Ok, so I’m primarily gearing up for Rhinebeck. Which means a ton of dyeing and spinning.

I will be with Holiday Yarn’s Jennifer and the Tsock Tsarina in Building 26, Booth D

So, I’m going to put up a subset of stuff on the shop at a time, but most of it will go to Rhinebeck.

So, here’s what I just put up on the shop.

EDIT: Over the course of writing this, three of them are already gone. Woh. As always I post the first announcement, before coming here, in the Ravelry group.

Gnomespun Rav Group

Here’s the stuff for Rhinebeck so far. If you feel you can’t live without some piece of it, drop me an email at the usual gnomespun address and I’ll write you up an invoice.

That’s it for now. More soon. I’ve got polwarth on the way, finn and wensleydale waiting, a bunch more romney, cotswold, and BL…

~The Gnome

Hallo.

I just finished a truly massive shop update. However, unlike normal, I will not be posting all the photos here as well with details. I’m deep in writing and applying and suchlike things right now and really can’t spare the time.

The shop has a lot in it again though. And, as usual, all the breed and fiber info is in each item so you don’t have to go searching for “oh crap, what sort of fiber is targhee again?”

Have a whole bunch of pretty new jacob roving, so expect to see more of that.

Targhee, Jacob, Shetland, SW Merino, Dorset, Wensleydale

And a new grey sampler with Jacob, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain, and Norwegian. I’m one breed short there of an “ancient breed” sampler. Should consider that.

Also a TON of new stitch marker sets. Like this one. Some extra large ones, a lot of normal ones, and some lace/sock ones.

I’ve also finished some yarn, have some new socks to show off, and probably other things I’m forgetting, but no time. Back to writing.

Online applications are nice and a pain in the butt at the same time.

In answer to the question about my defense… They’ve read my dissertation by that point, and they long ago (4 months before approximately at that point) had a meeting with me where they grilled me about my work, so they already know I know it. So if I don’t blow my dissertation, I’m fine. The only real remaining question is if I’m going to need edits to the thesis and if I’m going to need to do a few additional experiments to nail things down.

~The Gnome

Sorry for the delay, I was rather distracted last night by the fact my defense date is now official.

I will be defending my doctoral research on Monday, November 23rd, at 10:00 in the morning. First I will present 6.5 years of work in one hour to anyone who wishes to come (and fits in the room). Then I will go upstairs and *defend* my dissertation to a committee of professors who will make me look like an idiot for between one and three hours. Then, I will either get “pass” or “pass with revisions,” most likely the latter. I will make some changes to my dissertation, and graduate with my Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, focus in Biochemistry.

And before you say anything about smarts…

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.” ~Louis Pasteur.

Anyway, the shop has been updated.

Two more undyed natural grey 2oz samplers.

And a 2oz Longwool sampler with Gotland, Border Leicester, Wensleydale, and Finn. Not my best photo.

Deepest grapes make a wine that goes straight to your head, infecting you with the god of pleasure’s celebratory spirit…

Baccanal – 2oz each – Gotland, Wensleydale, BL, Finn

An entirely new fiber for Gnomespun, targhee. Like… extra bouncy, elastic, merino with better memory. I’d like to get some of this as roving too.

The scorching air cools and the colors of sand and sky meet in the middle in a glorious wash of luminous reds yellows and oranges.

Desert Sunset – 4oz – Combed Targhee Top

And a fiber that’s only appeared in samplers, Tunis. Tunis is a mid-fairly soft breed, with slighly less loft than some of the other down breeds like Clun or Dorset, but with a finer handle softer feel and drape. Little to no notable luster. Tunis still retains the memory of other downs breeds.

The summer is warm and dry when the storm rolls in. The lightning strikes the dry ground and thunder rolls… soon, all that’s left is smoke and ash, leaving the way open for new growth and new life…

Smoke and Ash – 4oz – Combed Tunis Top

And then fibers you’ve seen before at least once…

Roots stretch and grow over the ancient stones, forming ruts and striations where the water flows down the cracks, widening them…

Wood and Stone – 4oz – Combed Gotland Top

An old favorite… Oaken browns swirl with dark rich leafy greens in this fiber, named after the book of the same name by Emma Bull.

War for the Oaks – 4oz – Combed Superwash Merino top

Another popular colorway… as you travel down the brown dirt road you reach soft glowing gold, stretching into the distance.

Gold Road – 4oz – Carded Border Leicester Roving

Inside the brown and grey stone shine brilliant crystals of blue and purple, waiting to be discovered…

Geode – 4oz – Carded Romney Roving

Soft shiny blues and greens, like a mallard drake. This fiber could be spun either as a tweed or a striping yarn.

Mallard – 4oz – Carded Romney Roving

Delicate colors show when wings unfurl to flit about the yard, shining in the sun…

Sparrow – 4oz – Carded Border Leicester Roving

Brilliant orange-red and deep burgundy bloom in the yard, spreading the joy of summer! This is the second softest Romney I have ever felt.

Calla – 4oz – Carded Romney Roving

Bright blue-green and luminous yellow, with a beautiful almost iridescent, featherlike luster. Again, softest cotswold ever.

Conure – 4oz – Carded Cotswold Roving

And I think that’s all for now. Will try to get more done this weekend. Also need to gear up for Rhinebeck.

Oh, right! I spun something. I’ve been working on the batts that Tsocktsarina gave me for my birthday (in may) and finished a bobbin the other day.

This will (hopefully) be my first handspun sock yarn. AND I’m doing it longdraw, so it’s a challenge.

For now, back to thesis. Wheeeeeeeeee the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train!

~The Gnome

Dissertation and all. But I’m getting close to a first draft of the first two chapters (of 3, plus an appendix). And I think I have an outside reader and date for my defense.

Site and Shop: I’m in the process of dyeing more. Should get it up Friday. There will be a few more of the natural grey samplers, and some normal sized 4oz batches of things, don’t know for sure beyond that yet.

So I promised you a report of my trip. Well, it was excellent, though I was a little low on energy due to an (unknown at the time) low kidney bleed (culminating in passing it the Sunday after). Good times with good friends.

First, of course, you have to get there. An hour to pick up my friends from outside Boston, then we stopped for a lovely lunch at the Irish pub. Then, seven hours of driving to Canada, whee! Totally worth it to see people I haven’t seen since they got married my first year back here!

Luckily, it’s pretty much all really nice scenery. Up through Vermont to the border, where my exhausted dissertation eaten brain couldn’t get past the fact the nice borderguard was speaking in French then English. My brain kept pausing and trying to parse the French, even though he would then speak in English. Luckily Scott realized what was going on and answered for me.

Quebec has a lot of cornfields, and when their not filled with corn, they’re full of soy (a renitrogenizer). Soy on the left, corn on the right.

We arrived in the evening, but in the morning I took some photos of where we were staying. A condo in a very large fancy place full of large fancy places. Mont Tremblant is primarily a tourist place for rich skiiers in the winter.

We had a beautiful view of the water from our back deck.

Spent most of the first day relaxing, which I really needed (even with the stupid kidney thing). Reading…

And playing video games like Rockband. I finally sort of started to figure out the drums (which I’m still pretty terrible with). At least I wasn’t the only one struggling with them!

We also went on a walk around the place. Beautiful views!

And a fancy pool! We didn’t get to use it because it was full of kids all the time, full full.

The next day, we took a short hike, by a bog and river and into the woods. Very nice. There’s a great blue heron in the first photo if you can find it.

And took one of the worst photos ever of me. You can tell my back is bothering me, my entire body is tense and I look like a cardboard cutout.

The last day, we went to the tourist village. Pretty place.

And we had the most amazingly delicious crepes. Mmmm so good. I had one with sausage, apples, and a cream sauce, then we split one with apples and icecream and one with pears with chocolate.

And then, sadly, the next day it was time to head home. 7 hours back, past the corn fields…

Past the U.S. Border, where they noticed I had stupidly forgotten to sign my passport but were otherwise nice, if gruff.

Dropped off Scott and Robin, then drove an hour and a half to my parents’ house out in Western MA, because they had just gotten back from hiking the last piece of the Appalachian Trail with my little brother. Long drive, but worth it, again. I’ll separate that trip off into another post.

Back to writing. Hoping to finish the first draft of the first two chapters today.

~The Gnome