Things For Its Handses and Feetses

We must be more careful with our yarns in the future, Precious. When we throws them all together in the same bag they tangle and the needleses might come out. Gollum.

Tournament #3 of Nerd Wars, a knitting/crocheting/spinning competition for nerds, started on October 1, and I am proud to be competing as a member of Team Precious (the Lord of the Rings team) this time around. I have ideas for three out of six challenges so far, two of which are taking shape. Things have been dreadfully slow at Job #1 so I am getting a lot of knitting done there. (Hand-sewing is too bulky to take.)

The Technical category challenge is “Colortastic”—basically one must use two or more yarns that are different colours. A variegated yarn only counts as one. So I am doing colourwork socks, which will also count for our Team Unity Project. (Socks for Hobbit feet.) Team Spirit tie-in is Mirkwood.

The Scientific challenge is “Prehistory”—we have to make something somehow related to something prehistoric, like dinosaurs or cavemen. Since Middle-earth’s prehistory has actually been invented and written down, I’m doing a pair of mittens inspired by Cuviénen and the awakening of the Elves.

I will explain what the heck Lord of the Rings gibberish I am talking as the projects come off the needles.

Nauglamír

I’ve finished a number of things for my Finrod costume, but Nauglamír is the most important one. The Silmarillion says of Nauglamír, Finrod’s fabled Dwarf-necklace:

And in that time was made for him the Nauglamír, the Necklace of the Dwarves, most renowned of their works in the Elder Days. It was a carcanet of gold, and set therein were gems uncounted from Valinor; but it had  a power within it so that it rested lightly on its wearer as a strand of flax, and whatsoever neck it clasped it always sat with grace and loveliness.

I can’t match that, of course, but I did my best with what I could get.

The pants and shoes I’ll wait to photograph until I have the whole costume together. (They’re plain blue, and not much to look at.)

I also purchased a cheap werewolf head mask to use as my trophy. (When Finrod went to help Luthien rescue Beren, he was captured and set upon by werewolves. He killed them with his bare hands and teeth, then died of his injuries.) Besides adding some blood streamers to the bottom, I installed a zipper so that if I end up going anywhere on Halloween, this can double as my purse.

Also, Tournament 3 of Nerd Wars has officially begun. One of the challenges requires us to link a project to a haiku, preferably one that we have written. So I have been trying to come up with some Lord of the Rings haiku.

A butterfly clip
Graces your ebony hair
Not very manly

Taters, nice taters
Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in
a stew, potatoes

Fennas Nogothrim
Lasto beth Lammen! Ando…
Oh, it was mellon?

Spears shall be shaken!
Arise! And the sun rises!
Ride now for ruin!

A day may yet come
When the courage of Men fails
It is not this day

Olórin, Tarkun,
Mithrandir, mainly Gandalf,
Too many names, dude.

The Dwarf breathes loudly
I could shoot him in the dark
Blindfold that sucker

No man can kill you
But it’s time for you to die
For I am no man

I will take the Ring
Though I do not know the way
And I am so small

One does not simply
Even with a thousand men
Walk into Mordor

Now that it’s October, I need to go up in the attic to look for Admiral Spookington the Ghostie Pinata. I’m sure he’s still around somewhere.

Nerd Wars: Tournament 2, Round 3

Back in December I helped to get Nerd Wars, a yarny competition for nerds, started. I wrote the Intellectual challenges and was captain of the Star Wars team. While I decided not to be on a team for Round 2, I’m still participating on the Ninja Warriors team. (The team for people who can’t dedicate all their time to a team right now/signed up too late/can’t decide which team they want to be on.) For Tournament 3, I’ve rather been drafted onto Team Precious, the Lord of the Rings team, which I’m excited about.

There are six categories in each round, and each round lasts for a month. Now I’m trying to plan out projects for August.

Giving Geeks: Respect Your Elders
The challenge: To make something for/do something with/in some way give to a person who is older than you. (Not necessarily an elderly person.)
I’m already working on this one. I’ve designed a cabled scarf pattern I’m calling “Love You, Grandpa!” It has to be finished by September. So far this one’s going well.

Technical: Guilty Pleasures
The challenge: To use a knitting/crocheting/spinning technique that is your guilty pleasure. The guilty pleasure has to be fiber-related, so I couldn’t do something related to…say, my new-found liking for coffee. I really like short-row knitting, so I may do some sort of shawlette/crescent-shaped scarf here. Socks with short-row heels aren’t creative enough in my book, as I design all my sock patterns with short-row heels.

Nerd Culture: Know Your Roots
The challenge: To make something that expresses the origins of your fandom, either when you first encountered it or something early in its history. I want to knit something inspired by Nauglamír, the Dwarf-necklace made for Finrod Felagund in The Silmarillion. I’m not sure how to do that yet. I may use some yarn I dyed to make, again, a shawlette, or I might try to design a beaded cowl pattern. I have to think on this one more.

Scientific: Waves
The challenge: To make something that represents waves, water or electric or whatever.
I’m definitely making some socks I’ve been planning. They’re inspired by a river in the Lord of the Rings and will have a raindrop pattern on the leg and a ripple/wave pattern on the foot.

Team Spirit: Necessity is the Mother of Invention
The challenge: Make something inspired by a tool in your fandom.
I still have no idea what to do for this one. There’s a pattern for a felted knitting needle container that looks like a quiver, but there aren’t any famous quivers in Lord of the Rings. Maybe I could do some sort of shawl to represent Luthien’s cloak.

Intellectual: Finishing the Race
The challenge: Finish some works-in-progress.
Easy enough. I have projects I’ve started before August. Go go Gadget Knitting Skills!