i am the judas of the french canada

Chimps are much admired for their tool use and for their problem-solving relationship with things as they find them...the orang is, let us say, not so replete with enterprise. Give an orangutan the hexagonal peg and the several shapes of hole, and then hide behind the two-way mirror and watch how he engages with the problem.

And watch and watch and watch--because he does not engage with the problem. He uses the peg to scratch his back, has a look-see at his right wrist, makes a half-hearted and soon abandoned attempt to use his fur as a macramé project, stares dreamily out the window if there is one and at nothing in particular if not, and the sun begins to set. (The sun will also set if you are observing a chimp, but the chimp is more amusing, so you are less likely to mark the moment in your notes. An orang observer has plenty of time to be a student of the vanities of sunset.)

You watch, and the orang dreams...when casually and as if thinking of something else, the orang slips the hexagonal peg into the hexagonal hole. And continues staring off dreamily."

Fat hasn't become a bad word because fatness is somehow inherently undesirable or bad--it has fallen out of public favor because of what we attach to it. We take fat to mean unlovable, unwanted, unattractive, unintelligent, unhealthy. But fatness itself is simply one aspect of our bodies--and a very small part of who each of us is. It deserves to be described as a simple and unimportant fact.

This book is a collection of designs inspired by world textiles. It is made with cut and folded papers slotted together. Even physically holding the book in my hands I often struggle to work out which colour shows through from which layer.

I am listing the titles and countries as the artist listed them. I have put the front+back of each page next to each other for ease of formatting.

There is no tape. There is no glue.

Amish "Bars" qulit (USA) | Salish ceremonial blanket (Canada)

Chucuito knitted cap (Peru) | indigo resist-dyed adire (Nigeria)

Mamluk woolen carpet (Egypt) | Huichol beaded bag (Mexico)

Ceplokkan batik (Indonesia) | silk and linen weaving (Greece)

blue and white embroidery (China) | Bessarabian rug (Poland)

Maori taaniko weaving (New Zealand) | San Blas Islands mola (Panama)

Manjaka woven cloth (Guinea-Bissau) | white knitting bedspread (England)

Otomi quechemitl (Mexico) | Fair Isle knitted sweater (Scotland)

Navajo flat-weave rug (USA) | Hawaiian ahinahina quilt (USA)

Caen table linen (France) | traditional knitted sweater (Iceland)

indigo dyed fabric (Japan) | Ezine Bergama rug (Turkey)

heritage embroidery (Armenia) | Soumak carpet bag (Daghestan)

Ikat woven sari (India) | silk embroidered cloth (Morocco)

Artist statement from the end of the book:

This means:

If you draw a hard line between "drug" and "medicine" based on current legality where you live (or any other criteria) you've gone wrong somewhere,

If you think legality and/or prescription status tells you all you need about a substance's capacity to do massive harm to someone's body, mind or well-being you've gone wrong somewhere,

If you think legality and/or prescription status tells you all you need about a substance's capacity to contribute meaningfully to someone's healing, function or happiness you've gone wrong somewhere,

[image description: low angle shot of a pepper plant with a single white flower on it]

[image description: close-up photo of a small green pepper with a wrinkled tip]

Bought at the very tail end of June, largely because my rainbow nonsense budget went unused this year - but also because I had my eye on this design for a while now, and so when this one got put up for less than half the usual price for quality control reasons, I couldn't resist. 19€. I mean, c'mon.

(Shop's Spindeleien on etsy, maker of the most stupidly precise supported spindle I own, so I correctly assumed that his "second choice" spindles would still hold up pretty dang well)

The funny thing is that I can get it to run almost perfectly evenly, it's just a tiny bit more finnicky than its brethren that actually passed QC. Doesn't make much of a difference while spinning, tbh.

It's a bit heavier than I usually prefer, weighing in at 39g*, but it works with the whorl shape, and it does less delicate fibers a little more readily, which is what I was hoping for**. I currently have a bit of Portuguese merino on it that my fiber arts friend found too short-stapled to be comfortable on the wheel.

Not the best fiber choice for supported spinning because the fibers are extremely grippy, but if you're not too into perfectly even yarn, it works.

So, yeah! Look out for that one during Tour de Fleece, I guess! I'm sure it'll make appearances here and there.