Brittany of the Many Projects
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aurorarouge.bsky.social
Brittany of the Many Projects
@aurorarouge.bsky.social
430 followers 360 following 290 posts
Non-miserable child free cat lady. Knit n' spin, grow California native plants, learn cool science stuff. LSG lurker.

No kings. No nazis.
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aurorarouge.bsky.social
I'm the lucky new caretaker of this rad 1950s-era Fanny loom, courtesy of my guild's Pass It Forward program. Who needs a dining table, anyway?

#handweaving
A 1950s era counterbalance Fanny floor loom stands where we used to have a dining table. The loom is honey colored maple and has a DIY castle added over the top roller bar.
December 7, 2025 at 3:52 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
#Steek time! I like this crochet method that @katedaviesdesigns.com uses, it really grabs onto all the little ends and makes the cut line easy to see.

#2025sweaterchallenge #knitting #handspinning
Beginning to cut the front steek on a cardigan knit in the round. White crochet reinforcement bands run up the steek columns. Scissors carefully cut the knit ladder running between the reinforcements. Showing the back of the cut steek edge. The reinforcement band has neatly captured the cut edges of the floats.
December 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Another #2025sweaterchallenge progress pic attempt, aka another cat bed. Next up, steek and button bands. Might just squeak in before the end of the year.

#knitting #handspinning
Pink and white colorwork sweater in progress. Most of the knitting is complete, picture shows uncut front steek and unfinished neckline. A grey and white cat lays atop the sweater.
December 5, 2025 at 2:52 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Plausible deniability isn't really a thing around here.

#sewing #fabricscissors
Three pairs of scissors all marked with "fabric only!" messages
December 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
My plants and I thoroughly enjoyed the rain last week. The hummingbird sage is springing up, all the manzanitas are blooming, and this little eriogonum is about to manifest its scheme for planter domination. #californianativeplants
This Ian Bush Arctostaphylos is 8 feet tall! In front is a Concha ceanothus and the more petite Salvia spathecea from Las Pilitas. Eriogonum grande rubescens hanging onto a few last summer blooms
November 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Please enjoy this bobbin of alpaca/Shetland awaiting its sisters. A calm start on a lovely showery day.

#handspinning
Spinning wheel bobbing full of soft brown fiber singles rests on a silver tray, illuminated from behind with rainy day light
November 20, 2025 at 3:47 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
On nights like this, we break into the Stagg. Nice to get some good news.
A small pour of delicious whiskey in a glass, in front of a grey and white cat.
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Wanted a progress pic for my #2025sweaterchallenge but someone decided this layout was just for him.

#knitting #handspinning
Grey and white cat lays atop a sweater in progress. The sweater is being knit top down in geometric cream and pink color work pattern. The body and one sleeve are nearly complete.
November 3, 2025 at 8:43 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Signed up to demo #bandweaving at the upcoming weaving guild sale! Got out Ye Olde #inkleloom and warped up for the first pattern in the Applesies book, then proceeded to totally mis-read the turning sequence. Oh well, still looks cool 😎

#tabletweaving #handweaving
Handwoven band about 3/4 inch across featuring a zigzag design in navy blue, grey, and bright pink Inkle loom set up for band weaving with a pack of tablets used to change sheds.
October 24, 2025 at 8:13 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Got some good work done in the backyard today. Flagstone is down on the main path, the bog filter structure is in, and the stone planters are taking shape. Some of my #californianativeplants are already established back here, many more to come!
Backyard improvements to my CA native plant garden. Several lilac and manzanita shrubs are visible amongst the in-progress rock planters, stepping stones, and pathway. A pink flagstone pathway in progress. Large stones cover a straight walkway, leading to a patio space that still needs pavers. Newly created planter formed from small granite boulders houses a Bee's Bliss sage. The structure for a bog filter is visible behind the planter.
October 20, 2025 at 1:15 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Cruising along on my #2025sweaterchallenge now that the sleeves are split off. I made a ton of cream Romney 2 ply, but will there be enough of my pinky orange BFL? Time will tell. 😬

#knitting #handspinning
Hands holding a sweater in progress in the foreground, while a grey and white cat peers sleepily from behind the knitting. Pink and cream color work sweater being knit from the top down. The raglan increases are complete and the sleeves have been split from the body.
October 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Great turnout at the #nokings protest in #Sanluisobispo yesterday.
Protest poster that reads "Fascists can oligargle deez nuts," written in cheerful colors. Glittery acrylic sign that reads "Fuck Off Fascists" shines in the sun
October 19, 2025 at 11:04 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Check out the seed exchange table at our CNPS chapter meeting last night! This is maybe 1/3 of the total selection. The variety was amazing. I contributed a tiny bit of Ascelpias fascicularis 😅 and took home two varieties of lupine and an interesting wallflower.

#californianativeplants
Long table covered with packets of seeds to share with other native plant enthusiasts. Many include photos of the plant and instructions for germinating. Take a scoop of seeds for the Suffrutescent Wallflower. The collector has provided cultivation instructions and a photo of the mature plant with yellow blooms.
October 3, 2025 at 5:23 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Getting ready for fall planting! I've got some pond/bog plants for the new water feature, Monardella, Penstemon, and Diplacus for the pollinators, and a nice Rhamnus californica to block the low spot in our fence. Soon, my friends.

#californianativeplants
California native plants awaiting their new garden homes. Pond plants on the left include Stachys bullata and Erythranthe cardinalis. Monardella, Diplacus "tequila sunrise" and two kinds of Lobelia, and Salvia Celestial Blue.
September 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Got to get cranking on my #2025sweaterchallenge if I'm going to finish by the end of the year! Currently putting along through the raglan increases and wondering if I'll ever be somewhere cold enough to wear the final product 🤔

#knitting #handspun
Spot cardigan pattern in progress, partway through the raglan increases. Knitted using my handspun yarn in colors of white and pink-orange.
September 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
New project off the loom, submitted for cat inspection. This will be a set of dish towels for my purple-loving MIL.

#rigidheddle #handweaving #cat
Grey and white cat relaxes, wrapped in a length of handwoven fabric with a purple and white log cabin pattern Cloth woven on a rigid heddle loom with thick and thin cotton yarn. The pattern is a large scale log cabin in dark purple and white.
September 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
I told a coworker that my husband and I had gone rock shopping.

Coworker: "Oooo! Did you pick out an anniversary ring??"

Me: "...not exactly."
Several large piles of building materials are lined up on a driveway. They include piles of gravel, a cubic yard of sand, and three pallets of flagstone and boulders.
September 22, 2025 at 1:15 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Going to try propagating this smaller Epilobium canum variety "Bowman's #1." This one was planted in May and was watered maybe once a month since then. We'll see if it's as happy on the sunnier side of the yard.

#californianativeplants #epilobium
Small Epilobium with red flowers grows happily in a semi-shaded corner. Close up of red, trumpet-shaped fuchsia flowers with some developed seed pods bursting open
September 17, 2025 at 9:44 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
I'm not a warm weather person, but there are some perks. #tomatoes #vegetablegarden
A hand holds a plate filled with five large homegrown tomatoes. Two yellow Kellogg's Breakfast, red-green Black Krims, and a green streaked Green Zebra.
September 15, 2025 at 9:56 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
The Sea Witch grows. Her acid greens shift in the murky light, her red eyespots flash a warning. Next, the jagged border of a treacherous shore.

#knitting #handspinning
Triangular wrap made of mitered squares. Mostly knit with handspun merino in many shades of green, there is a zig zig design knit with grey alpaca running horizontally across the wide part of the triangle, and two bright red corners at the widest tips. Close up of green mitered squares showing a mossy-looking texture, contrasting with the grey zig zag detail. The grey squares are knit intarsia.
September 12, 2025 at 3:05 AM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Quite chuffed with these Sweet as Pie dish towels. They washed up nice and soft, but the waffle weave didn't shrink down as much as I'd expected. Maybe it needs a few more washes?

#rigidheddle #handwoven
Two handwoven cotton dish towels in a waffle weave pattern. Natural colored cotton with contrasting threads in bright orange and pink. Close up of the waffle weave texture, showing the front of the towel on the top (contrast colors look like dots) and back of the towel on the bottom (contrast colors show as a line of floats)
September 11, 2025 at 5:58 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
We've been working hard on some infrastructure improvements before the fall planting begins. The pathway base is nearly done, and I'm chipping away at excavating the pond.

#californianativeplants
Garden path in progress. Steel edging is slowly being filled with compacted gravel base, preparing a level surface for the paver stones. Fuchsia, yarrow, and a few penstemon are still blooming red and pink on the left side of the path. A hole about four feet around is being dug into heavy clay soil. It will eventually be surrounded by rock and native plants to create a wildlife pond.
September 8, 2025 at 4:01 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
The Sea Witch progresses! I'm fairly sure I have enough green for one more row of large squares, or maybe I'll add small squares in the valleys for more zigs and zags? Definitely planning a sawtooth border to add to the wild kelp energy.

#handspun #knitting
Knitted wrap in progress, made of many mitred squares knit from hand spun yarn many shades of green.
August 25, 2025 at 8:49 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
Some garden friends stopped by yesterday. Here's an Umber Skipper on the hummingbird sage, and a couple native bees on my desert mallow.

#californianativeplants #butterfly #bees
Umber Skipper butterfly resting on a hummingbird sage leaf. Two furrow bees checking out an orange mallow blossom. These bees are very small, about 1.5 cm long
August 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
aurorarouge.bsky.social
The Sea Witch is taking shape. Slowly.

#knitting #handspun
A traingle-shaped wrap made of mitred squares is slowly being knitted up. The yarn is hand spun merino in many shades of green. Tracking sheet for adding squares to the wrap. Completed squares are colored green.
August 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM