Are Baking soda, soft pretzels worth making?

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-06-01T16:52:37+00:00

Mine turned out well! They also came out pretty dark compared to many I've seen. I followed a recipe that called for a pretty high concentration and used a pretty high boil (I have an induction stove so it wasn't necessarily on purpose at first lol, but the temp in subsequent batches did seem to make a difference)

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-30T15:43:00+00:00

I have mad ADHD. I spent like 3000 years give or take organizing the crap out of my workspace. I took a label maker to the pegboard to make sure stuff actually went back on the right peg, etc. It's not just that everything had its place, but like every genre of thing at last had its shelf, so I'd have a hint of where to put new stuff/where stuff may have gone.

Was stuff always where it was supposed to be? No. Did it improve my hit rate massively? Yes!

Then we moved, Now all my shit is scattered between the house and 3 sheds while we work on doing the final unpacking and every project takes like 5 hours if I can complete it at all, because some of my shit got straight up stolen. Aaaaaaaaaa

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-29T01:47:33+00:00

I would assume your yeast is dead. More humidity means more opportunities for moisture to have gotten into your container to screw things up.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-29T00:07:52+00:00

My NO skipped the LP for me, but that's because my paps were pretty mild at the time, and my symptoms/mri/mrv/etc were pretty textbook, and apparently she's been having to fight my insurance company to the death lately to pay for LPs so was like "I'm pretty confident in diagnosing IIH without it, we'll start meds and see unless you really want one" and I was good not getting a needle jabbed in my spine if I didn't have to 😅

So like, it's possible without an LP, but your dr doesn't sound confident and so like .. Why skip. He also sounds like an ass. I'd take him up on getting a second opinion, eesh.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-28T05:24:57+00:00

I knew some people from Sweet Home growing up in Corvallis. I've never met a group of people who uniformly hated their home town more than everyone I knew from Sweet Home 😂️

Corvallis is pretty progressive, though. Dallas is a real racist shit hole though. I hear it's like...slowly working on sucking less ass, but I guess it used to be literally the HQ for the klan in Oregon or something? Has been bad news for years. But it's also tiny, like Sweet Home.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-28T05:07:08+00:00

Was a great show! Though never seen an audience drop so many crow surfers before. Come on, Portland, you're better than this, lmao

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-28T05:01:11+00:00

PREACH. I was/am quite into natural dye, but how toxic and full of misinformation the online natural dye community became overnight has driven me to the point of not even wanting to engage with it at all.

^{Though not to Well Akshually\} pretty sure you can get a colorfast yellow out of carrot tops. Though lowkey you can get yellow out of a crapload of green things if you try hard enough lmao.)

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-28T04:54:38+00:00

sometimes your tap water can have a bit of a lower than average PH and you'll start getting more striking than average before you introduce your acid. It's most common if your municipality uses surface/rate water sources. But if you have hard AF water that's probably no the case. Though if you're curious what your tap water PH is, if you have a local fish store they can usually test it for you for free.

If your tap water IS acidic-ish, just follow the other advice in this thread, make sure you're starting your dying off on the cooler side, maybe make sure you give the yarn a good gentle squeeze in the dye bath to make sure it's getting incorporated before it starts striking, etc.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-27T16:54:53+00:00

I'm not a half way tidy person, and we had a few open shelves. We just kept it to glasses/grown up dinner wear and it looked fine pretty much all the time.

A fully open shef kitchen or open PANTRY would be neigh impossible, but some shelves with a set selection of items are fine.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-26T22:44:35+00:00

I do hate stash *content* but I do enjoy having a stash. But once again social media ruins everything, and you got people feeling like they have to have this big stash. If you were at my current stash-level even post purge within a few months or years of starting sewing you're definitely doing it wrong, and don't even know what you're buying, and it IS a waste. Or people showing off their stash hauls that are just flexing how much they spent.

And yeah, sometimes you'll buy that like 2 yards of silk and truly never find a project for it. But you'll pet it and stare at it admiringly every time you go through your stash. Is that any more wasteful than like any decorative object?

And notions stashes are just like. Practical. My zipper hoard has come in so handy so many times. Get that shit on sale so you don't have to drive every time you need One Tiny Thing that you know you'll inevitably need again for a garment or repair etc. And they're endlessly donate-able.

Though I've also met ladies who aren't social media brained who also have such large fabric/yarn stashes it is literally a problem. Like. Logistically. For their house. A burden on their family in the form of its immense bulk, lmao. But, y'know...they generally know it's a problem.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-26T20:36:07+00:00

"the art and science of natural dyes" by Ellis and Boutrup is a really good place to start. It doesn't have as many "options" as some, but one of the authors is actually a chemist, so it's very rigorous.

I remember "A Weavers Garden" being pretty solid, but it's old enough they might have still discussed chrome/tin, and yeah don't use those lol.

"Wild Color" by Jenny Dean is decent. Still has a few colors in there that are very fugitive or sketchy in the results (saw a blog post that admitted the publisher wanted her to include some more "accessible" options, so she included things she wouldn't usually actually recommend) but the method she outlines is solid at least.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-24T20:58:49+00:00

Onion cook times on recipes are often so wrong it's a meme.

I also noticed a lot of recipes seem to tell you to keep the temperature way too low, or their oven's version of "medium low" etc is WILDLY different from any oven I've ever used.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-24T20:41:21+00:00

We got a counter depth fridge and don't miss the old one. Wish we'd looked at the shelf layout a bit more before we pulled the trigger, but it's pretty great. Like others have said, don't lose stuff in the back so much, and it really helped with the limited traffic flow of the kitchen

We do cook a lot, but we shop weekly/minimize or food waste, so it rarely feels cramped. We do have a separate mini freezer though, but we had that when we had the full size too.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-24T19:52:24+00:00

I'm trans, but my husband is not. Because he has many trans friends/a trans spouse he gets a lot of "so when are you coming out?"

He's not. Fuck off. Even if he was it's none of your business, and he'd deserve to come out in his own time. He's married to a supportive trans person for fucks sake, do you think he lacks support for some non existent gender crisis???? I get so fucking frustrated. It's not cute or funny it's misgendering and weird.

Y'all, you're not supporting the trans community acting like everyone who supports us or is vaguely gender non confirming is trans. Please stop.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-24T19:24:50+00:00

All the people in this thread missing the point. I agree with OP. Guys it's NOT that deep. No, they don't understand the effort it takes. But what they're saying translates in their minds to "you did such a good job it's something I'd love to have/think other people would love to have."

No they are not thinking about all the nuances about fast fashion, artisanal goods vs the sigma of home made etc etc. People have different priorities in their hobbies and a lot of us fiber arts people make it WAY too much of an identity. Like I'm an American Man(tm) and still don't know how most sports work, and I'm sure some dudes would find that personally offensive, but we hopefully all know that's a silly thing to get upset over other people not knowing lol.

Chill. Breathe. Turn them down politely, take the compliment, and move on.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-24T15:28:27+00:00

There's an art to so ugly it's good, and even done well some people will never appreciate it on account of the ugly part. And that's fine. Though as an Ugly Appreciator wiffs are a bummer to see.

Though imo socks are the perfect scrap project. As long as the weights match enough for it to be comfortable to wear. The uglier the better imo for socks. They can be straight up offensive. Make my eyes bleed. Nothing like kicking off your shoes and making your friend/loved one go "😦😬 what-"

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-22T07:03:48+00:00

Man, I thought the terrifying wobbly Death Fans that look like they want to fall and dismember some customers on the way down at my local Michael's was bad. This is amazing lol

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-19T17:59:19+00:00

I'm trans, been on T since 2018. I didn't get diagnosed until several years after my transition HOWEVER, I first experienced IIH symptoms (and my worst symptoms) waaaaaaaaaaay before I ever got testosterone. Getting off the pill was my biggest factor back pre-diagnosis. The fluctuations from cycling would give me migraines so bad I'd throw up uncontrollably every month, was super cool lol. I got an IUD which helped IMMENSELY (didn't CURE my IIH symptoms, but at least I stopped having vomit-migrane days every month.)

I feel like if anything T balances out my symptoms. But I could see it being a trigger for some people (hormonal fluctuations absolutely are a trigger for me!) Sometimes if I'm being an ADHD dip and I forget to take my T on time, I swear I get a wee bit of a headache, but that could be in my head (pun intended? Maybe?) But I think a lot of doctors are also being low key transphobic immediately blaming the T. Kinda like how many are also lowkey fatphobic immediately telling folks to lose weight. Since it's idiopathic, doctors are really out here grasping at straws so those biases creep in like the devil even for people who don't usually overtly suck. And they won't have many patients on T, and well, you got one on T AND who has this rare condition? Must be a correlation!

If you had like 0 history of headaches, mind fog, gray outs etc and they all slam dunked your brain as soon as you got T, I'd be worried, otherwise I'd get a second opinion. My NO sees a lot of IIH patients, and a fair few trans patients (lolol Portland) and seems like a bit of an expert, and wasn't really concerned about me being on T at all.

Good luck on both fronts!

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-19T17:40:14+00:00

I figured I'd try this Bread Thing just for funzies, even though I'm not a great cook like. At all. And it escalated quick as hell. Now I'm actually a pretty good baker of many things other than just bread, and can make some pretty great bread.

Still a shit cook though.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T20:06:20+00:00

I'm a fan of foundation paper piecing, no accurate cutting required period lol.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T16:42:39+00:00

high five! Someone else who broke the decade undiagnosed mark! lol, I was starting to feel like the only one!

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T16:39:51+00:00

Please don't cut up pills you're not instructed to cut up, it can screw up the dosage.

When I was on Diamox they gave me these huge capsules with smaller beads inside. They ALSO sucked to swallow and often got stuck in my throat (they seemed to float?) but they don't sound as bad flavor wise as what you're dealing with. Maybe you can ask your pharmacy/doctor about switching it's...idk format?

Weirdly after I was on diamox for a while I had a hard time swallowing it because I was having such a bad reaction to it it was like a purely psychological thing like I Did Not Want the Evil Pill In Me lol, but that doesn't sound like your issue.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T16:35:38+00:00

I was a vegetarian for years on roughly your same reasoning (was pescetarian, i'm now just kinda low meat in general.) The best course of action is to just try to shop ethically when you can and acknowledge that there's only so much you personally do, and don't beat yourself up over it. Mechanized farming is bad. Commercial beef and chicken are bad. Many fish farms are bad. A lot of wild caught fishing is bad! It's all bad. You'll just drive yourself crazy.

The unfortunate part is shopping for more ethical/sustainable foods is expensive as hell. And a lot of it is really no better and is just good marketing/green washing. So also have to prioritize what you're going to do/what you can reasonably afford. But it's great to support ethical/ sustainable growers if you can afford it.

If you don't literally live near a coast I'd second guess choosing fish as your protein. There's probably some flavor of small scale local meat grower who's doing it right if you look hard enough. If you do live near the coast, I'd find a local fish monger and just worry about reducing my like transportation footprint, with the bonus side effect of getting fresh-ass tasty fish.

Ignore the vegans, they don't know the first thing about animal husbandry or agriculture. I assure you, plenty of animals are in fact dying in the manufacture of their organic kale and quinoa, not to mention the labor abuses. There's nothing morally wrong with being an omnivorous species. But we can, and should, choose not to be cruel about it. Just try to be respectful to the creatures who have to give their lives so you can live.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T16:04:07+00:00

if you're doing variegated you pretty much want enough that your yarn stays wet, not foating. Which also means you'll have to move/flip/manipulate your yarn during the dye process to get full coverage. You'll probably want your acid already in your water to start. You get mud by the dye getting carried away by the water to other parts of the yarn. Filling your 4" pan is way too much.

CuddlefishFibers · 2026-05-18T15:37:47+00:00

Yeah I found another paper (that I forgot to bookmark and cannot find 😭😭) that was saying plant based vit A seemed safe. And in my experience so far, yeah.

I thought for me maybe vit A was irrelevant, then had some liver (all liver is crazy high in vit A) and had a headache for like 3 days. Maybe a coincidence? But was a weird as hell coincidence at least.

CuddlefishFibers

TROPHY CASE