end of tournament the fourth

okay, i know i'm more than a little behind. since i didn't actually finish anything in march (i know, i'm terrible), i decided to wait until after round three was over. had trouble getting my act together in the last two months.
anyway, here's what i've gotten done in the last two months.

for round two's technical challenge: the scrap heap, we were challenged to make something from the scraps we had left over from previous projects. i started with a third of a skein of Caron Simply Soft Brites Blue Mint. i feel the need to tell you exactly what it was solely because i have now used the same skein of yarn on four different projects. that and i still haven't used it up. who knew one skein could go that far!? anyway, i decided to make a hat that looks like dr. manhattan's head. you know, from the watchmen. it is really good. if you haven't read it, you should. go ahead. i'll be here when you get back.

for round three's geek pride challenge: follow the leader, we were meant to go back and gain inspiration from a project submitted to previous rounds by someone on a different team. i was inspired by a project from team PI, an open lace crocheted scarf. i have always been jealous of the ease of open lace done in crochet (it is so pretty!), so that project gave me the kick in the pants i needed to go searching for a good open lace knit pattern. and i found one! in a book i already had, no less. so i set about the task of making the Salmon Scarf from One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites by Judith Durant. it turned out beautifully. when i started it, i had just finished reading Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, and had chain mail on the brain. i swear, especially when i held it up and it caught the light just right, it looked like spun silver. i'm very pleased with it. i was also pleased with myself for my team tie-ins for the challenge (mostly because our team unity project was to have two different tie-ins and i ended up with something like five!). for the main tie-in, there's a webcomic i once a devoted follower of called Real Life. it was really good. pretty sure the reason i stopped reading was finals one semester. anyway, at one point Greg decides that his Renaissance costume should be more in depth (translating to “lots of armor”). he finds instructions and materials online to make his own chainmail. a few months later he has finally completed a chainmail mantle.

something i had been meaning to make for a while was a towel. more specifically, a towel in honor of towel day. "what the heck is towel day?" you may ask. well, towel day occurs every year on May 25 to celebrate the life of Douglas Addams, the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy of five. there's even an official website if you want to learn more information about it. anyway, in high school i had a dish towel that i clipped onto my school bag and carried around. actually managed to convert a few of my friends to seeing the infinite usefulness of knowing where your towel is. when i started knitting, one thing i knew needed to be made was a new towel for towel day. so here it is, made from deep purple cotton. love it. i used this pattern from Kaitie's Knits blog. i may rework the letters to be bigger when i make one for my dad (i get my awesome nerdiness from him after all), just so they'll be a little easier to read. if nothing else, i will rework the N. it came out kinda wonky. i am now prepared for this year's towel day.

so yeah, that's everything i've made in the last two months. still working on that baby blanket. it was honestly the only think i worked on for about two and a half weeks. we needed some time apart in order to save our relationship. i know that seems silly, but we've all had friends like that. i believe it also applies to projects and even appliances (hopefully the oven will be healed for good tomorrow). anyway, the snail-ish pace of the blanket put a definite crimp in my inspiration/motivation gland. thus, the low number of projects.

summer seems to have settled upon west texas with the usual speed and disregard for what anyone may say. it is significantly more difficult to motivate myself to knit in the heat (piling fiber on your lap does nothing to help combat said heat). i apologize for my whining on the subject. still working at the whole trust thing. it is one thing to know everything will turn out alright. it is another thing entirely to believe it with every fiber of one's being. dealing with my own dislike of change is rough. keep me in your thoughts on that one. it will be a seriously long road.
may we stay the course, despite the pot holes, and trust with every fiber.

seasons of change are upon us

Nerd Wars began tournament the fourth at the beginning of february! so exciting! i am once again on Team Shady Cels, and am still completely thrilled about it. i was really inspired by the challenges for round one, so much, in fact, that i submitted to three categories. i realize that i've done more in a month in the past, but i simply didn't knit at all in january (recovering from christmas knitting frenzy). therefore, i was really proud of myself for getting back in the swing of things so quickly. so here we go!

for round one's Geek Pride challenge entitled "wove, twue wove"(geek pride replaced team spirit as a category, just fyi), we were supposed to make something that represented a relationship (whether real, implied, or purely fan suggested) within our team's nerdery. i made a set of gold fish intended to look as close to Cosmo and Wanda from the Fairly Odd Parents as possible. afterall, if 9895 years of marriage isn't real love, i don't know what is. i think i did a pretty good job. for those of you playing at home, yes, you are right. i did make a set of the exact same gold fish last october. however, a friend of mine's son is a fan of the show as well and thought they were super cool (he's a pretty awesome kid). so, my friend and i traded. i made her a set of fairly odd fish and she made me the cutest little owls ever (she has taken up needle felting, way spiffy). i feel like this was a completely fair trade.

for the scientific challenge entitled "all for one and one for all," we were supposed to be inspired by the simplicity of nature and unicellular organisms. one way we could do that was by only using one skein of yarn, which is what i did. i used my one skein of lionbrand homespun yarn, and made what i affectionately call fuzzy infinity. it is a simply infinity scarf that is just so skooshy and warm that it makes me all warm and fuzzy, inside and out. plus, i think the colors turned out really beautiful. i wasn't expecting it to be variegated, so the whole thing was a lovely surprise. it was so simple that is was incredibly relaxing to work on. it only took a day, which made me feel good about my knitting speed. i'll definitely be doing many more of these.

for the nerd culture challenge entitled "i, for one, welcome our new man-made overlords," we were supposed to be inspired by technology and human/non-human ingenuity. so, i made a little plushie Winslow from Questionable Content. anyone that has ever seen any of these posts knows that i am startlingly fond of QC. i've been thinking about making either Winslow or Pint Size for a while, and the perfect challenge finally presented itself. another reason i am so proud of my little Winslow is that i was forced to finally figure out real color work, by which i mean not just stripes. i carried him around in my bag for a week after he was done so i could show him to everyone i knew. i got some odd looks that were quickly replaced by smiles as he is just too dern cute not to smile at him.

so, that is what i made last month. i'm pleased with all of the resulting items, i must say. haven't done nearly as much this month, and probably won't. still trying to kick the tail end of terrible allergies/cold. that'll knock into your productivity and motivation. also having a tough time being inspired by the round two challenges. oh well, there's still three solid weeks left in march. we'll just have to see how it goes. the seasons here are getting more sporadic, as is usual for west texas. yesterday was a beautiful 77. today is in the forties and drizzling and windy and miserable. that is supposed to persist into the weekend and next week, but you aren't here for the forecast.

all the screwy weather does remind me that spring is a time for change. whether that means big life changes or small changes in routine or goals, tis the season for it. personally, i am working at keeping an open mind and heart to the changes God has in store for me in this season, whether it be radical or subtle. as i am personally highly non-spontaneous, this isn't particularly easy for me. therefore, i am approaching it as an exercise in trust (and i don't mean like the ever corny trust falls and things of summer camp). i like knowing what is coming. i am terrible and handling change in any form, but i'm learning. however slowly, i am learning.
may we be open-hearted to His will, where ever it may take us