Catching up - Graduation

Yep, you heard me right.  I graduated!!!  I'm officially a Dr. now! (of the PhD kind, so please don't ask me about your mole.  Unless you're just looking for someone to go 'EW!' with you because I can totally do that!)  There was cake and everything!

My defense was held on Dec. 21, 2012.

Yes, the day the world was supposed to end.  I figured either way it was a win/win situation for me.  Either the world would end and I wouldn't have to defend.  Or the world would keep on spinning and my defense would be over by the end of the day.  Happily the world didn't end and I successfully defended my thesis!!!  (If you're wondering, yes, the picture above WAS part of my defense talk.  Had to give a shout out to my love of fibery things.)

Gigi came up for my defense and for graduation.  She surprised me with a 'congrats on your successful defense' hat with beetles on it.  I had already made myself an awesome highlighter scarf out of Madtosh Pashmina to celebrate the occasion.  They don't match at all, but they kept me toasty all through winter.

Graduation was great! Gigi, Elle, the twins (TK and KT), and of course Hubbie all came. (There were a limited number of tickets otherwise it would have been a madhouse!) The cap and gown for graduation were pretty ridiculous.

Hubbie joked that I looked like I was doing Harry Potter cosplay. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)  It rained really hard that morning which made me happy. (I love the rain!  It also helps that I didn't get soaked. :-D)

Gigi and the twins gave me flowers.  Peonies all around. (My favorite! They were SO pretty!!!!)  GiGi brought me one from her garden at home.

It still doesn't feel quite real.  I've been asked several times if I have a PhD, and a couple of times I've almost said no.  But I'm getting there.  How can it not be true?  There was cake and balloons.  They wouldn't lie, right?

I'll try not to let it go to my head,
Dr. Joyce

Another way to celebrate Thanksgiving

Hubbie was out of town for Thanksgiving, so the twins (TK and KT) were nice and invited me to join them for their holiday celebrations.  The majority of the day was spent making food for the people staying at Hosteling International.  For some of the people that came to eat, it was their first Thanksgiving.  For others, it gave them a small taste of home.  Some of the hostelers volunteered to help us cook and a good time was had by all.

There was turkey.

Mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.

And pie. So much yummy pie. 

Pumpkin and apple to be precise. 

The apple was delicious. 

Sadly, I didn’t get any of the pumpkin, but I heard great things,
Joyce

New York State Sheep and Wool 2011

The NYS Sheep and Wool festival was everything I’d hoped it would be and more!  Two days of fiber and festival food free for all.  The first day of Rhinebeck involved targeted strikes in areas of particular interest.  These included fudge and cheese booths for the ladies.  While waiting for them to finish up at the cheese place I wandered over to the woolen items competition area and saw this.

Pic 1- Pretty Maids wool competition entry

A knitter had knit Pretty Maids in handspun yarn and entered in into the contest. (She won sixth place.Yay!)  It was really pretty yarn.  I wanted to leave a note for her, but the volunteer wouldn’t let me.  Happily, I found her on Ravelry when I got home and was able to tell her congratulations.

After leaving the food barn (really more of a very large shed) we moved on to Sanguine Gryphon.  I’d gone in hopes of finding some more of the delicious Gaia lace that I got last year (silk and cashmere, sssoooooooooooo fantastic!!!!!), but sadly, there was none to be found.  So I had to get a skein of Codex in Questing Beast to sooth my disappointment (see picture 5 below).  Or maybe it was because it was so beautiful that I couldn’t resist it.  Hmmm, it is really beautiful.  I also got a skein of Eidos for GiGi in Charybdis (see picture 3 below).  Then the ladies and I stood in the line for over an hour. 

Pic 2- Sanguine Gryphon line

It wasn’t all bad though; a very nice lady came by and brought everyone key lime cupcakes.

Pic 3- GiGi Yarns-Red: Eidos from Sanguine Gryphon;

Brown: Periwinkle Sheep Sport weight

After we paid for our purchases, we headed over to my favorite booth at Rhinebeck and the one I look forward to all year long.  Oasis Farm Fiber.  They sell angora yarn.  I’m in extreme love with their Glamour Bunny!  It’s a sport weight angora, merino, and silk yarn.  It is soft and shimmery and makes beautiful scarves.  Like the one I immediately cast on for Hubbie and finished in a few days because the fiber is just so yummy on the fingers.

Pic 4- Hubbie scarf

The rest of the first day is a blur of beautiful yarn, wonderfully smelly lotion, maple sugar cotton candy, and deep fried garlic and pickles.

Pic 5- Miscellaneous yarns (for me, weeee!)- Orange: Codex from Sanguine Gryphon;

Silk/merino worsted weight wool from Hudson Valley Sheep and Wool Company;

Green: Cashmere/merino/nylon from Oasis Farm Fiber.

The second day was spent much like the first, wandering around the fairgrounds looking at yarn with T.K., K.T., and Brandy.  I don’t believe you’ve met Brandy.  She is one of the members of our knitting group and occasional shawl model for me.  Here she is wearing the gold version of Semi-Precious and showing me just how huge that particular hank of yarn was. 

Pic 5- Brandy: “This yarn hank is bigger than I am!”

During the course of the day I acquired some lovely yarn from Periwinkle Sheep.  The orange skein (see picture 6) has sparklies!  The other two skeins are from Jill Draper Makes Stuff.  One is merino/silk, the other is angora/silk.  Yum! You may have noticed I bought a lot of orange yarn this year (and really every other year too).  What can I say, I have a well-documented love of the color.

Pic 6-Orange yarns- All lace: Periwinkle Sheep in Tangerine;

Jill Draper in Paprika (wool/silk) and Orange Crush (angora/silk).

I also bought Athie’s Christmas and Birthday presents while I was there. 

Pic 7- Athie’s presents

The hank of roving is from Joan Berner. The buttons, however, are from Moving Mud (the two in front) and Jenny the Potter (the multiple pack in back). 

One of the last places we stopped was at a jewelry booth called On The Bend.  K.T. wanted to go there because she really likes their work.  While there I fell in love with a sheep pendant so it had to come home with me too.

Pic 8- Sheep pendant

Finally, it was time to go home, but this year ranks as one of the best Rhinebeck’s ever!  And not just because T.K. and Brandy got free yarn from the people at Socks that Rock and I saw the Yarn Harlot (but it didn’t hurt!).

I can’t wait for next year,

Joyce