Nerd Wars- August edition

 First off, I finished my dissertation project.  yay.  It is this shawl pattern.  I adapted it a bit to make the short row section stockinette with beads.  you can kind of see them in this picture.  Love it. 

Technical: Guilty Pleasures
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: My guilty pleasure is making amigurumis/toys. They are so fun and so fast to make. And they always turn out cute. But I have no kids and I feel silly making a bunch of stuffed toys that are going to sit around the house. Well, I finally have a niece that is old enough to appreciate a good stuffed animal. So now I can indulge a bit more in my guilty pleasure.
Team Spirit: There aren’t a lot of “monsters” in the Discworld novels. But they do have trolls. I imagine them as hulking, large lumps of stone. Trolls are made of stone in the Discworld. This little toy could be a baby troll. Maybe one around 2 years old (like my niece) who maybe needs a bit of a nap. Maybe she is made of Ruby Zoisite.

 

 Intellectual: Finishing the Race
Finish up to two WIP's.  The first is my Saroyan shawl and the second is the Cabin Shawl.

 The cabin shawl also counted for
Giving Geeks: Respect your elders
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: This shawl is for my grandmother. She starts getting cold around this time of year and she always admires my shawls. I thought she could use her own.
Team Spirit: When making this shawl, I decided to make it in honor of a Discworld Elder. I tried to think of someone that would need a nice comforting shawl. And the mother of Corporal Nobbs, Maisie Nobbs, came to mind. I was reading one of the Discworld novels from the Watch theme line. She is featured also in Nanny Ogg’s fabulous cookbook for her Distressed Pudding. Her picture even has her wearing a shawl. So I think she would greatly appreciate this one.

  Scientific: Waves
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: This fiber was dyed when I first started dyeing and it turned out a bit felty. I finally did something about it and ran it through my drum carder. When it came off the drum carder, all of the blues made me think of water. I also had a bag of silk neps and I thought the splashes of white would look like the crests of waves. I was right. It has a very oceany quality to it.
Team Spirit: Discworld is flat. Consequently all of the water at the edge of the world flows right off of the edge of it. As the water moves towards the edge of the Disc, it gets a bit choppier and splashes against rocks and debris that has built up over time. White froth dances over the top of these waves before the water plunges off of the edge of the Disc and into the space below.

 Nerd Culture: Know your roots
A written description of how your project answers the challenge:
As many people who have read the Discworld novels know, there are several ways to approach the large stack of books. Some people go with the publishing dates, some chronologically by story line, and others read them by theme. I chose the latter method. I started with the Death set of novels. I’m very glad I did. Death is the personification of death. He is what we think of and has been created by our thoughts of death. During Reaper Man, Death took a bit of a vacation and several aspects of him were created. Most notably Death of Rats (and sometimes guinea pigs). Death of Rats did not reabsorb into Death when he returned to his job and has since hung around for company and finding ways through loop holes that death can’t get through. He is also adorable and says SQUEAK.
So I made my own Death of Rats to commemorate the beginning of my love for all things Discworld. I was going to have him watch over my yarn stash, but I have a knitted stash hedgehog already and I don’t want him to worry about it being his time already. :)

 Team Spirit: Necessity is the mother of invention
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: Bloody Stupid Johnson is a famous (and infamous) inventor in the Discworld. He has many, many inventions spread across the world and many are still being found. This invention was discovered in the dish washing room of Unseen University. It was discovered to be a BSJ invention when the dishes that were placed near it were hurled across the room. Although the speed at which they traveled was apparently so fast, they sped through time and space. Several of these dishes were found represented in cave paintings done at the beginning of the world. Research has been done on BSJ’s journals and they believe this invention is the Patent Super Speed Double Scrubbing Dish Washer. It has been locked away because of worries of what other items it might hurl through space and time, such as people.