We are well into August and I've already finished a project for this month, but I figured I shouldn't forget to post about how last month went. Barely squeaked out all 6 projects and my check in on my dissertation. I was crocheting my heart out there at the end. You might also recognize a few projects from TDF.
Giving Geeks- Puppy Love: Craft something for an animal in need.
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: I decided to make a cat bed for my cat Itchy. She loves to lay beside me on the couch. Unfortunately where I sit on the couch is my craft corner so there is often binders and bags and things laying all over the place. I can’t imagine it can be all that comfortable. So I made her a little mat so that when she wants to hop up beside me, I can cover all the stuff up and she can lay there. Plus it means I don’t have to clean everything out of her way and I can keep most of the cat hair off of it. We both win.
Team Spirit: Nanny Ogg has a cat. A big, mean tomcat named
Greebo. He has killed two vampires and an elk that we know of. He is a terror, but is very loved by Nanny Ogg. Nanny Ogg also has dozens of daughters-in-law, over which she rules with an iron fist. If I were one of her DIL’s I would attempt to get in good with Nanny Ogg by trying to make friends with Greebo using such methods as making him a comfy cat bed to sleep on.
Intellectual- Myths, Mythos, Mythology: Make something representative of a Myth
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: Some of my favorite Myths are about dragons. And stories of them can be found in nearly every culture in the world. When I saw this batt sitting in my fiber stash, it immediately made me think of a dragon. The shades of green and gray and a bit of sparkle to represent the magic. I even spun it kind of lumpy and bumpy to mimic scales.
Team Spirit: Dragons are even present in Discworld mythology and reality. Several different species in fact. Although my favorite are the ones from
Wyrmberg. In Wyrmberg, dragons exist but only through the imagination and belief of their riders. Just like the idea for what this fiber represented came from my imagination.
Nerd Culture- Big Nerd Love: Talk about another Nerd love.
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: I have recently become obsessed with True Blood (mostly the books, but I am catching up on the tv series). Yay vampires! I feel that my project of a knitted anatomical heart represents True Blood in two ways. First, it keeps her blood pumping through her body to provide a tasty snack for whichever vampire she is taken with at the moment. Second, the books are all about her romances and how she is following her heart.
Team Spirit: In True Blood, now that vampires have “come out of the coffin” there are many of them who are mainstreaming and trying not to consume the blood from unwilling humans. In the Discworld novels, there are also vampires who have sworn off drinking human blood. They are members of the
Uberwald League of Temperance often called “Black Ribboners”.
Scientific- Scientific Method
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: i. Question- Can I make yarns that will give me a gradient when I blend two colors of fiber together in different ratios
ii. Hypothesis- I believe if the fibers are blended well enough in their different ratios I will get various shades of grey yarn in between the pure black and whites
iii. Experiment- 100% Black, 75/25 Black/White, 66/33 B/W, 50/50 B/W, 66/33 W/B, 75/25 W/B, 100 % White 3.5 oz of each fiber. Each mix will equal 1 oz. Useing Black Alpaca fleece, White Alpaca fleece and White alpaca roving since I am a little shy of 3.5 oz in the white.
iv. Analysis- I can tell the difference between the different blends when laid out next to each other.
v. Conclusion- It seemed to work very well. The only problem was that the difference between 100% white and 75% White/25% Black is a very big difference. So I think before this gets turned into an actual project, I will add another blend in between to even it out.
Team Spirit- So much of Discworld is good and bad in shades of gray. No one is completely good or bad. The Auditors of Time may have tried to destroy humanity a few times, but only because we make their jobs difficult. Vetinari seems like a bad guy, but he makes Ankh Morpork run very smoothly and prosperously. And Death, who most would think would be a bad guy, likes kittens and seems to be a generally nice guy.
Team Spirit- It's Fun to Be Bad: Make a project based on a bad guy from your Team
written description of how your project answers the challenge: As other members of Team UU have said, we have a hard time picking out true villains. Many characters in the Discworld novels skirt the grey areas of good and bad. So I went with a character that could be considered bad, but also looks like a truly bad guy. I chose
Lord Vetinari. The mustache and little goatee are perfect for twirling or stroking when coming up with a plot. I liked that idea so much I wanted a set for myself. I do feel a little more evil.
Technical- Alternate Yarnality: Make something not really using a real yarn
A written description of how your project answers the challenge: I wove this coaster from strips of fabric. The method used is somewhere between weaving and crochet really. It was supposed to be a Trivet/Pot Holder, but it is a technique that really uses up your “yarn”
-Team Spirit: Terry Pratchett (author of the Discworld novels) has always been a fan of the fiber arts. So naturally, a bit of knitting is featured in his books. Although many of the
references to knitting involve older women at a certain level of domesticity. He says this is based upon the area he grew up in; Rural Britain in the 1950’s. It made me think about what knitting is featured in the areas I grew up in and currently live. How is knitting featured here? And really, WV is not heavy on sheep so I didn’t see much knitting growing up. But one thing I saw loads of were rag rugs. Either crocheted or woven. Everyone I visited when I was younger had one. Then the lightbulb went off, alternate yarn!
