For the past six and a half years, a Norwegian computer programmer named Kjetil Nordin has been hard at work pouring over 800 hours into a side project. Kjetil's (we are on a first name basis – we have seen his labor of love and the inside of his living room in pictures), side project was not some super awesome computer program, but an amazing Super Mario Bros. 3 World 1 map.
Kjetil crocheted the map in between working as a computer programmer, winning the Norwegian Sky Diving team championships twice, and finished two university degrees over the last six years.
On of the hardest parts of crocheting the 7 ft by 5ft blanket was accepting that it would take a long time, according to Kjetil. "The hardest thing has been to accept that it took such a long time. I've spent 800 hours crocheting and many hours researching and searching for the correct yarn."
He didn't complete his project without a couple bumps in the road, he had to undo an entire section – adding an extra week to his project – because he chose the wrong shade of blue for the water. It was too purple and "very ugly."
After finishing World 1 from Super Mario Bros. 3, Kjetil Nordin only has seven worlds left to do. That's roughly 45.5 years of work ahead of him! Unless… he were to make a map for every map screen – which adds up to 21 screens, putting 130 years of work ahead of him.
Keep at it Kjetil, we are with you in spirit.
