Nerdopolis 1.1 - February 2015, Round 1

1)  Challenge - Nerdopolis University: Literary Characters

There they are. That character. The one that makes your heart go pitter pat. Or maybe the one to whom you just feel… connected. That one character that you just can’t get enough of so you buy every book that they are in or you re-read that one book time after time after time. This month let’s celebrate that character…Your favorite Literary Character.

•     Craft mittens/gloves for when they are in winter.
•     Spin blue yarn to match your favorite dragon’s scales
•     Craft your favorite character’s famous hat.

My submission:

This is so hard! I do have several literally characters that I LOVE and it’s so hard to choose just one!

I will have to choose I guess, so here is Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings. He is the person on whom destiny lays heavy and he knows that. He knows that from the early age that he will be either savior or doom of his people and he shoulder that burden alone, whole his life. He is quiet, unassuming, brave and self deprecating. His love for Arwen is shinning light in his life.

This picture is what represent him and my project:


He is always wearing greens and browns, forest colors, and sometimes blue too, but he keeps silver pendant from Arwen around his neck. I would love to give him this cowl - bright blue with delicate lace to cover that pendant.

Team shout out:

The way to travel in Babylon 5 universe is through wormholes. They allow ships to jump between stars. During Shadow wars, Minbari came up with the White Stars, ships that were small but still capable of opening their own wormholes and that changed course of the war.

2) Challenge -  Area 51: Roll with the Punches

We all begin projects with the best of intentions; we don’t gauge swatch because we know we’ll make gauge, we swap out yarns that might not suit the pattern but suit our wants, we make alterations to many different parts of the pattern until the project becomes it’s own monster. This month we’d like to see you pull out those projects you’ve cast aside after things maybe didn’t work out as you intended and make them better.

For example:

•      Knit the sleeves longer/shorter on a sweater you’ve been avoiding wearing because it’s uncomfortable.
•      Fix the mistakes in a crocheted toy you stopped working on because it was frustrating.
•      Overdye that skein of yarn in your stash that’s just not the right color for you anymore.
•      Try to correct over/underspun spinning projects you’ve been avoiding

My submission:

I wanted to make a cowl for my nephew and got deep blue for it, then I saw silvery Malabrigo and though how nice it will be to get those 2 paired up. Malabrigo even had some short blue specs there.

Turned out that pattern I tried to do is NOT looking good with those 2 together. Not at all. So I frogged it and tried different pattern in just blue and that one worked OK.

Picture of the frogged one:

End result:

Team shout-out:

Blue is the official color of the uniforms in Babylon 5:

3) Challenge 3 - Carousel Nerdception: Visiting Villains

We love them. We hate them. We love to hate them and hate to love them. They are villains! Sometimes they are even more memorable than the heroes. Even though we know our own nerderies respective villains so well, for this theme we are asking you to visit a different nerdery and get to know their villain(s).
This month’s theme asks you to craft something inspired by a villain that belongs to a nerdery other than your own. Rogues can use any nerdery.

My submission:

One of the most memorable villains from Discworld for me was Mr. Teatime. He is flat out insane, (“not mad, mind you = mad is when you froth at the mouth, insane is when you froth at the brain” - to quote Gaspode, one very intelligent dog).
He is the person to do anything, like kill the Hogfahter (Santa Claus from Discworld)…

I can see him going to North Pole, all bundled up, putting warm hat: 

Team shout out:
Babylon 5 is space station and from the space it looks a bit like my hat:

Nerdopolis - December 2014, Round 3

1) Challenge - Nerdopolis University: Extinction

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal” I’m sure the dinosaurs had this going through their mind as they became extinct. Yeah probably not but I can dream right? So let’s honor those Dinosaurs, Canary Islands Giant Rats, Red Crowned Parakeet, Dire Wolf (yes there really was such a thing!) and all the other extinct animals/species, here at the University this round.

•      Craft a dinosaur dishcloth
•      Spin a red yarn to represent the Red Crowned Parakeet
•      Craft a Dire Wolf

 My submission:

Bali tiger - this species of tiger only lived on the Indonesian island of Bali. The last one probably died in the mid-1960s, around 50 years ago. The last confirmed sighting of the Bali tiger was in 1937, but scientists think that one could have been alive as late as the mid-1960s. The cause of extinction was the introduction of firearms to Indonesia in the 1600s. Guns gave the people of Bali, who regarded the cats as evil spirits, the means to exterminate them.

Striping on the tiger reminds me of the color changes on the vest I did for my son, lots of earthy tones and blue for water where tigers lived…


Team shout out for Nerd Cred: (Optional) Babylon 5 is a space hub, place to trade, have adventure, but also a place to craft politics and alliances. Here are 3 most important ambassadors, in all their finery - G’kar, Delenn and Londo Molari . Their colorful dresses remind me of all the colors my vest has.

Nerdopolis - November 2014, Round 2

Challenge 1 - Area 51: Procrastination Society

 Putting off things has been a part of human history since tasks were created for us to do. We as humans know we need to do them, but somehow we keep telling ourselves “I can do that later” in favor of something more fun in the moment. Before we realize it, it’s almost too late to get the job done!
This month we want you to focus on those projects that you’ve been setting aside in favor of other things, or projects you’ve been meaning to finish for a deadline. For example:

• Finish knitting mittens for a holiday gift
• Crochet more squares for the blanket you meant to finish in the summer
• Dye some yarn you’ve had lingering in your stash for awhile
• Spin the rest of your singles to finish your yarn you started awhile ago

 My submission:

Description of how event theme is met:
I was trying to finsih those socks by the end of October, for the first round of Nerdopolis. I was almost done, when couple of things happened on the very last day (of course!)
- My last day at my clients - had to go and say goodbye to many people, since I worked there for a year and worked with many different people on several projects.

• Giants parade - Giants won World Series and they had huge parade on that very day on Market Street where I work, when I was desperatelly trying to get home (opposite of the parade!) to attend my son’s Halloween school parade! I was only person walking furiously in opposite way trying to catch non existing bus (I clocked almost 20 K steps that day!)
• My son’s parade! and games afterward in school
• Hallowen trick or treating in the evening!

So, I couldn’t finish those socks by any means, and after I got decent sleep I finsihed last inch, bound off, and sew ends on November 2nd…

Team shout out for Nerd Cred: (Optional)
Blue is Babylon 5 color - uniforms are blue, wormholes are blue, and Babylon 5 itself is grey and blue, reminding of a color of my socks:

Challenge 2 - Wildcard: Prepared or Just Lucky?

Which is better: being well-prepared, or being lucky? Are you the a Type A personality with all your hooks and needles neatly organized in ascending size order? Before a new weaving project, do you just set the warp and weft, and start weaving without a goal in mind? Do you research historic weaving styles to prepare for your next project?Do you knit your gauge swatch, or just wing it?
This month’s Wild Card challenge is to craft something illustrating why one style is better - or worse - than the other. Tell us your reasoning and convince us too. You could:

• weave a cloth that surprises you with its interplay of colors
• dye some yarn carefully following a recipe
• get lucky with a new knitting technique or pattern
• jump right in let freeform crochet take you on a new adventure
 

My submission:

I am usually organized person and have to have everything ready before I start the project, and then I follow pattern exactly :)
This shawl was done that way until I got to the lace portion, where I got the idea of adding beads and couldn’t get it out of my head. So I decided to totally improvise - all I knew is that for fingering weight yarn I need beads size 6/0 (whatever that means) and dental floss and I went to local craft shop without even my yarn and bought 2 sets of 300 beads, one red and one amber.
When I got home, I tried amber beads and they were good, so I looked at lace and decided to put bead on every k1 stitch, figuring out that’s the safest place. And that is what I did - I used almost all beads and I dropped them several times, but all in all, this was a rare moment for me, my total whim and improvisation worked, and worked very well.
I gave that shawl to my mom, since it looked awesome on her, and I can see more beads in my future :) Planned or unplanned :)

Team shout out for Nerd Cred: (Optional) Beads - like droplet of rain on the plant in Zen Garden Green Sector. Babylon 5 is a space station and as such, it grows it’s own as much as possible. But besides just function, Garden is a tranquil place, place of relaxation, meditation or just place for a talk.

 Challenge 3 - Carousel Global Community: All the Places You'll Go 

Have you ever had the itch to travel? Whether it be to a far away land to explore new and interesting things? Or to the ruins of an ancient city long forgotten? Or perhaps it is just to that farmers’ market they have in the next town over that you heard was really cool. There are many many places we want to travel to, some near, and some far. There are also many places we just haven’t been yet, and it is often not because we lack the desire to go.
For this challenge, craft something inspired by a place that you would like to go but have never been able to travel to.

• Craft a toy animal for that safari you always dream of
• Craft a market bag in case you ever get a chance to go to that new mall
• Craft something with sparkles for Carnival
• Craft something in the colours of your favourite team that you want to go see in a live game just once.
•  

My submission

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to visit Lothlorien! My heart will be happy to climb those trees and watch the stars from their top, listening to Elves singing… Stripes on my sock remind me of the trees with light on Caras Galadhon!

Team shout out for Nerd Cred: (Optional)

Narn homeworld used to be rich in forest before Centauri came and strip mined their world for resources. Now it’s desert, and it will take many generation to restore the world back (if ever).
Narns do wear lots of yellow and orange, as my socks, as we can see in G’Kar splendid uniform:

Nerdopolis

 Yes, I didn't blog for a while and Nerdopolis happened.

 This is tournament based game, 3 month long competition between teams of crafters, and of course teams are as nerdy as people want them to be.

 I usually sign up with Team Rangers, for Babylon 5, there are many others like Team Precious (for Tolkien), Team Tardis (Doctor Who), Team UU (Terry Pratchett), Team One More Page (games) etc...

 Nerdopolis is one of a successors of the Nerd Wars - original game is officially done. It was smashing success and finally grew so large and time consuming that original author retired it.

 There are 2 games now - Nerd Wars is still on, but it's not focused on points, and people can belong to several teams.

 Nerdopolis is more like original Nerd Wars - there are 5 challenges per month, people are organized in teams, and there are nerd creed points for tying up your project with your team.

  First tournament run from October 2014 till December 2014.

Nerd Wars Tournament 8 Round 1 - Discovery

Team Rangers
Craft: knit

Project:
Description: Primordial soup is the place where the life began. Theory explains that the warm temperatures of the earth and its water bodies, a mix of gases including Methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2), ammonia (NH3), and water vapor (H2O) together with some form of energy ( assuming lightning) were responsible for the formation of the first building blocks of life, the amino acid. How it actually happened it’s still a mystery.

I’ve knitted colorful block that reminds me of amino acids in RNA in primordial soup - bright, full of colors and life.
Watson-Creek model of RNA:

My block:

Team tie-in:
Colors, colors everywhere! Babylon 5 is a place of many alien races and in hopes to promote better understandig between them, captain Sinclair gave every race an opportunity to display their customs. Minbari were dignified, Narn’s full of chants and smoke, and Centauri? Loud, full of food, colors and drinks! This square will be perfect coaster on Ambasador Molari festive table!

Nerd Wars Tournament 8 Round 1 - Encyclopedia

Team Rangers
Craft: knit

Project: Opal square

Description: I was born in August, but I was 2 months premature, my birthday was supposed to be in October. Birthstone of October is Opal - mineraloid that can have different colors, but most commons are blue and green. I knitted a 1st square for my sons’ blanket in light blue, representing opal like this:

I do claim my birthday on both days :) I do feel like Libra more often than Leo - several people refused to believe that I am Leo :)
Team tie-in: Blue is prominent color on Babylon 5 - station is blue, Eartforce uniforms are blue and when off duty, several people wear blue or silver color. And yet, since most humans are military, we don’t see them wearing jewelry much, but other races do, specially Centauri - they value appearances way more than anybody else and wear their wealth proudly,as we can see at this Amabasador Londo picture:

Centauri gliter:

Nerd Wars Tournament 8 Round 1 - Nerdology

Team Rangers
Craft: knit
Project page:
Bearfoot bear
Team Unity Project
Description of the project;
My inspiration for this project are feet - humble, everyday feet that propel us from one place to another, without complaining and burning fossil fuel… Well, not exactly not complaining, ok:

Feet are simplest form of alternative transportation, and yet often overlooked or neglected.

To get our feet to perform their best, we need good, comfortable socks to cushion them when walking, protect them from cold and pamper them with softness.
I knitted pair of socks for my DH, of wool/mohair blend that are silky to touch and tough to wear. They were supposed to be his birthday present (july) but he liked them so much that he got them earlier :)

Team tie-in:
Captain Sheridan is a all around awesome guy, but as everybody else, he has his little “rituals” to help him deal with stressful situations. One of them is leaving socks to wash - his old drill sergeant always said that the person who has nothing left to do is going to get killed. Only he would live forever, because he always had socks to wash…
This is also our TUP project - this month we are crafting something to represent 20 years of Babylon 5 and it’s importance to us. Those socks are made of yarn famous for durability and comfort, and I do hope they will last at least big chunk of those 20 years. Being present for my DH, who is in my life for almost as 20 years too and another big Babylon 5 fan, makes me very glad that I am able to knit Sheridan socks for him and make him happy!