Nerd Wars Tournament 4 - Dissertation Proposal

In the third chapter of second book of The Lord of the Rings, “The Ring Goes South,” the Fellowship attempts to climb over Caradhras on their journey. As soon as they reach the mountain they are met with foul, cold weather and falling rocks. The further they go on, the worse it gets. When they stop to rest, the snow abates and the wind calms. But as soon as they restart their climb, the mountain renews it’s attack. Writes Tolkein, “The wind whistled and the snow became a blinding blizzard.”

Eventually, the Fellowship, including Gimli the Dwarf, is so buried by snow, and so completely frozen that they are unable to continue – even magical draughts cannot warm them – and they decide to turn back. They are no match for the mighty, cold mountain. “Gimli looked up and shook his head. ‘Caradhras has not forgiven us,’ he said. ‘He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go back and down the better.’”

For my dissertation, I intend to knit the shawl to completion and hope not to be waylaid by the powerful, determined, Cold Mountain.

My Journey…
February 1, 2012 - Proposal Submitted and Approved

Feb 2 - Cast on

Feb 13 - 2/3rds done with first line of instruction. Will not speculate on how many lines of instruction there are, or how long it will take to complete project at this rate.

Feb 19 - Some creature walked over my pattern with muddy feet. Suspect Orcs.

March 3 - Started 2nd chart. Can see half-way mark!