Getting Historical!

This square isn't for a particular fandom that I'm fond of, but for an area of geekiness in which I excel.  I'm a huge history buff, focusing mainly in ancient history -- Ancient Egypt, the Greeks and Romans, right up through Medieval Europe.  When I was little, I always wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up.  Oh, who am I kidding, I still want to be an archaeologist.

Who didn't want to be Indiana Jones when they grew up ?!

Egypt has always held an especially fond place in my heart, and even if nothing else on my Bucket List gets done, I'd be perfectly content if I could get there myself one day to see the artwork and monuments.  Even as a child, I was drawn to anything Egyptian -- my Foster-Mom used to like telling the story of how whenever we'd take a trip to the Museum, I would wander off by myself.  Every time, without fail, she would find me in the Egyptian exhibit, talking to the mummy on display.  I even began correcting some of the tour guides when they made mistakes while discussing the artifacts -- I got in trouble for that one, even though I probably did know more about the exhibit than they did.

This square pays homage to someone who is probably my most beloved historical figure.  I kid you not, I have always had a serious, hard-core crush on him, despite the fact he's been dead for almost 2,000 years.  My dear husband has learned to cope with this fact remarkably well, might I add.  Without further ado, may I present to you His Royal Highness, Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, King of the Sedge and the Bee, Nebkheperure...or, as most of you know him, King Tut.

King Tut's famous death-mask

Most people know Tut because of his famous tomb discovery in 1922, which was one of the only tombs to have had all its treasures still intact.  I was actually fortunate enough to get to see his exhibit when it came to Toronto (the guided tour was actually voiced by Mr. Harrison Ford himself -- how many archaeological exhibits can say they're led by Indiana Jones!?)...my Foster-Mom got me tickets, and I gushed at her over the phone for hours afterwards.  It was actually one of our last conversations before she passed, and I'm so glad I got to share it with her.  She always encouraged my passion with the past, and shared lots of stories about the places she'd been.

My Foster-Mom actually visited the Temple of Indiana Jones's Last Crusade...it's in Petra, Jordan

Here are just a few quick tidbits about him:

• His father Akhenaten tried to abolish the worship of the traditional Egyptian Gods.  He worshiped the sun, spent hours staring at it every day, and eventually went blind.  And crazy.  The crazy may have come first.
• His step-mother was Nefertiti, said to be the most beautiful Egyptian queen of all time, and it is believed that one of his Great-great-something-grandmothers was Hatshepsut, who was one of the first women Pharaohs, who dressed like a man and ruled her kingdom like nobody's business, and said "Screw you world, girls can be kings, too!"
• His sister (and wife -- they did like to keep the royal bloodlines pure...) was Ankhsunamun...which was the name of Imhotep's girlfriend in the 1999 version of "The Mummy" with Brendan Fraser.
• Tutankhamun brought back the worship of the old Gods after his dad died of crazy, stopped the destruction of the old temples, and if it weren't for him, we likely wouldn't have half the knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians we have today

So knitting in hieroglyphs was definitely something new for me, but thankfully this cartouche (the symbol which holds the name) was fairly simple.  It's actually Tut's royal name, Nebkheperure, spelled out.

The trouble with double-sided knitting is figuring out which side to display...

Hubby spent a good while trying to figure this one out...at one point, he asked if it was a bowl of ramen.  While I do enjoy cups of noodles, I do not enjoy them enough to designate a square of my blanket to them.  Sorry, ramen noodles, though you are delicious.

Apparently this is a depiction of ramen noodles in a claw machine...okay, I can kind of see it...

My pattern design can be found here.