Category Archive for ‘christmas’ at adam knits!

Archive for the 'christmas' 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?

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.

Published

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

Christmas Hangover 27 Dec 06

7 Comments

Blarrrgh. I think I’m finally getting over the hangover from Christmas…there were lots of gifts, tons of food and much lying around. How can that cause a sleepy delirious state for the day after? It also doesn’t help that I have the week off, so I don’t have a whole lot to do other than lay around.

It’s especially difficult not to sleep lots, when my bed looks so awesome with its new bedding! My parents gave me new sheets, an awesome duvet, along with pillows and a very cool fur blanket. My old sheets were falling apart, and I was in much need of some updated stuff that matched my furniture. Isn’t it swank?

I also got a very cool gift from my Brothers and Victoria, Knit Picks Options! I was super excited to get these, as I’ve been hearing so many good things about them. Thanks guys, I love them!

My gifts went over well too. My Dad absolutely loved his socks, he wore them around the house all day. I have a feeling I’ll be replacing them before too long, but that’s a good thing. I gave Mom a few knitterly things, like a tape measure and Go Knit Pouch from Scout’s Swag, but those were just stop gaps since the real gift isn’t quite done yet. That’s right, The Project That Shall Not Be Named is actually A Garden Shawl for my Mom. I wrapped up the unfinished knitting in a gift box, along with a picture of the final product and gave that to her. Might not have been the best idea…now every time I call her she wants to know how much knitting I’ve gotten done. “You need to hurry up and finish!”, she says. It’s still going to be a while, I have around 60 rounds left, but there’s almost 400 stitches in a round now, and I’m not terribly quick at the lace knitting yet.

I’ll take pictures of that today, so it can have a proper unveiling post, but I figured I should spill the details now that Christmas is over. That’s all for now, I’m going to see if I can’t get a few productive things done today…after I make pancakes (with chocolate chips!) for breakfast that is. Anyone want to come over? :)

Published

Adam

in christmas, cooking, family, gifts, holidays, knitting and vacation

Merry Christmas! 25 Dec 06

4 Comments

We’re having a lazy day in the Church house today, we actually just finished wrapping the presents an hour ago. (Yeah, we’re a bit behind today…) A slight crisis occurred involving running out of gift wrap, but thankfully we have friendly neighbors. My brother’s fiancee just got here so we’re about to get started. Lots of lounging around and eating steak and pie will occur, I can’t wait!