In the midst of all the celebrating, Nightrae kindly took a moment for a brief interview.
First, congratulations on being awarded the Winter 2013 Mrs. Lovegood Memorial Mad Scientist. What was your initial reaction when you found out you had won?
Thank you! To be completely honest, I was confused: I get an email every time I get Ravelry message or earburn, and those emails forward to my phone. My phone kept going off at random times and I couldn’t figure out why people were suddenly earburning me! I thought it might just be a Random Act of Earburning, such as we have in the Tower. I was partially right--this really just was another wonderful outpouring of Ravenclaw love. My reaction to the nomination was actually more funny, though, and makes a better story: I found out two hours before I usually wake up when my phone buzzed. I had an email notifying me of an earburn from GazeboGal. I was going to ignore it and go back to bed, until I saw that it was in the Mad Scientist thread. I was so excited and overwhelmed that I fell out of bed! I couldn’t sleep after that, but I was so excited that I didn’t care.
Going back in time a bit, what drove you to take on such a project? Did you know at that time that this project was mad enough to lead to a Mad Scientist nomination and ultimate win?
I took on this project because I could. I started making amigurumi with this pattern before Christmas. One of them was a Samwise Gamgee for a dear friend of mine. I’m a huge fan of Tolkien, and once the Hobbit movie came out and Samwise went off to his new home, I realized I had a whole huge world of characters that I could craft with. (Besides, the hair! The beard bling! It called to me!) This had the added bonus of improving my crochet and needle-felting skills, which desperately needed attention. I didn’t know when I first started that this would be worthy of a Mad Scientist nomination. In fact, I didn’t even plan on finishing the whole thing in three months. But life got crazy and I needed crochet to keep me afloat. By the end of the third month, when I had five amigurumi left, I began to wonder if maybe I might get a mad scientist nomination if I finished the collection. While that motivated me, I wasn’t betting on it.
You completed this set of dwarves while defending your thesis. How on (middle-)earth did you find the time?
You can’t see me, but please know that I am blushing profusely. Some of the Tower folk know that I have ADHD; that, honestly, was a huge motivator for me in starting this project. As an English master, I do a TON of reading, but my hands have to be busy while I’m reading or I’ll get up to clean my room or put away laundry or do the dishes or… well, do anything that isn’t homework. Crafting was a wonderful compromise. Not only did it mean I had a little cheerleading section growing in the living room, it got me through the twenty-five titles on the reading list for the defense!
Any advice for fellow Ravenclaws who might be trying to find their inner Mad Scientist next term?
Craft what you love, and share what you’re excited about. The support of my Ravenclaw sisters was huge in motivating me to finish this project. I was much more excited about finishing a project when I knew that TheRealKarity wanted FO pics, and when CathyCake asked me to start sharing pictures in the Fellowship of the String thread, I was immensely flattered. This project became kind of a group effort--my Dwarrow weren’t my only cheerleaders. I give the Tower as a whole credit for my being a Mad Scientist because their excitement helped me be passionate about my project. And while passion and madness aren’t necessarily the same thing, we Ravenclaws walk the line between the two!
Such a lovely story. Thanks to Nightrae for sharing.
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