Nerd Wars - Tournament 1 Round 2

And so the 2nd round of Nerd Wars began this morning. I'm gonna try really hard this round to use projects I need to get done as part of it. Below are the challenges. I have ideas for the Intellectual, Team Spirit and Scientific. I'm just running them past one of the mods before I start to see if they would qualify. Squee, the excitement. I finished the 1st month with a respectable 2.5 points. Considering I've never really done anything to a deadline like this I'm quite proud.

Challenge (Intellectual): WARRIOR'S FRIEND
Craft a shield. Spinners, find a picture of a shield (historical or fictitious) and make something reminiscent of its colours. Or, if you can think of another answer to this riddle, craft that. Make sure to explain what your answer is and why you chose it.
Craft something that will protect you from something unpleasant or undesirable.
Craft something that will protect an object that is important to you from something unpleasant or undesirable.

Challenge (Team Spirit): IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB
If you haven’t heard, March is the month that comes in like a lion (blustery, cold, and harsh) and goes out like a lamb (mild and temperate). This month’s challenge pays homage to that saying.

The Challenge: Create something inspired by this saying.

* Make something inspired by an animal or animal-like being. Werewolves need love too, you know!
* For those without animals in their nerddom, play off the hard and soft duality of the saying. Perhaps that gruff space pilot has a soft and gentle heart?

Challenge (Nerd Culture): DON’T HIDE YOUR LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL!
Your challenge this month is to spark wonder in your home towns and cities by performing your art in public. You may choose to submit photographic or video evidence of yourself knitting, crocheting, spinning, or weaving in public (from either a third- or first-person view, if you’re camera-shy), or by summoning a minor Yarnstorm of your own. Knit colorful flowers to stand by the side of the road until their organic counterparts take over. Crochet that One Tree on campus a sweater. Fill those who view your art with wonder, and help spread your nerdery to a new audience!

Challenge (Giving Geeks): WIP HELP
Some projects take what seems like forever, even if they are small. My friend’s mother had a pair of thumbless mittens sitting on top of her knitting basket for years, and now she is so shaky with her ailments she cannot do the simple task of finishing the thumbs. It took a gentle touch to get her to allow my friend to take the mittens and finish them up.

Your challenge is to finish a WIP for someone who can no longer do it themselves, from age, injury, or illness. The person does not need to be elderly - it can be a peer who has broken a hand, but needs to finish the WIP on a deadline. The size of the WIP is unimportant - what is important is helping someone finish a project.

This challenge is not for completing your own WIPs.

Challenge (Scientific): CAPILLARY ACTION
Capillary action is responsible for moving groundwater from wet areas of the soil to dry areas, creating that pesky meniscus when measuring liquids for cooking or science projects, and what Bounty tries to maximize to be the quicker picker upper. It is the ability of liquid to flow against gravity. It is one of the qualities that makes water a unique compound.

In this challenge, you must find inspiration in capillary action. Whether it is from capillary action in nature, kitchen, or otherwise.

Challenge (Technical): POLYTECHS
A polyglot is someone who is able to speak or write in several languages. It comes from Greek, meaning many tongues.

A polytech (made up by me from Greek meaning many techniques or arts) is someone who is able to craft using many techniques (spinning, knitting, crochet, quilting, needle felting, tatting, etc.). Your challenge this month is to demonstrate your proficiency in multiple techniques by combining two or more to produce a single finished object. One of the techniques must be from the Rav-sanctioned four (spinning, knitting, crochet, weaving), but the other technique(s) can be any craft of your choosing.