How to
An Instructable for how to condition and dye hemp rope. Better (?) they list a rope source that I had not heard of before. It’s interesting that there’s a disclaimer at the beginning about using your rope safely, but nothing in the dyeing part that once you use your nice big pot for dyeing your rope, you should never use it for food again.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Condition_and_Dye_Your_Own_Hemp_Rope/ (via)

小耳翼疊壓吉祥結B型 little ear wing fold pressure lucky/auspicious knot B type/build/model

Happy moo year! It’s the year of the Earth Ox (a couple of years ago, we had to explain to our Chinese teacher why it was not the year of the “cow” or for that matter “sheep” (vs “goat”), “bunny” (vs “rabbit” or “hare”), “mouse” (vs “rat”), or “chicken” (vs “rooster”). 8)

I have this vague recollection that Lydia Chen hadn’t really named the variants in her Chinese Knotting 3 book, they were more like “variant A” and “variant B”. Whether numbered or named with poetry, I just wanted to see what she was naming things and check if it was different in the English version, but where was my book? Not on the shelf where it’s supposed to be with one and two. Not in the bedroom where I might have piled it upon unpacking from the last trip. Not in the living room, not here, not there, still not here, etc. I must have wasted most of a day looking without success.