How do I structure this nested php loop for Wordpress? - php

Question

I'm attempting to build a category.php page for a custom Wordpress theme. Ideally, the page would find all category posts, then grab the sticky posts from that category, and if there's at least two, it would display them at the top (it's fine if these same posts repeat below).
This is the page I have built so far. It can gather all of the results without error, but the nested loop which tries to find the most recent two stickies fails. I receive the error:
"Warning: Attempt to assign property of non-object in C:\dev\xampp\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes\ampersand\category.php on line 22"
How do I fix this loop? (I've included a github gist in case that's easier to read, category page for Wordpress theme in development)
<?php // Category Page Content Start ?>
<div id="content">
<main id="main" class="category-page" role="main" itemscope itemprop="mainContentOfPage" itemtype="http://schema.org/Periodical">
<h1><?php single_cat_title(); ?></h1>
<?php // Find all posts for the queried category ?>
<?php $catID = get_queried_object_id();
$args = array( 'numberposts' => -1, 'posts_per_page' => 20,
'cat' => $catID, 'post-type' => 'post' );
$query = new WP_query( $args ); $count = 0;
if ($query -> have_posts()) : ?>
<section class="featured">
<?php // Find the most recent sticky posts for this category; if at least 2, post them seperately ?>
<?php $sticky = get_option( 'sticky_posts' );
$findsticky = array( 'post__in' => $sticky, 'numberposts' => 2 );
$stickyposts = get_posts( $findsticky ); if ($stickyposts -> count = 2) :
foreach ($stickyposts as $post) : $post -> the_post(); ?>
<article class="featured-article" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">
<meta itemprop="wordCount" content="<?php echo word_count(); ?>">
<figure class="thumbnail">
<div class="image-wrapper">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
<img src="<?php the_post_thumbnail_url( 'thumb-small' ); ?>">
</a>
</div>
</figure>
<section>
<h2 class="headline">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</h2>
<span class="byline">
<?php $check = get_field( 'contributor' );
if ($check):?>
<span class="contributor" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<?php the_field( 'contributor' ); ?>
</span>
<?php else: ?>
<span class="contributor" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
</span>
<?php $check = get_field( 'description' );
if ($check): ?>
<span class="description"><?php the_field( 'description' ); ?></span>
<?php else: ?>
<span class="excerpt"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
</section>
</article>
<?php endforeach; endif; ?>
</section>
<section class="all-results">
<?php while ($query -> have_posts()) : $query -> the_post(); $count++; ?>
<article class="<?php echo 'article-'.$count; ?>" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">
<meta itemprop="wordCount" content="<?php echo word_count(); ?>">
<figure class="thumbnail">
<div class="image-wrapper">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
<img src="<?php the_post_thumbnail_url( 'thumb-small' ); ?>">
</a>
</div>
</figure>
<section>
<h2 class="headline">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</h2>
<span class="byline">
<?php $check = get_field( 'contributor' );
if ($check):?>
<span class="contributor" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<?php the_field( 'contributor' ); ?>
</span>
<?php else: ?>
<span class="contributor" itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><?php the_author_posts_link(); ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
</span>
<?php $check = get_field( 'description' );
if ($check): ?>
<span class="description"><?php the_field( 'description' ); ?></span>
<?php else: ?>
<span class="excerpt"><?php the_excerpt(); ?></span>
<?php endif; ?>
</section>
</article>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</section>
<div class="pagination-bottom">
<?php if( get_next_posts_link() ) :
previous_posts_link( 'Older Posts' );
endif; ?>
<?php if( get_next_posts_link() ) :
next_posts_link( 'Newer Posts', 0 );
endif; ?>
</div>
<?php else : ?>
<p><?php _e( 'Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.' ); ?></p>
<?php endif; wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
</main>
</div>