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.

September

September was a decent month.  I don't know if I've gotten a lot done, but I feel like I did.  

I finally made this tea cozy.  I love it.  Mom and I traded tea pots so I could make this.   I had to felt it a little bit to make it fit my tea pot.  But I was working with the wrong yarn.  But my tea pot is a snail, so all is good.

 I made a flying monkey.  It is for the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon.  they give them as prizes.  I like the way this one turned out.

 I changed to my winter hair. 

 And apparently so have the stores.  Yes that is a Christmas tree.  I'm sorry. 

Since You've (I've) been gone...

 It has been a while.  But I've been busy.  I had to go on a Goodwill raid.  I was in desperate need of some new clothes.  I got all of this for $50.  Woot!

 I made these for the bathroom.  I needed some sort of organization for my earrings, besides jamming them all in my jewelry box.  I could never find the ones I wanted.  Now they all hang up.  The big one at the bottom is all of my earrings without a back.  The small one holds all of my pins and clips.  And the one that is empty will hold all of my post backed earrings.  But I need to go through those to see if I still want them all.

 I finished a shawl that may or may not have been in the WIP pile for ::mumble mumble 3 years::  But it is finally finished.  Now I have no idea what to do with it.

 I ran a race.  The two mile race that is done in conjunction with the Parkersburg Half Marathon.  It was loads of fun.  And I got a personal record. 

 I started a Smash book.  This is the first set of finished pages.  Essentially you just smash things into your book to keep.  Add notes and things as you like.  I am just using a generic journal to start with.  I didn't want to spend that much on it until I decided if I like it.  It might be a good way to dabble in scrapbooking without having something to scrapbook.  The race page above is also in the smash book.

Finished Nerd Wars.  I'll put all of those projects in a separate post. 

Got a new camera and I'll squee about that in a separate post.  I don't want to overload this one with pictures. 

Doing things with friends

I like my friends.  A lot.  Some of them have moved away and some of them have been having a rough time.  But I just want all of them to know I like them and I like doing things with them. 

Such as knitting in the great outdoors.  Scaring all the non-knitters. 

Look at those hands go!

Demonstrating our fiber love at fairs and festivals. This is a good way to come across new friends.

Taking over our local hobby shop.  So many knitters.

Sorting through grossness-covered fleeces.  I have no idea why this picture is sideways.  I can't figure out how to fix it. 

Gifts

So we won't talk about how long it took for my mom to get her birthday present this year.  In my defense, I did actually have everything done in time.  But I got lazy about mailing it.  Then I found the perfect present for my Step-dad to throw in the package too.  And then the Etsy seller disappeared off the face of the earth so I was waiting on my stuff to ship.  I gave up waiting on it last week.  So she finally got sent stuff.

The funny thing about both of her bigger things, she bought the yarn for them.  They still count as presents though.  Totally.  Some Grandmother's slippers.  She loves these things. 

 Socks.  Out of Panda Silk.  Nice yarn.  She has good taste. Done toe-up and a very short leg cuff to make them ankle socks.  I'm sorry they are a touch too small.  I was worried I was running out of yarn.  I like the way the yarn pooled to make it look like stripes.

 This isn't for my mom. She got a bunch of other smaller things.  This embroidery is actually for my BIL and SIL.  I saw the idea online.  I had everyone trace their hands and then I transfered them to some fabric.  Then I embroidered each hand in a different color to match the fabric.  I told them they could get a new one whenever they wanted.  Julia is growing up fast.  And this project was a snap.

 And this is for my swap partner.  I am going to be all sneaky and not even say what it is in case she is reading.  But it could come in handy when running away from zombies.  Maybe making a repair or two.  She should be getting her box soon ::fingers crossed:: 

And the yarn I dyed for the swap too.  I call it Zombie Pallor.  Beth may have also gotten some of this for her birthday.  One good thing I learned is that I can fit about 3 skeins of yarn comfortably in the pot I dye in.  Otherwise I will end up with two skeins that don't really resemble the others since they get stuck at the bottom.

Nerd Wars- July Edition

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!

Tour De Fleece- epic fail

So the month of July was perhaps not the best for not only doing Nerd Wars, but joining in on the Tour De Fleece.  Nerd Wars totally took over my spinning wheel and I never got back to working on the Romney Fleece.  I also missed a huge chunk of spinning while my dad was in the hospital.  But here is what I have.

Day 10- Started on the next bit of the alpaca blend.  I want to say this is the 33 black/ 66 white.

 Day 12-16.  Day 11 was a rest day, but you can see not much happened for a week or so.  But this is fun to spin.  It was some blue fiber I dyed when I first decided to try dyeing.  It was compacted and not so spinnable.  My friend, Haley, came over to card some felted fiber on my drum carder and a had a face palm moment. I could do that too.  When I carded the blue, it looked so much like the ocean it needed some cresting waves.  Silk neps added.

 Day 18. Back in the saddle with more alpaca.  Finishing up the 66 white/ 33 black blend

 Day 19.  The 50/50 alpaca blend.

 Day 20.  Finished the 50/50 blend

 Day 21.  Finished and plied the 66 black/ 33 white blend.

 Day 22.  Got everything I had spun up all plied.  The only one I had missing at this point is the 75 black/ 25 white blend.  You will see that in the Nerd Wars post.  :)