stuff I love.

Cate, 28, scientist at heart (geology, SPACE!), amateur crafter. Anything to feed the hyperfixations!

[glorious-spoon]

honestly i think the selling point of romance for me (and where it usually fails to land) is 'can i imagine these people sharing an in-joke'

like, are they in cahoots. can they laugh together. do they have a similar enough or at least complementary enough outlook that they can connect over something being funny (even if it's funny in a fucked up way! sometimes those are the best in-jokes!)

that's not necessarily true love in and of itself, but it does feel like an essential component to me

[crow-crafting]

Hi, quick question!

What are these?

They came with my loom (second hand), but no instructions or guide.

I have a countermarch loom, if that helps.

Thanks!

[batbetbitbotbut]

Baffling! Any chance it could be part of an aid for beaming the warp? Found these examples of what I mean under the search "loom tensioning system" - but none of them are as long as your devices

QUICK EDITING MYSELF: Do you have 8 shafts? There are eight slots, does the spacing match up for that? Something to put below the castle to affect the minimum height of the shafts??? But I don't know what the purpose of such a device would be

[timetogoon]

They’re shaft holders! Floor looms and countermarche looms where I’m from typically habe free hanging shafts. So you use the shaft holders to get all the shafts stable and to the same height when threading the heddles. Typically that is not done at the height the shafts would be at for weaving, but at a more ergonomic height.

With my loom as an example (it hast four shafts in that picture, but has space for up to 8): once most of the warp is on the back beam and the lease sticks have been inserted, I would take out the whole dent holder (not the correct term - the big wooden rectangle in the front with the reed - Weblade in German) and then bring the shafts forward by moving the rectangle they are attached to at the top. And then use the shaft holder to bring them to a comfortable height and to keep them steady for threading the heddles.

Hope that was helpful, sorry about my lack of weaving vocabulary in English. I am very much learning in German.

[timetogoon]

And I forgot the most relevant bit: because the shafts are hanging from the top, you tie the shaft holder to the large top beams and use adjustable knots for height adjustments. American looms typically don’t have those beams at the top because the reed ist movable and attached to the bottom part of the loom, and not the top. So the shaft holders are not relevant for those kinds of loom.

[crow-crafting]

Hi, quick question!

What are these?

They came with my loom (second hand), but no instructions or guide.

I have a countermarch loom, if that helps.

Thanks!

[batbetbitbotbut]

Baffling! Any chance it could be part of an aid for beaming the warp? Found these examples of what I mean under the search "loom tensioning system" - but none of them are as long as your devices

QUICK EDITING MYSELF: Do you have 8 shafts? There are eight slots, does the spacing match up for that? Something to put below the castle to affect the minimum height of the shafts??? But I don't know what the purpose of such a device would be

[timetogoon]

They’re shaft holders! Floor looms and countermarche looms where I’m from typically habe free hanging shafts. So you use the shaft holders to get all the shafts stable and to the same height when threading the heddles. Typically that is not done at the height the shafts would be at for weaving, but at a more ergonomic height.

With my loom as an example (it hast four shafts in that picture, but has space for up to 8): once most of the warp is on the back beam and the lease sticks have been inserted, I would take out the whole dent holder (not the correct term - the big wooden rectangle in the front with the reed - Weblade in German) and then bring the shafts forward by moving the rectangle they are attached to at the top. And then use the shaft holder to bring them to a comfortable height and to keep them steady for threading the heddles.

Hope that was helpful, sorry about my lack of weaving vocabulary in English. I am very much learning in German.

[batbetbitbotbut]

Hi Jeremy,

I’ve been silently lurking on your weaving so far - I will be taking a weaving course in August, but have no weaving experience myself so far. You’ve given great advice on people’s looms before, would you be willing to do the same for me? There is an Ashford rigid heddle loom available close-ish to me (I am in Germany) and I have no idea, whether it’s complete/usable. If I posted the available pictures, would you be willing to give me some feedback on whether it’s worth buying? I spin, so my goal is eventually weaving my spun wool fiber into usable (plain, probably single color) fabric.

I don’t really know where else to ask, I don’t know any weavers nearby.

Hello! Disclaimer that I have never used a rigid heddle - I know how they work in theory and I've seen one being warped and woven on, but I don't have personal experience of them. Still, I'm happy to check photos for completeness as much as I can, and I hope some fabulous experienced RH weavers may chime in too. :)

I'm also tagging @faeriehounds as a fellow new rigid heddle weaver in Germany SHIT SORRY SHE'S IN BELGIUM for you!

[inkskinned]

you know, you know. no gods, no masters, no kings on pedestals. everyone is fallible. death of the author. you know! you are balanced about your intake of media - you allow the wiggle room, the grace, the gratitude, the skepticism. nobody above criticism.

but still. a weird gut-punch feeling, something akin to betrayal. you read the article. surprise! an author you love is actually: a serial fucking predator.

well, shit. what now. no, you knew he was a person (all people are), but now you're wondering - what have i overlooked by accident? what messages have i internalized that are strange and cruel? and also, like, what the fuck?

his actions lay a thick glaze on top of everything. like each place is now ruined, opaque in a new way. but okay, fine, you've done this before. you knew better, right? you've been betrayed by many a cherished childhood author.

still, this stickiness. fuck. can you pick up that book again. will you read it to your children. you've recommended it to others - will you ever do that again? and of course, of course, no parasocial relationships. you were theoretically above this kind of sentiment. but the artist informs the art, right.

so it's not something as clear-cut as feeling he owed you, specifically (a stranger) better behavior - just that you kind of, in a distant and odd way... sort of trusted him to do better. it's not like a real trust or something speakable, just the faint hope that the product (good books) was a thin representation of the soul. now it feels like the product (good? books?) was a mask. in some small or insignificant way, your previous support of this person lent them power. your money and your time and your laughter.

and the thing is - you have this terrible, echoing sensation. how many times will this happen? over and over. you find out that the singer you love is actually a predator. you learn over drinks that your favorite high school english teacher is in jail for what he did to her. you listen to the news idly and suddenly discover that a woman you used to idolize has been abusing her kids for an actual eon.

what can you touch without the static melting off. you can't even really complain about it too much (you were supposed to know better, and besides, you don't want the same re-split "it's not your fault, love what you love" basic advice), but now it's here. somehow, it feels like - you let him into your life.

it's not that things need to be pure or an artist has to be like, endlessly perfect, mindful. demure. it's more just this terrible truth that has been replayed through your veins so often it feels criminally vain. power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. did you want any one person to be worth that power?

it's just that he wrote books where he seemed to understand that. he seemed to know about hierarchies and unfair systems and bigotry and privilege. you thought they were books about what it means to struggle. you thought they were about having power and still using it for good rather than for control.

maybe that's why they were fantasies, after all.

[its-not-a-pen]

[餘知傳] The 2nd Century Warlord (Part 1)

based on the story by @romanceyourdemons art by @its-not-a-pen

first day as a second century warlord i have my men tie branches to their horses’ tails to stir up dust and make it look like there’s a lot of us but i forget it just rained so there isn’t any dust and the enemy can clearly see there’s like twenty of us all spread out in a line

second day as a second century warlord i bribe a bunch of kids to start singing a nursery rhyme i carefully crafted to spread misinformation and further my strategic ends but they change the lyrics to be about poop and the enemy isn’t misdirected at all

third day as a second century warlord i lure my enemy into a narrow valley and send a team of archers to shoot them from the high ground but there was a feral hog napping on the trail up to the overlook and they couldn’t decide whether to try and shoot it or just go around and by the time the hog woke up and left on its own the enemy had already passed safely below

fourth day as a second century warlord we attempt to join a battle on the side of the guy we want to ally with but he and the guy he’s fighting have really similar names and it’s finally dusty and i misread the standards and attack the wrong guy. so now we’re stuck with this total loser of a liege lord, because how the fuck do you explain that after a battle?

fifth day as a second century warlord and some sort of wizard wanders into camp, my loser liege lord wants to execute him for being a wizard but i convince him to let the wizard stay, because i want to do more weather-based strategies and i’m pretty sure having a camp wizard can help with that. after the welcome to the team banquet the wizard steals half the treasury and my liege lord’s wife and leaves

sixth day as a second century warlord my loser liege lord sends me to reinforce a city he’s taken, but in the confusion of leaving i forgot to take the token that would have gotten us into the city, so my men have to wait outside the city walls for like eight hours while i ride back to get it

seventh day as a second century warlord and my loser liege lord finally joins me in the city, it turns out he’s actually a pretty cool guy, and he isn’t even that mad at me for letting the wizard steal his wife. i decide to shoot my shot but i’m really nervous and keep on stalling because what if i mess up our relationship and by extension jeopardize the security of my men, and eventually he just says goodnight and goes back to his room, where an assassin is in the process of setting up to kill him

eighth day as a second century warlord and my loser liege lord tells me to fake defect to his rival warlord, the one i originally wanted to ally with, to find out if he was the one who sent the assassin and why. but my whole way over to the rival warlord i’m worried that this has something to do with the wizard thing or how awkward i made it last night End of Part 1 This comic was made independently from the creator, I'm just a fan and these are my own interpretations. Notes under the cut:

the title 餘知傳 [the Story of Yu Zhi], is the styled name of the Second Century Warlord. I translated 餘知 as [plentiful knowledge] since he's defined by a surplus of knowledge but a deficit in luck. It's also great for fish-based puns since it's a homophone. As a nice parallel, Loser Liege Lord's banner is a carp ;))). the art style was inspired by vintage Chinese comics.

The story is set during the Three Kingdoms period, (220 to 280 AD) natural disasters, infighting and civil unrest had dissolved the previous Han Dynasty, leading to a violent free-for-all. I based the clothes on the previous Eastern Han styles, mainly because there just weren't a lot of contemporary references from the 3K period (and it only lasted like, 60 years). I always strive for historical accuracy, however, the Han Dynasty was over 400 years long and some sources don't do a great job separating out the different fashions, so I apologise for any mistakes that occur.

2. there aren't a ton of drawings on what Han children looked like, but in general ancient kids hairstyles are pretty consistent. 9-15 yo boys had shaved heads with two little top knots, girls had natural hair in braids/buns.

3. the crossbow (back left) makes a cameo, it was associated with Zhuge Liang, famous real-life strategist from the 3K era.

4. the LLL and his wife thank the Warlord, (a noblewoman on a battlefield??? scandalous!). it shows the LLL enjoys the unconventional and the wife is not as timid as she appears. I thought it would be funny to make them look as Background Character (tm) as possible.

5. I based the wizard's design on sages from mythology. (Hey, he's not a total fraud, he invented gunpowder 800 years before the Tang dynasty!) Nice little character moment for the LLL who is shielding his wife.

6. What do soldiers do while they're waiting for 8 hours? (<-from the right) playing knucklebones with pebbles, whittling a little horse, feeding sparrows, gossiping with neighbour, drinking from his gourd, napping. A minor warlord can't afford to keep a professional army so they're most likely conscripted farmers who've had to buy their own weapons and armour, hence why they look so unimpressive. 7. LLL offers the Warlord a bitten peach. Inspired by the legend of Mizi Xia who bit into a delicious peach and gave it to the Emperor so he could taste it was well. "Bitten peach" was a byword for homosexuality in ancient China. I thought it would be SO funny if the LLL was actually smooth af and the Warlord was a like a teenaged girl crushing for the first time. He's desperate to taste that peach but is too timid to reach out >;))) man has zero game. negative game, even. truely the PS4 of homosexuals. RIP to the assassin in the back corner who was forced to watch the most awkward, cringe-fail attempt at flirting in the history of china play out.

8. this is what zero peach does to a mf. UnU

[zemathememequeen]

Ok, so something I've noticed that is utterly baffling to me is that all the Americans I know primarily dry their clothes using a machine called a dryer. I don't even own a dryer. So, I need to know:

How do you primarily dry your clothes after washing them? And are you American?

Dryer (American)

Clothesline (American)

Dryer (not American)

Clothesline (not American)

Secret third option

Voting ended onMay 27, 2023

[gaphic]

well, in florida specifically, the air makes clothes wetter, not drier :') but in the wider US?

HOAs often put restrictions on clotheslines as 'eyesores'

that has given clotheslines a lower-class association

americans are generally WILDLY paranoid about theft

apartments don't always have space

but, imo, the least-discussed reason is:

there's so many fucking cars everywhere, always, at all hours of the day, often at high speeds, and car exhaust/tires kicking up dust/etc means that stuff left outside tends to get dirty really fast

[intricatecaprice-deactivated202]

[ragdoll-ren]

tldr I was looking up the classification system for cerebral palsy (GMFCS) and part of the 2nd level is "climbing stairs with the use of a railing" which just about knocked me out. Ableds. . . are you not. . . using railings? it's right there? this is trying to tell me it's abled culture Not to use the railing?

Are you physically able-bodied and do you use the handrail on the stairs?

I am able-bodied and use the handrail always/almost always (ex: hands are full)

I am able-bodied and never use the handrail/only use in certain cases (tag them)

I am disabled and want to click a button/show results

Voting ended onMay 11, 2023

(use your best judgement as to whether or not abledness applies to you here. mostly I mean disabilities that would have some impact on stair-climbing, natch. chronic pain/fatigue counts, but, like, d/Deafness wouldn't, you get me?)

[ragdoll-ren]

my immediate circle on here skews pretty disabled, I'd love it if it breached containment for a more representative sample

[emilysidhe]

What does “use” mean, though? I always have my hand on the railing so I can grab it if I slip, but I don’t actually use it for support or put weight on it unless something’s wrong.

[dollsahoy]

People who drink coffee: why did you start?

I don't drink coffee and I've never wanted to, but that's obviously ~not normal~, so I'm curious why most people do start drinking it.

[dollsahoy]

Additional question: People who don't drink coffee, why?

For me, it's because, as a child, I was incredibly cranky, and as soon as caffeine-free Coke was introduced, Mom had me start drinking that, and, hey, I got a lot less crabby, so that made me want to avoid caffeine. I also never really cared for the smell of coffee, either, so had absolutely no interest in drinking even decaf.

(and yes I am very aware that "it makes me feel better" and "love the way it smells" are top answers in why people do drink it XD)

[shellstrop420]

I just know I'm in the minority on this one, but let's prove it. If you had to pick one that you could turn on or off at will, permanently losing access to the other in your home,

which one stays?

central heating

AC

Voting ended onApr 27, 2023

Bonus: tell me about the climate where you live in the tags

[mille-marteaux]

ordered pizza from a small local place and they didnt actually cut it so i've chosen to revert to a wild animal and begin ripping it apart instead of just using a knife to portion slices

[mille-marteaux]

absolutely visceral experience. food is so much more satisfying when you have to fight it. i may be feral

[mille-marteaux]

i am not proud to say this but that pizza lasted fifteen minutes. i normally am not that gluttonous, but this goes beyond glutton. there was gluttony and wrath. a whirlwind of sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, all atop a flatbread that was shred apart by my own hands due to the neglect of another

in that moment i was wild. i was free. i understood the simplest joys in life. the joy of eating and manifesting my own destiny

[mille-marteaux]

been reflecting on this all day and the unsliced pizza experience honestly ruled. i think everyone should try it sometime or another. you have not truly lived until you just absolutely obliterated a pizza in such a feral manner

[shayminsh]

is this you

[mille-marteaux]

yes

run

[apostaterevolutionary]

I’ve always found it funny that every native speaker of any language will always tell learners how awful their language is to learn so question time

Do you think your native language is The Worst to learn?

Yes it sucks so much

No but only because a specific one sucks more

No but it is pretty bad, probably top 5

Nope it’s like medium at worst

Nah it’s easy why doesn’t everyone learn it

Other? (Explain in tags/replies)

Voting ended onApr 20, 2023

Also if you reblog pls tag with your language and answer cause I’m really curious to see

[eye-pop-emoji]

[dr-retard]

corrective lenses havers, do you:

only wear glasses

primarily wear glasses, occasionally contact lenses

wear glasses & contacts equally

mostly wear contacts, occasionally wear glasses

only wear contacts

Voting ended onApr 3, 2023

Share reasons why if the tags if you feel like it

[emilysidhe]

Actually, that first top sheet poll is insufficient data, let’s start a new one:

How do you sleep?

Duvet, no top sheet. Change or wash duvet cover with sheets

Duvet, no top sheet. Didn’t know you were supposed to wash covers that often

Duvet, with top sheet

Quilt/blankets, with top sheet

Quilt/blankets, no top sheet. Wash bottom blanket when change sheets

Quilt/blanket, no top sheet. Didn’t know you’re meant to wash blanket that often

Show results

Voting ended onApr 8, 2023

[dragonnan]