Category Archive for ‘holidays’ at adam knits!

Archive for the 'holidays' Category

The Perpetually Late Grinch 26 Dec 08

Christmas and I have a very unusual relationship. Have you ever had a childhood friend that you thought you’d be close with forever? Then say for whatever reason, you end up growing apart, and you run into each other years later. It’s always a bit awkward right? You feel like you know this person intimately from your shared experiences, but then you realize that both you and your friend are different, and it’s difficult to reconcile your past with the present.

That’s pretty much how Christmas and I interact. I remember so many wonderful experiences as a child, but somewhere along the way we drifted apart, and I feel like my friend Christmas isn’t the same person anymore. What was once a wonderful time of joy and merriment has turned into a time of chaos and insanity. There’s so much rushing around to buy this and that, and all the pressure to find the perfect gift, all while trying not to snap and choke any innocent bystanders. As a result, I tend to get a bit Grinchy this time of year.

So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago, when I began to feel a small growth of Christmas spirit in my heart. (I’m sure it had something to do with the unfettered freedom I acquired upon finishing school.) Not one to kick a gift horse in the mouth, I decided to do a bit of festive decorating, nevermind that Christmas was only a week and a half away.

I hit a few snafus along the way (didn’t buy enough tree lights, the outside lights didn’t work, the tree wouldn’t quit leaning, etc.), and came very close to throwing a lovely Christmas bonfire with all the decorations. But I stuck with it, and managed to get the tree and lights up, and even throw a small party.

Then a few days later, it hit me. I had to buy presents still! In all the excitement of attempting to be festive, I completely forgot about the shopping. Just when I thought Christmas and I were getting along again, it decided to go hit on my little sister. (Figuratively of course, since I don’t have a sister.) I tried to go to the store a few days before Christmas day, but I nearly had a psychotic break. All I have to say is, thank goodness for Amazon.com and overnight shipping. Phew!

For now, Christmas and I have managed to make up, mostly on account of the tasty holiday desserts from yesterday.

this lovely treat is a cranberry trifle, if you’re so inclined

Oh, and also on account of the fact that I can now take all the decorations down and hide them in the garage until next year.

PS: In case you’re wondering, I only had one gift knit, and I didn’t even finish it on time. FAIL.

Published

Adam

in a nerd's life, christmas, family, holidays, home ownership and why me?

Robotron 9000 09 Jul 08

12 Comments

These past few weeks have been all about finding a rhythm at the new house. I am a very habitual person, and that means getting settled into the new place also includes getting things running on a schedule. There’s a new trash day, a new watering schedule and a new cleaning system to get familiar with. It’s all the mundane things like washing sheets, vacuuming floors and scrubbing dishes that make me really feel at home. Hopefully that means I’m just an obsessive engineer and not a robotic android. Just wait until I get my meal schedule in order ;)

Other than turning into a household robot, I haven’t been up to a whole lot lately. I did finish the Fiddlehead Mittens, but they deserve a spectacular photo shoot, and let’s face it, who wants to model wool/mohair mittens when it’s 98 degrees out?

I do have a few small projects in my knitting basket, but not really much to show for them. There’s a washrag I’m making with some green hemp, to go in the bathroom with my collection of handmade soaps. It’s a slowly progressing washrag, because I can only stand to knit with the hemp for about 10 rows, and then my fingers need a break. I have another one in pewter already finished, and to the yarn’s credit, it does soften up beautifully after a wash.

I also have the beginnings of a knitted runner, which I’m making out of some of my own hand-spun. I have a lot of little skeins here and there, which should each be enough to get me a few long rows in, before switching to a new color and texture. It’ll be mostly blue and white, and knit in garter and seed stitch. I think there’s nothing better than texture to warm up a room, and this should be just the trick. This project also gives me an excuse to wind a bunch of small balls of hand-spun yarn, since it seems a shame to run such lovely yarn through the mechanical winder.

In my culinary exploits this past weekend, I thought it’d be fun to make some cherry ice cream to celebrate the 4th of July. I got some delicious cherries, and went to work pitting and halving them. It’s quite a messy job, but thanks to a tip from good old Martha, I used a piping tip from a pastry bag to poke out the pits. Definitely a time saver, and much cheaper than a $10 cherry pitter that really has no other use.

After getting all the cherries prepared, I made up the ice cream and got ready to head to my family gathering, where I planned to pop it into the ice cream maker and freeze it. Sadly, the bowl of the ice cream maker didn’t get cold enough in my freezer, so the dessert was doomed from the start. It wouldn’t set, and despite many attempts to get the bowl cold enough to set the mixture, it was a wash. I was a bit bummed, since after all that work, I ended up with a bowl of frozen cherries in crystallized milk. Ces’t la vie, right?

Thankfully, the cherries weren’t lost in the pit of despair forever, since a few astute Flickr people suggested that I make some tasty milkshakes. And let me tell you, milkshakes with home-made cherry ice cream are quite delicious. Yes, indeed.

It’s getting late, so it’s time for me to wrap this sham of a post up. Hopefully next time I’ll be a bit more enthused, and/or have some actual knitting or household projects to show off. Or maybe I’ll tell you how owning my own house has turned me into a crazy granola hippie. ;)

Published

Adam

in cooking, holidays, home ownership, knitting and why me?

How The Grinch 24 Dec 07

25 Comments

Learned to enjoy Christmas…

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m in quite a festive mood this year, which is a definite departure, as I’m usually a bit of a Grinch this time of year. Don’t get me wrong, I love hanging out with family and exchanging gifts, but the craziness of it all gets to me at times. This year however, I armed myself with the one two punch combo of hand knitting gifts and online shopping, so my retail excursions were minimal.

I did lose a bit of Christmas spirit today when I went into a certain big box craft store to find that the Christmas section was being torn down and replaced with Valentine’s Day. I was a bit infuriated, but any thoughts of tree burning were quickly squelched when I finished this little beauty.

how the grinch learned to love Christmas

It’s a Grinch Green Christmas Tree (pattern at Monster Yarn), and I love it ever so much. It was a gift for my extended family’s gift exchange on Christmas Eve, and it was well received, along with many requests for duplicates :) Nothing like a fun fur tree to make that Christmas spirit soar again.

Have a good one everyone! I hope your Christmas day is filled with food, fun and maybe even a bit of knitting. I finished all but one of my gift hats, and I don’t think the final recipient will mind too much if I gift his hat towards the end of the day.

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Adam

in christmas, family, finished objects, gifts, hats, holidays and knitting

Catching Up 18 Dec 07

22 Comments

Why Helllloooooo! Long time no read eh? How about a recap of the last 2 weeks? Let’s see, I

Studied until I wanted to die, and then studied some more.
Banged my head on the wall while trying to get my final project simulation working.
Totally flunked my only final exam (no way is it better than a 50%).
Managed to get a very decent grade in my class (despite the final), because the project report I busted my butt over was “quite good”.
Dyed 120 skeins of yarn for The Loopy Ewe, because sleep is overrated.
Caught up on some backed up Yarn Nerd custom orders. (Thanks to my lovely customers for being patient with me!)
Knit 1.25 hats. That’s it. My poor hands were suffering from wool withdrawals for a while there.
Played in 2 orchestra concerts.
Oh, and you know, went to work too, because the bill collectors don’t view finals week as a valid reason for late payments.

PHEW! All caught up now? Cause I’m still not, especially with the freight train of Christmas bearing down on me. I think I’ve managed to whittle my knitted gifts list down to something that’s still a bit long, but I think manageable. We’ll see if I finish it all when next week rolls around. But finals are done, and I survived, so I don’t mind a few intense knitting nights, especially when you have some tasty treats to keep you company.

Nothing like curling up on the couch with a movie, some Trader Joe’s Hot Cocoa w/ giant Peppermint Marshmallows (thanks TJ’s! Now where’s my advertisement check?), and some Manos Wool/Silk blend. Yum on all 3 accounts. I’m afraid I can’t tell you anymore about the knitting, but let me say it is splendid.

And speaking of snow, it has become quite chilly here in New Mexico, after a confusing November comprised of quite a few 65 degree highs. And with the cold came the first true test of my dedication to bike commuting, which I passed with flying colors. Thanks to my wonderful parents, who bought me some great wind/water proof stuff for my birthday, I am well equipped for riding on dark rainy nights (I have lights and a shiny vest, don’t worry peeps!). Also, it turns out that I like riding in the cold a whole lot! There’s something to be said of bundling up and braving the cold to get home, it makes you appreciate the effort that much more.

Thanks to everyone for the Birthday wishes too, I really appreciated all of your comments on both the sweater and my Birthday! I’ve worn the sweater quite a few times, and am already planning out the next one. I have the entire period from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day off (thanks work!), so I think I’ll be putting in some progress on Sweater 2.0.

Oh as many commenters correctly guessed, the message embedded in the Seamless Hybrid is in fact, “HelloWorld”. The first commenter to guess correctly was Kelp!, so congrats to her, and thanks for guessing everyone! And if you’re scratching your head a bit, you might want to check out this link. Basically, almost every computer programming class and book has you program the computer to display “Hello World” as a first project, so I thought it was fitting that my first sweater do the same. I like to think of it as nerdy with a sublime touch.

Finally, I also owe 3 people some yarn as promised a few posts ago, so the winners are Kim U, Jennifer and Karen S. Congrats you three! I’ll be dispatching an e-mail to you soon.

That’s about it for me, so until next time, rock out with your nerd out. (Ok, that one is going into the permanent language repertoire.)

PS: Look Mom, a new blog post! Now you don’t have to withhold my Christmas gifts!

Published

Adam

in biking, christmas, dyeing, gifts, grad school, knitting, nerdy, snow and work

Musical Interlude 21 Nov 07

21 Comments

Oy vey, where does the time go?! It’s already been 11 days since the last post, and Thanksgiving is looming in the foreground like a 30 pound turkey. Also looming is the impending deadline of my final project paper for my Multiuser Detection class, but we won’t discuss that…(shudder).

I’ve been busy knitting, and am almost ready for the big unveiling of my first sweater. I have a few finishing details left this afternoon, but I’m almost there, and I’m happy that I can wear it for Thanksgiving tomorrow! (And that a cold snap just moved in, cause I really don’t want to wear the sweater if it’s still 70 degrees!) It will also come in quite handy for a weekend trip to Chicago this Friday, in a repeat of last year’s trip. I’m going out with both of my brothers, and am actually going to see Over the Rhine play a double header. I’m super excited to see them again, and to have a weekend to explore Chicago with both of my brothers. And yet again, I will completely ignore the fact that finals are in 2 weeks. ;) Now let’s just hope that there’s not massive amounts of snow in the next few days like last year…

And to disguise the fact that I have no actual knitting content until the sweater unveiling, I’ll distract you with a bit of trivia about myself.

Have I ever mentioned that I play the violin?

I’ve been playing since I was 8, and it’s something I really love. One day when I was in 2nd grade, a middle school orchestra came to my school, and I was enamored with the violinists. I actually walked around for a few weeks with a ruler and pencil, pretending I was a famous violinist, so my Mom figured she should enroll me in lessons. Now 15 years later, I still love it, and hope that I’ll be playing well into my senior years. Just this week, I joined the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, a local amateur orchestra that plays just for fun. I’ve been wanting to join this orchestra for a while, but it hasn’t worked out with my schedule before. It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve played with an orchestra, and I really have missed it.

So who else plays an instrument? I’m thinking it’d be awesome to start a traveling group with knitting musicians. ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I’m looking forward to the big gathering at my parent’s house. I made my own pumpkin puree last week, and will be baking some pumpkin pies, pumpkin cheesecake and roasting pumpkin seeds for the big meal. I can’t wait for my big baking session tonight, it’s gonna be loads of fun. There’s so many things I’m thankful for this year, and so many things God has given me, that it’s really hard to pick one thing. So I think I’ll just try to be thankful for all the simple pleasures, such as pumpkin pie, classical music and sweater knitting. Not to mention a great time of hanging out with friends and family.

Published

Adam

in cooking, holidays, music and vacation