Off the needles and Onto the wheel

Off the needles:
Baby sweater finished! Does not fit her yet, which is good. I had visions of producing a sweater which baby had outgrown because I wasn't knitting fast enough!
This pattern was not written very clearly. I think all the instructions were there, but I often had to read them a few times to decipher what it is they were telling me to do next. And then I don't read very closely sometimes, so I had to rip out half the first sleeve because I had missed where I was supposed to decrease once at each end of the row, not at the beginning of every row.
This biggest problem was that the pattern called for a straight knit row every fourth row. Could I remember that???? No no no. Rip rip rip.
I am pleased with the result though and this was the first time I had used self striping yarn. Very pretty, and easier than working in multiple yarns the whole way through (a la Kaffe Fasset, except usually not nearly as beautiful!).
I am making another sweater next, same pattern, for my cousin's friend's baby. There will be no knit row every fourth row! This should make it knit up faster (again before baby is too big for sweater!).

On the wheel
Glorious pink, red, burgundy, brown merino roving for a **project** for a **family member**. Grandma is spinning up a few balls which I will dye a nice solid plum colour. This is the soft wool from the meadery still. I will knit one row plum and one row of my variegated for a subdued stripy look. That is the plan anyway. And the front of the project will be a pretty lacy pattern. I haven't decided what yet. Am contemplating the Grecian Urn stitch or something similar since the wool isn't really lace, and it is simply for a pretty pattern.

That is all the news for now...

Celebrations and a little dancing on the roof

There are now officially 4 possible celebration times in the next 4 months. Only one has been confirmed.

1. Today- Thesis HAS BEEN ACCEPTED for submission to Grad Studies. That is right, negative CM said she would sign! My changes were sufficient, she is happy and satisfied I am ready to defend. BIG sigh of relief. This means we can celebrate today, and hope all goes well to celebrate the next three milestones.
2. Defense Day (September, date TBA). If all goes well, you can call me Dr. C. after this day. Touch wood.
3. Final submission day (probably only a little celebration). When the thesis is completely finished, and handed in Oct. 13 with all corrections.
4. Graduation Day (November, date TBA).

There are many hurdles ahead, don't worry, I haven't forgotten yesterday's angst. I am just glad another one has been cleared.

Nurturing Ritual

Bear with the details for a moment:
My two good and long-time friends from elementary school are W.C. and E. Their moms are J. and L. respectively. Mine is C. Just as W.C., E., and I are all friends, so are all our mothers.

A few weeks ago we learned that J. had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This morning she underwent surgery and had a mastectomy. W.C. sent a lovely email out prior to the surgery asking the following:

"Hello all! I am writing to you to invite you to participate in a healing ritual I am doing  for my mom. As you probably know, my mom is going in for a mastectomy on August 10. Breasts are a symbol of nurturing, and since my mom has made nurturing others a lifelong focus both in her personal and professional life, I propose a ritual with nurturing my mom as the focus!
The ritual goes like this:
Cake (the really good substancey part of the ritual)
Think of something you loooove to do as a way to nurture yourself in body, mind, or spirit. This can be as elaborate, lengthy and expensive or as simple, succinct and money-free as you prefer, so long as it is an activity/treat that makes you feel warm and fuzzy and it connects you with your God/ the Universe/ yourself.

Do this activity for yourself on August 10 (or near to then, but actual day is preferred).  Once you have reached that place of peace and strength, think of how nurtured you feel in that moment, think of my mom, and say (out loud or in your head):  'All this good for J., too.'"

******************************************
Dear J.

Today we (W.C.,  E.,  L.,  C., and me) all met at ReBar to have lunch. There was a chair for you in spirit! We were most definitely thinking of you. We talked of breast cancer and W.C. told us about the book you had both read.

We decided we have not done this nearly enough- lunch with us three girls and our moms! So once you are well again we vowed we MUST do this again with all of us.

The ritual is described below, but look at the lovely soup that arrived (above)! So thoughtfully and appropriately decorated with a with a pink heart!

Here was our ritual:
CAKE! Well 4 of them, which we justified because we all shared... The NURTURING! 5 best friends having lunch together at a healthy and delicious restaurant. Laughter. Warm thoughts to you.

And finally,
ALL THIS GOOD FOR J., TOO.

Get well, see you at our lunch soon!

Biggest Fear (Academic Post)

My biggest fear is that I am going to be a Dr. Mediocre. Or that I am writing the **Mediocre Dissertation**.

At the moment, this fear has resurfaced because of a difficult situation with a committee member (CM). I loved the committee member archetypes Happy Ending has written about, but I will refrain from putting this member in one of those categories until after the defense (in 2 months). At the moment, the effect of this negative CM is to make me feel like all the work I have done is: 1) unscientific, 2) pointless (irrelevant), and 3) written very badly. Whether or not this CM actually thinks this or not, the comments on my thesis have made me feel certain that this must be the case. Of course, the other 3 CM's do not agree, but having that one extremely negative feedback feeds the worms in my brain!

Furthermore the negative CM may in fact prevent me from defending in Sept. which means I won't graduate in Nov. Sigh. Kind of stressful since I have one post doc position already lined up, and another possibility closer to home in the works. Can't have a post doc position without those three letters after your name, PhD.

In the evenings when my brain is full and my neck is hurting from sitting at my computer madly typing I have been spinning AND knitting. Oh my. My Honey came home one night to find me madly spinning this wool. I was not to be interrupted since I was taking out my frustrations spawned by negative CM on the spinning wheel! The resulting yarn is kind of pretty though. Baby sweater is almost finished- yay! Maybe baby Pippa won't be walking before the sweater is finished (she is 4 weeks now :)).

Back to writing my abstract. Otherwise I am finished! I have even made all negative CM's requested changes! Please please let me defend in Sept!

PhD Procrastination, unfortunately no wool in sight

Two of my crazy friends have been going on an email rant today. You know, where you send back and forth emails that get increasingly insane/funny which helps you pass the day. So I had to contribute with this picture. Mahone (dog #1) is finishing my PhD edits! 9 more days until submission to grad studies. Then a 6 week wait until defense. Go Mahone!