I passed my dissertation defense, and am now officially Dr. Dominick! Good alliteration, eh? My dissertation research included two knitting groups with 4th grade girls to see if participating in the knitting group enhanced their social skills and academic achievement, while reducing problem behaviors. The group seemed to have a medium effect on lowering bullying scores and raising communication scores. The girls loved participating in the group and I loved working with them, so while I would have expected a greater number of positive results, it was a lot of fun conducting the group.
In knitting news, I’ve been totally lazy about getting a good picture of my New Girl skirt. I will get to it soon. In the meantime, I’m feeling a little out of inspiration for new projects. I just finished a secret project that I will get to blog about later in the week, after a baby shower. I have those socks on the needles still. I’m almost lamenting the end of the cold weather here, because colder weather inspires so much fabulous wool knitting! I’m ready to focus on warm weather items with linen, but I’m not sure what to make. I’d love suggestions in the comments. I have been eyeing Cocktail(Dress) for awhile and I have a TON of Laines du Nord Baby Milk (merino/milk fiber/cashmere) to use, but it’s in super pale pinks and gray. 
I don’t usually swath my person in that much pink, but the yarn was a STEAL from WEBS, so this dress will only cost me around $40 to make. 
I think the peachy color on top would work for the sleeve caps, then gray for the chest stripes. I have the most of the pink on the bottom, so that will have to be the main color. I’m going to swatch a bit and see what I think. It might be some super girly insanity. But I want more ideas! I’m ready to fill up my dance card with summer knits. What are you planning for the warm weather this year?
congratulations Dr. Dominick! what an achievement.
First off, a great, big, huge congratulations Dr. Dominick! Allow yourself some time to celebrate YOU and your success. The Cocktail Dress is really cute and I think will look beautiful in your color selections of peach, gray and pink. My knitting skills are still in the scarves, hats, and shawls stage, so I look forward to your posts and seeing your lovely creations.
Oh my gosh, from an in-the-trenches grad student, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Defending is a HUGE deal! So exciting 🙂 Your work sounds amazing, too. Will it be available publicly anywhere? I’d love to read it! Also the cocktail dress pattern is super cute.
I should be uploading it to Proquest Dissertations and Theses database sometime later this week, so it will be available there. Hang in there! I never thought I would get to the end, but now I’m questioning what big challenge to set for myself next…
Congrats, girl! That’s GREAT news!!!!! You must be so relieved!
Congratulations! It must be an awesome feeling to finally be Dr. Dominick 😀
I have a bunch of random skeins of laceweight, so I’m jonesing on a Bonny from Tin Can Knits (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonny-4), but if you have a bunch of worsted you could do the Francis top from Shuibui! (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/francis)
I’ve been thinking about Bonny lately too! That’s such a gorgeous top. Francis is also beautiful. I bet I could adapt it to a lighter weight… Thanks for the suggestions!
Sure! If you adapt Francis, please post notes–it seems like the ideal style for a fingering or sport weight!
Congratulations! 😀 And I love those colours.
Congratulations Dr. What an achievement!!
Congratulations Dr. Dominick! I know you worked so hard!
I think before you start that gorgeous cocktail dress, you should finish the sock and skirt. I’m not going to feed your startitis monster!lol I would hate that you would have UFO’s and WIP’s. Plan for the dress but don’t start…push through the projects on needles first.
I think for the cocktail dress, the pink is too soft ( well, I’m biased because I don’t care for pastels) I think peach sleeves, grey and maybe off white instead of the pink for the body. If no off white, put the pink near your face on the sleeve. I think that will look nice.
Ha! This isn’t about finishitis…nice try! The skirt has been done for over a week, but it hasn’t been properly documented on Ravelry and the blog so it’s only sort of done. I hesitate to finish the socks quickly because they’re always fantastic reading/movie/travel knitting and there’s no rush. I love having multiple projects so I don’t get bored. I’m ready to cast on at least 2 things! 🙂
Oh lol I understand! Then get to it! Start that dress! It’s cute and the colors are great!
Oops, some how I remembered the pink as being soft…I looked again and it’s cool!lol I think your original color plan for the dress works.
I made this summer tank (see link) last summer and I love it! http://www.ravelry.com/projects/kellysmark/make-up-your-mind
That looks like fun! Thanks for the suggestion.
Congratulations Dr Dominick! This so awesome! Have a lovely Sunday!
Congratulations! Your research project sounds so cool. I only sort of know what you mean about the warm weather knits — in the summer here it’s usually the bare minimum of tank tops and shorts, so wearing things isn’t really a viable option. What would you recommend?
Congratulations Dr. ! Wow !
Mmm…summer knits 🙂 Currently I’m working on http://www.ravelry.com/projects/poesie/the-jan-sweater , and I think the book http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/a-stitch-in-time-vintage-knitting-patterns-1930-1959-volume-2/patterns has quite some other lovely knits. I am also eyeing this one : http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grisaille . And what about ( lace ) shawls ?
Huge congrats! That is such an accomplishment! And Dr. Dominick has a great ring to it.
It’s not quite warm enough here for me to be feeling the full tug of summer knitting projects. I’m thinking about giving Kit another go (I’m not totally happy with my first one came out), but in the meantime I’m trying to finish up some other projects that have been hanging out on my needles.
I love the Cocktail(dress) pattern. Your colours are softer than usual, but it’s nice to have that kind of balance in your wardrobe, and will make it easier to pair the finished dress with a shawl or cardigan, since they won’t be in the same colour range.
Enjoy your startitis. You’ve more than earned the right to cast on a dozen new projects!
I think I’m going to bust out some Habu linen paper yarn I’ve been stashing and just see where it takes me!
First and foremost a heartfelt congratulations on your fantastic achievement. I am so happy all of your hard work has paid off. In terms of the dress/knitting I think the colors would be good, although as a fellow non-pink person is there anyway you could dye any of it, not that the colors wouldn’t look great anyway. In terms of summer projects, for some reason the summer always makes me want to start some lace, maybe it’s the pretending the holes actually allow for air movement, or the fact that it is usually lighter than most other projects. Anyway best of luck on the dress and again congrats on such a wonderful achievement!
Lace is a good idea. I’m not usually a pink person either, but it was so cheap, and it’s pretty flattering to my skin tone.
Many congratulations Dr Dominick!
Very Interesting research, you should tell us a bit more. I am actually also hoping that knitting has a positive effect on people. And I am sure it does, even if it is not a miracle cure. I am teaching mums of small children in Children Centres in one of the most deprived areas of London. They get out of isolation, create something pretty or useful and have to activate their brain. So I guess, we both try to make to make the world better through knitting 🙂
Do you know about the Stitch Links project? http://www.stitchlinks.com/ They’re collecting data about all sorts of therapeutic knitting. I think your project sounds wonderful and extremely rewarding!
Thank you so much for that link, I will definitely have a look at it. I would like to strengthen the position of knitting in this program as I do think it has lots of positive effects
Congratulations Ms. Dr.! With regard to the yarn: I would rather do a lacy tunic than a dress, but that’s me.
Lovely colours and wool. What a great idea to get the girls into knitting. I read somewhere about doing this in womens prisons – along with quilting – just finishing something that is useful is a powerful feeling. 😀
Congrats Doctor! Love the colors and can’t wait to see the result.
Hugest well done Dr. Dominick, so chuffed for you x Liking the colour ideas for the dress 🙂
Congratulations! I remember when my niece earned her Ph d – it takes so much, but it is so worth it! that cocktail dress is totally awesome and I may have to think about tackling that myself 🙂
Wow! Congratulations! It must feel incredible to be Dr. Dominick, and how very cool that knitting was incorporated into your research!
Congratulations! That is some accomplishment! I think I’m all about the cardigan at the moment. I can see your yarn in a lovely stripy number.
Congrats, Doc! I’ve got a few summer knits in the works myself…if only I could convince myself summer really is going to happen this year.
I got into my graduate program… Though it’s my first year, I have an idea with my thesis regarding knitting and therapeutic effects… Not a fully developed idea. Can you help me regarding the books, research, articles etc you used… I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance 😀