the massive continuity of ducks

[lilkakow]

Images created solely using mathematical equations by mathematical artist Hamid Naderi Yaganeh

[t4trout]

not sure if it is autism or inaturalist (and in this circumstance these two things may be equivalent). but i CAN now identify any species of horseshoe crab with confidence. excited for this to be of no significance to my life even remotely

[t4trout]

if you, too, wish to achieve this power you can go here for free*. or i put the slides under a read more in case you don't want to click a mystery link 👍

*i am not an expert nor a horseshoe crab researcher. i only regularly interact with atlantic horseshoe crabs. many people know more things than i do and there are entire papers on this you may consult for further information. if you would like a link to any pls ask !!! ^_^

[iphigeniacomplex]

it’s not my business what people joke about in private but if you are going to joke about lobotomy i think you owe yourself the 22 minutes it takes to listen to howard dully’s 2005 npr report on the transorbital lobotomy he was subjected to at the age of twelve. it’s a hard listen, but it’s a hard subject. like i said, it’s not my business, but it’s always good to know what exactly you’re joking about.

[3liza]

Bra Fitting Graphics

 

[3liza]

fyi

[3liza]

this post has been up for five hours and has two notes. i think tumblr shitcanned it because it has pictures of women wearing bras on it. very cool. no censorship message, just vanishing it

[boxingcleverrr]

AHHHHHH someone put all the info from the now-extremely-hard-to-read, 10+ year old bra post into one nice infograph! THAT POST WAS MY BOOB BIBLE. Yay Boob New Testament!

[naomiknight-17]

@aspect-rei

[darcylindbergh]

further FYI: it is EXTREMELY common for breasts to be different shapes and different sizes. if you find that your breasts are different to the point that it's hard to find a bra, if your cup sizes are extremely different, you may find that masectomy aids are helpful - ranging from variations on bras to partial forms or shapers!! a lot of insurances in the US will aid with cost if you ask your doc for a script, and a lot of docs are willing to write that script bc not only is breast support critical, the emotional impact is no joke. you don't have to have had a mastectomy to use these aids!! it's ok!!

here's one place that will let you see what is available but there are a number of sites -

https://www.mastectomyshop.com/

[3liza]

also ms-demeanor mentioned this recently but the ABraThatFits reddit scene can sometimes make it seem like if you dont fit the recommended bras or they aren’t comfortable for you, its because there’s something wrong with you. that is absolutely not the case. sure sometimes you can fuck up taking a measurement but also you know what makes you comfortable and what doesn’t. in my limited observation, these posts above are most helpful to medium and large size breasts and can be (not always) less helpful or pointless for very small breasts. idk i just wanted to make it clear: you do not need to wear a bra unless you *want* to, are being forced by circumstance to do so (such as clothing surveillance or policing at work), or need it for support or functional/medical reasons.

[systlin]

Hi I have a follow up to my mulberry question. If perhaps I don't have the time and energy to grow my own silk and spin it by hand into yarn, where would you recommend buying silk yarn? (Or a good undyed wool yarn?)

Colourmart, selling luxury yarn mill ends to craft knitters and weavers since 2005. Thousands of happy customers worldwide. Free shipping gl

Let me introduce you to my beautiful beloved mill ends on Colourmart.

You can't guarantee what they'll have but you can find some real treasures there.

[dangerphd]

silk yarn mill ends:

Silk Yarns

Located in the Historic Milling District of Downtown Allegan Michigan. Old Mill Yarn 148 Mill District Road Allegan, MI. 49010

[systlin]

oh HELLO

somehow two pounds of mulberry silk mill end yarn just fell into my cart.

Also, FUCK ME, they're running a sale right now for $50 for TWO POUNDS of mulberry silk mill end yarn. $62.65 with shipping, or if you order $100 worth free shipping

[mortalityplays]

I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter was one of the best works of sci-fi of our generation and one of the best works of transgender fiction ever written, and there are world renowned authors who still have successful careers after they publicly assassinated the nascent woman who wrote it. I don't think they should ever know peace.

[mortalityplays]

Isabel Fall is the patron saint of works unwritten and art unmade by a culture that cannot tolerate trans women

[mortalityplays]

I think this constantly and then I get angry for thinking it, because trans women should not have to be martyrs or saints to animate our politics and our art. that work should have been her debut, not her epitaph. I should be moved by her career, not her absence. I could spit.

[mortalityplays]

read it again

[sweetlyfez]

all the blue cheese enjoyers in my life seem to be impressed w/ this one so I'm gifting you all my blue cheese dip recipe:

roughly equal volumes of blue cheese, mayonnaise, and double cream (eyeball it, you can always adjust later)

lemon juice to taste

Whizz it all in a food processor/ blender, give it a taste, adjust per your preferences, whizz again.

I recommend a strong, crumbly textured, almost too ripe, cheese

[passumbapper]

it's almost summer do you guys want my stupid hyperoptimized lemonade recipe that takes half a day to make and whips absolute ass

[passumbapper]

Fruited Lemonade That Makes You Reconsider It All

ingredience:

lemons/limes (this needs to make up the bulk of the fruit being used, like at least 80%)

whatever other fruits or fruit scraps you want, plus any herbs/other flavorings you want to try. by fruit scraps I mean things like cherry pits, apple peels, pineapple cores, strawberry ends, things like that.

granulated white sugar, the coarser the better, 50% by weight of total citrus rinds + 100% by weight of any additional fruit. you'll measure this after you prep the fruit.

water as needed

equipment:

a few nonmetallic mixing bowls

a mesh strainer

a chinoise, ricer or some cheesecloth

a kitchen scale

a citrus juicer or reamer (manual or electric)

a potato masher

juice the citrus through a strainer - saving all rinds -  and refrigerate the juice for the time being. dice the rinds and other fruits if any, keeping the rinds separate. make note of weights, and measure your sugar.

 Place sugar in a large nonmetallic bowl. If using non-citrus fruits and/or any other flavorings, mix them in with the sugar and mash with potato masher. add diced citrus rinds, mix thoroughly, and mash again. cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours. this allows the sugar to draw out flavors that would otherwise get discarded with the rinds, and the rinds' acids should be enough to dissolve the sugar into a syrup.

Afterward, mash one last time, then collect the syrup by pressing the macerated mixture through a strainer/chinoise or ricer, or squeeze it through cheesecloth. if you want, this can be saved as a standalone syrup at this point, for use in cocktails or desserts. if not, slowly pour the reserved juice through the solids to to help get the remaining syrup out, and squeeze/press again. do the same thing one more time with warm water (roughly the same amount of water as juice). discard solids (or try making sangria with them!).

taste the mixture and add more water if necessary. a stronger mix is totally fine if you anticipate serving over ice on a hot day, or adding booze, or if there was a lot of non-sour fruit. keep in mind that it will taste a bit less sweet once it's chilled. pour into a pitcher and refrigerate.

citrus oils will float to the top, so stir/shake before serving. love you. enjoy.

some tried and true flavor combos:

straight lemon or lime, or any combination of the two, is of course an untouchable classic

lemon & strawberries (that's pussy babe!)

lemon & orange with a hint of vanilla (creamsiclemonade...?)

lemon & apples or apple peels with cinnamon/ginger/allspice (for late summer)

some cocktail type combos, booze optional:

lemon or lime & berries with basil + gin

lime & mint + white rum

lime & ginger + dark rum

lime & cucumber + gin

lime & orange (berries optional) + tequila

lemon, orange & cherry + brandy, bourbon, or rye whiskey

[madgastronomer]

holy gods

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

The one bizarre thing to me about textiles is that warp-weighted weaving is at least 6500 years old, but our oldest knitted artifacts are only ~1000 years old, and crochet 200 years old. Even though you need less equipment to knit (two sticks) or crochet (one hook) compared to warp-weighted weaving (frame, loom weights, batting, heddles). Why the big gaps between these inventions? And why did each one appear and spread when it did?

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Oooh, I know this one! Well, the knitting one. The commonly given reasons, at least.

Firstly, you don't just need two sticks. You need at least two (fairly) identically sized, (fairly) identically weighted, straight, smooth sticks that are strong enough to carry the weight of what you're making. Which isn't impossible to do with bronze age technology, but it's gonna take time or money. And every time you change gauge of thread, or want a different tightness of fabric from the same artisan, you need a new size of needles. A loom is more flexible about these things. Nalbinding, which looks very similar and fills a similar niche, is more flexible about these things and uses way less resources.

Secondly, it's probably older than the 12th century sock find. That thing has colorwork and a shortrow heel. Not something you do instinctually, not something you figure out on your first or second or fourth attempt if you've never seen it done. So we know it's older. We also know from contextual evidence that it doesn't show up in texts or art or myths before the Middle Ages, so... Not hugely older. It's hard to find archaeological evidence because almost every part of knitting, until fairly recently, was made of material that loves to decay. And if you were to find a knitting needle... It's a pointy stick. Made of wood, maybe bone. Even in the context of lying in a dwelling, that could be many, many things. Loom weights are slightly easier to categorize.

Then there's the fact that most knitted garments, while wonderfully stretchy and drapey, have a tendency to wear out fast. (It's why most commercial sock yarns these days tend to be reinforced with nylon.) Since the panels are made of one continuous thread without knotting off, you get a hole bigger than what can be easily mended much more quickly. So you need incentive to choose it over other, older, proven methods.

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Good points, and when you mentioned "thread" something clicked for me - it's really hard to knit thread, i.e. laceweight yarn or thinner, into solid fabric. You need needles no bigger than toothpicks, which break easily even if they're solid steel, and if the size is even just 1mm off it'll make the fabric too stiff or too loose. And every knitter will need a different size of needles to produce a particular gauge of fabric, and you can't have more than one knitter work on the same fabric at once. It may also be slower and harder on your hands than weaving, since there's no way to form "sheds" and knit multiple stitches at once with only Neolithic tools.

So: Harder, and probably slower to work. Fragile tools, which are probably difficult to make in standardized sizes. Hard to get a consistent gauge you can price for the market. Like you said, these issues aren't impossible, but they might make it less economical, and less likely to become popular.

It's probably not a coincidence that our earliest knitted artifacts are socks, which are A) more durable than most knitted clothes, B) normally knit with heavier yarn than thread, and C) an item much more suited to knitting than weaving, so there's a stronger incentive.

I don't know much about how durable knitting is compared to weaving, but I'm not sure if that'd be a big factor in limiting its spread. Either kind of fabric can be felted for strength, and you can reinforce knitting with heel stitch or duplicate stitch, even years after you made the object. (My socks start wearing thin after about 6-8 years, and reinforcing an old sock takes about an hour.) But if this is easier to do on woven fabric, I'd be delighted to learn about that, too!

[amymon-arachne]

Weaving is also faster and takes up less yarn, since the threads are all running parallel to each other and not making loops. Plain weave is fast compared to knitting or crochet.

When you have to produce all textile goods for your family, of course you’re going to go for economy. I saw somewhere that it would generally take two or three hand-spinners to produce enough yarn for one weaver, so I can’t imagine how that would translate to knitting or crochet which use a lot more yarn.

Also, worn out woven fabric can be cut down and repurposed into other useful items, while knitting and crochet would come apart if you tried to cut it.

So it makes sense that knitting and crochet would take longer to gain popularity, since they take up more resources.

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

These are also great points, thank you! (Also, the work on your blog is beautiful!)

[chromatographic]

As a multicrafter I'm going to point out another thing here, too! We've talked a bit about how woven items are efficient, but naalbinding, more than knitting, is truly an efficient use of your resources in conjunction with weaving.

Naalbinding, as mentioned above, is much older than knitting! It uses what is essentially a single large-eyed needle similar to a tapestry needle. A type of needle that you could also use while making your weavings. But additionally, while knitting and crochet are ideal for using a long, single length of yarn, Naalbinding excels at using shorter lengths of yarn - If I use anything longer than 3 ft (about 1m) I run into problems very quickly.

Now when you're weaving? Any loom is going to have waste yarn in the warp - this is how it holds the tension needed to weave. Even on the small table looms I've worked with these scraps can be about 1-2 ft of yarn - a great size for Naalbinding, but extremely difficult to use for knitting or crochet. It's very efficient to take these weaving ends - yarn and thread that's already been worked heavily to simply get into yarn for the weaving! - and use them for naalbinding.

We don't really weave socks because, well. They're a tube. And not just a tube, but to be comfortable, it's a closed tube! With a curvy end! and decreases! This would be really hard to make via weaving, which excels in Flat Rectangles (see: why a lot of Ancient clothing was Flat Rectangles with Fancy Pinning) and simpler shapes.

Even knitting has some issues with socks - though I'm fairly sure knitted socks are going to be more comfortable than naalbound ones, as the fabric has a more even drape. It's not just two even sticks of the same size that you need for knitting a tube - it's a minimum of four. Usually five!

It's also easier to make increases and decreases in naalbinding than knitting, IMO. A closed tube is honestly ideal for the craft, especially if you are fitting it to yourself or a close relative as a mitten or a sock. Like, say, when you're both crafting next to the campfire and every row or two you can hold up the item against their body, and be sure you're on the right track for the fit.

Naalbinding is slower than knitting, overall, but in a more resource poor society it makes a lot more use of those scraps of yarn that you've already put hours and hours of work into making. And they won't go to waste.

[milkweedman]

One thing--stick rounding tools are ancient, and have been around since the stone age.

Unsurprisingly they are made of stone. You put a slightly oversized stick there and rub the stone along it until it fits into the groove with no gaps. This one was for arrow shafts (source: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/artifact-of-the-week-shaft-straightener/)

Here's another one, repurposed from a stone axe:

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357166805_New_Data_for_Research_on_the_Early_Bronze_Age_in_Northern_Poland_2350-1600_BC. Figure 4, page 481.

But you could make these to produce any diameter, and use either sticks or split wood. (As a woodworker myself I'd go for split wood--easier to do in bulk and stronger due to avoiding the pith).

Meaning needles, including 5+ set dpns, would have been well within the technological grasp of, at the very latest, neolithic peoples. Not that they did--i'm just saying, making wooden knitting needles would not have been a hardship at all, including sets of different gauges. And we know stone age peoples had knowledge of the wood they were using; certainly enough to know what species of tree to use. So, split some green ash, round and smooth it on your shaft straightener, whittle the end to a nice point, smooth that on the rock also, let dry a while, and repeat as needed. A lot of modern wooden needles are made from softwood (looking at you, knitpicks laminated birch needles that snapped as soon as I touched them), so remember that hardwood needles would be much much stronger and less delicate. Finer gauge wooden needles still are always going to be somewhat delicate, but theyre usable for a lot of people, so I don't think they should be ruled out by any means.

Personally ive always thought knitting and crochet were developed later because they are less intuitive. Like, braiding plaits and språng are both only one or two steps removed from weaving, nalbinding may well have started as the very simple blanket stitch/button hole stitch, which is something you can easily stumble into with basic sewing... but I could never see knitting fit into that sort of organic progression. Crochet from nalbinding is compelling because they both involve making loops rather than manipulating straight strands, but the actual mechanics seem very different to me (I've only dabbled in nalbinding though--would love to know what an experienced nalbinder would say)

[systlin]

do you have opinions on sprang

Very cool but have not YET tried my hand at it

[systlin]

The Fiber Art Tradition of Sprang | Vesterheim Norwegian-American

Learn more about this ancient technique.

For people going 'wtf is sprang??'

[wormzardo]

https://archive.org/details/techniquesofspra0000coll

if reading this made you want more in-depth info, I sought it out! This is a scan of The Techniques of Sprang by Peter Collingwood, hosted on archive.org

[systlin]

Oh thanks!!!! Yes I WILL be reading that!

[systlin]

do you have opinions on sprang

Very cool but have not YET tried my hand at it

[systlin]

The Fiber Art Tradition of Sprang | Vesterheim Norwegian-American

Learn more about this ancient technique.

For people going 'wtf is sprang??'

[shrewreadings]

thanks, because i initially read this as ‘spring,’ and I know the northeast is still getting snow, but I thought Iowa at least had gotten to ‘able to plant.’

[systlin]

You say this but it froze last night 😭

Hoping it didn't ruin my chances at a peach crop this year, the spite peach is just about to bloom

[systlin]

So what ARE your opinions on field vs water retting? I’m gonna farm some fiber this year

Water retting makes flax a beautiful golden color, but field retting is easier to keep an eye on.

ALSO, I've come to the conclusion that Tolkein's Teleri elves did field retting for the sails of the swan ships, because field retting leaves the flax a beautiful silvery gray, and while all flax will eventually bleach to white with washing in lye and sun the sails are supposed to be pale and the silver would suit the aesthetic better than the golden color you get from water retting. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[magenkeshet]

Oh you’re SO right about that. Now I’m thinking about elven textile manufacturing….

[systlin]

Welcome to our super niche nerd Tolkien Elves Textile Work Fan Club. Me and @batsintheshadows are founding members. We both have Opinions about linen and nettle fiber.

[magenkeshet]

Oh my Gd I need so much help with nettle fiber. I just have not nailed the processing for it the times I’ve tried

[systlin]

Still working at figuring this out myself. Last year when I tried I retted most of it too long and it fell apart 😔

[triplehcubed]

Hello please allow me to Kool-Aid Man in here (OH YEAH!). Where did you find resources about processing nettle? I've been using stuff about linen and just hoping it kind of transfers over. Which might be what you both are also doing, now that I think about it

[systlin]

I DIDN'T I tried to process it the same way I processed a small handful of flax and learned via the 'error' part of the trial and error method!

[systlin]

VITAL BREAKTHROUGHS MADE BY NERDS (FOND) ON MY DISCORD

[1000-life-hacks]

[archeologist-prophet]

Lovely to see we have spaces where you can gain access to so much literature!

[systlin]

"Sys how is your decent into fiber arts hell going"

Glad you asked. I have arrived at 'modern flax is Bullshit compared to what we had in historical textiles, the flax widely available for handspinning is basically the tow that would be discarded from textile creation and used with tar to caulk ships back in the day'

This naturally led me down a hole of 'why is the staple length of this stuff a bullshit 6 inches' and the answer is 'we have bred modern flax more for the oil than the fiber because cotton usurped the place of everyday textile thanks to slavery and the cotton gin'

Anyway, THIS led me to a rabbit hole that culminated in me finding flax seed bred for proper 30 inch tall plants for fiber, sold by some fellow minded nerds on a website that has not been updated since 1998 and you have to email them to buy anything.

Anyway how are all of you doing.

[systlin]

I FAILED YOU ALL here is the site. You can also buy flax fiber from them. The PROPER shit, not the hot garbage ass tow fiber sold as flax top for handspinners.

[systlin]

'machine combing shortens the flax fibers by several inches'

This right here is part of why modern linen is a pale shadow of historical linen. Legitimately it cannot be properly replicated by machines. It HAS to be made by human hands if you want the best quality.

[margobarko]

Snufkin doing whatever the fuck he does during the winter

[enddovetime]

New gif to use before my thesis film (totally not finding a way to procrastinate by drawing pigeons)

Inspired by:

Just submitted this there, and it should be available for download and use there after approval! Feel free to download and use this from here as well if you so choose

[elodieunderglass]

Hello Swan Lady, I Just spent an embarassing amount of time unsuccessfully looking through my own old reblogs for that Post of the Immortality Poem illustrated with drawings/paintings of chickens and Dinosaurs. Can you Help me find it?

I want to keep to the Thing where we're Not using Tumblr for three days, but I would really Love to have "do Not stand at my Grave and weep" to be one of the Last Things I reblog before going dark...

Reblog by @elodieunderglass · 4 images

💬 232  🔁 63817  ❤️ 91765 · [image id: a four-page comic. it is titled “immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as

There you go!