon, you get this pattern and a bunch of others included with your membership. There's a whole list of them! These are just fun to put together. They start at the center back of the heel with a double sided cast on. You work flat until your fabric is long enough to meet in front of your ankle, then you start working in [...]
Ooooh, colors!
And here's how the natural dyeing experiments came out! From top to bottom we have logwood, cochineal, madder, and osage. These are 100% cotton napkins. First I soaked them with galnut powder for tannin, then with alum for a mordant. While that was happening, I turned the various powdery bits (cochineal in that front bowl, osage on the back left, logwood on the back right, madder not pictured) into dyes. Then the fabric went in the dyes. This was...not a quick process. It took intermittent attention over the course of a long weekend. That's in part because I have a [...]
Insufficient oversight
I mean...there's no reason you can't decide to knit a little jellyfish. And then use an air plant for its tentacles. And then suspend several of them from a piece of driftwood somewhere in your house. No really, there is no oversight. Absolutely no one will stop you from doing this. There is, in fact, at least one person who will entice you to do this very thing. I can say that with certainty. For I am that person. All you need to do is track down the air plant...you know, in case this is the sort of thing you [...]
Monthly Reminder
Are you registered to vote? You sure? Because about 1 in 3 of you* live in states that kick folks off the voter rolls if you don't vote often enough. And all of you* live in states where 'accidents' happen. And this election is going to decide whether we start getting our bodily autonomy back, or whether we loose even more of it. So check your registration. You can do it at vote.gov. Then get your friends and family to check theirs. Ask folks if they want help registering to vote. Ask if they want help getting a mail in [...]
Don’t panic!
Did you just knit your first shapely little friend? Are you feeling slightly troubled, wondering how to get from what you're holding in your hands to what you see in the pattern pictures? Well don't fret, it's supposed to look weird for a moment there at the end. You didn't make a mistake! When you're done, they'll look sort of like this. The one on the top right is a curved one, the one on the top left is a level one, and the one in the bottom center is one of the variations. You have to fold these in [...]
Shaped
Shaped, our spiffy little shapely shape, is out! This one started with me looking at the start of a slipper and wondering what would happen if I played with it for a while. And the only reason I have the time and space to chase ideas like that is because of the good folks on Patreon who support my work every month. So it seems only fair to give them the pattern. This one is only available on Patreon through at least the end of the year. Anyone with an Utter Nonsense ($6/month) or Rampant Nonsense ($12/month) membership between now [...]
Half
This 'longer than anticipated' bit is apparently the theme of the project. But I did get two of the colors done. I have one tshirt and two napkins (both 100% cotton) to dye in each of the four colors. The kit I got had you first soak them with gallnut for tannins, then with alum as mordant, and I did all of the shirts and napkins together at the same time. I worked on turning the powders into potions while that went on. For each of the four colors, I first did one napkin and one tshirt in the dye. [...]
Potions
Hmm, so this is a longer process than anticipated. Turning the powder into colorful potions took most of the day. So turning the white fabric into colorful fabric will have to wait until tomorrow. And my kitchen is now shockingly clean because it got shockingly filthy along the way and required a thorough scrub.
A + B = ?
I have both a pile of white tshirts and napkins... Aaaaaaaand a natural dye kit... And here shortly I expect to have neither. I'll report back.
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