I SPUN ME SOME YARN!

So, tonight I spun my second 4oz bat of roving and plied it with my former bat. So Dragonfly and Saturn look really pretty together. Making me a slouchy hat out of it. I am so proud of how thin I began to spin tonight. It may not be lace yarn but a nice DK/Worsted works nicely for my new hat. All these tones of olive-y greens with a splash of sky blue. It may actually match a silk sweater I made this past summer. Who knew the greens would be a match? Once this hat is made, I need to spin the wonderful bats Joe gave me...Sealed With A Kiss. Reminds me of Snow White....love sealed with a kiss...or maybe I have bee watching too much of Once Upon A Time. Either way, it is pretty pinks with dark greens. It might be nice to see how it looks all spun and plied together. The fun is finding a pattern to use the spun fiber on. You need just the right amount of yardage and weight for an accessory to knit up nicely. I'll post a pic of the hat when it is done and the roving before and after it is spun...well the ones Joe gave me. Too late on the greens!

Christmas Came Early

This is a short blurb that makes me so grateful and happy for the new year. Today I received word from the Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society that my T.S. Eliot research paper was accepted for presentation in the national convention this year. From the numbers that had submitted this year, I was accepted and have been told it is a huge honor. I was already excited and began planning the events in which I needed to arrange my teaching schedule. Then at midnight I happened to glance at my email on my phone. And what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a message from MAMA (a Medieval conference) that my Margery Kempe research paper had been accepted in their conference. This was the moment I decided that Christmas came early. I immediately emailed my professors and department chairs a second time this evening to inform them of this conference. With the first, i was told it must be some record I hold with a fellow graduate student to have three conferences in a year. Yet, at midnight, it became four. So, not only do I teach this semester, I go to Hawaii to present on Shakespeare, then to Kentucky to present on Margery Kempe, then to New Orleans to present on T.S. Eliot. This past year's work has become a fruitful harvest for the upcoming year. And it is interesting, I get to teach English 4, Brit Lit....and all my research is Brit Lit from Medieval to Modern. Excitement is not the word for this. I wonder if travel and presenting myself to people is the theme of the year?

Graduate student break

So, I have been busy studying and getting my MAT in English. After three semesters and two summers I have reached the point of interning with a GPA of 3.909, attended 3 research conferences, awaiting word from 2 conferences, getting at least 2 research articles published, attended 2 NCTE Conventions, and am now a member of ALAN. Seems like life changes drastically in a graduate program. I have hardly had time to knit, but every Thursday I go to my local yarn shop (Rainy Day Creations) and knit with good friends. I have made a couple cowls, a vest for my mom, working on a second sock, made a Lady Eleanor, completed a clapotis, made two short sleeve sweaters for teaching, made a lace tunic, made my first lace shawl, and need to finish a third sweater. I'm about to start a top down sweater class with Hattie at the shop so I can finally make sweaters that fit my body nicely. I've joined the YMCA and exercise with friends who inspire me to get healthy. I took up spinning and weaving in the last couple years and now am a proud mama of three looms and two wheels. I will probably get a traveling wheel sometime next year when I have a teaching job or am working on a second masters degree. I need to wash a sheep and card the fleece for spinning this Christmas break. I am spinning my fiber that I have stored up over the break so I have an excuse to buy more. I want to knit pretty things with the fiber I have spun. My spinning is getting nicer and my feet are slowing down. This makes me very happy. I want to start a second pair of socks with this really dark purple yarn -- very Gothic! I also have all this yarn stashed away for lace shawls....maybe I'll get to them -- or maybe that yarn will end up in my weaving. I need to finish my current weaving project and send it to my friend. It was started for her as a promise. She will get it this winter. There is so much I want to knit and weave. One day it will all get done. This winter break is a chance to get a few things completed and a few new things started.