Category Archive for ‘school’ at adam knits!

Archive for the 'school' Category

What’s Up Kemo Sabe? 12 Oct 08

Hi-yo Silver! It’s just me the Lone Ranger, riding in from a long month of rounding up equations and graphs out here in the wild west. It’s tiresome work to corral all this math, but someone has to do it!

Unfortunately, when my head is buried in the books, I don’t have much blogging time. I’m working to remedy that, starting with a fresh new theme. My rationale is that I may be more inclined to post with a fresh new theme, but we’ll see how that goes. Not to mention the old theme was looking a bit like a red light district if you ask me ;)

It seems that while I was busy studying, Fall managed to sneak up behind me. Not to worry though, I simply called in some wooly reinforcements. Nothing like a clean batch of wooly socks and a sweater to make you long for changing leaves and chilly mornings.

Another sure sign of Fall here in Albuquerque is the arrival of the Balloon Fiesta (not to mention the slow driving tourists!). There’s really nothing like a balloon glow at night, especially when there’s an awesome sunset in the background.

It also seems that I’ve picked up a new yarn related habit, which is about the last thing I need these days! For some reason, I got a very strong urge to learn crochet so I could make a retro table runner for my coffee table. The biggest shock, and don’t faint on this one, is that I’m using acrylic…gasp! You all know that I’m a bit wool addiction, but I just couldn’t resist the petroleum based yarn for a retro 50’s knit. Or maybe I’m just an 80 year old grandma on the inside ;)

It did take quite a few tries to figure out the ripple stitch pattern, but I think I have the hang of the basics now. It also may be that for the first 5 tries, I was completely ignoring the directions. Once past my basic inability to read English, I was sailing along. I will admit, there’s something satisfying about a crochet hook that I really like. I’m already planning a gigantic retro blanket to go with my runner.

Maybe I should just give up sleep altogether?

Anyway, it’s back to the books for me, so forgive me if it ends up being another month until the next post. I will be defending my thesis in November though, so it won’t be too much longer before I can banish the books to the shelves permanently. I can’t wait.

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Adam

in albuquerque, crocheting, ee, school, socks, sweaters and works in progress

Equation Overdrive 10 Aug 08

22 Comments

Ready for your randomly scheduled update folks? As usual, things don’t seem to let up for me, but I’m still hanging in there. I’m slated to graduate this Fall, which means my schedule will only intensify as I make the big push towards defending my thesis. I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m making good progress and am definitely looking forward to December.

As I still have to sleep at some point, something had to give, which unfortunately turns out to be my yarn dyeing hijinks. Most of my weekends have been devoted to studying lately, which leaves very little time to play in the Yarn Nerd Shedquarters. I’m not putting a total halt on dyeing, but I also have to be realistic of my current schedule. Plus, the harder I work on my thesis, the sooner I can finish and return to the yarn!

Besides slaving away on the application of turbo processing techniques to interference suppression in direct-sequence spread spectrum communications (did you get all that? there’ll be quiz later), I’ve been making the most of the summer with Dallas and Emma. They certainly don’t mind running around in the park every evening.

I’m also working hard on my new project, which is to create the ultimate hipster retro living room. So far things are going well. I’m coordinating everything around these awesome Joel Dewberry fabrics.

These fabrics are already off to the upholsterer, where they will be turned into new cushions for my rattan furniture set. I also sprang for some new foam, since the current cushions are about 50 years old, and are not exactly comfortable to sit on. The other comforts in my hipster living room include a sweet new couch, and a nice rug that I scored at Target, after giving up all hope of finding a non-hideous rug that didn’t cost a small fortune. I particularly love the couch, which has turned out to be a very luxurious knitting spot.

I also picked up a cool papasan chair, in an orange and brown paisley, but I haven’t had the opportunity to actually sit in it yet. It seems that someone else has claimed it for herself. I suppose I should have known, considering her affinity for large round chairs. I’d kick her out, but the couch is pretty comfy, and I just can’t resist this pitiful look. Can you blame me?

Once the new cushions are done, I’ll be ready to put the finishing touches on the living room. I will definitely paint, but I’m thinking that may have to wait until after I finish my thesis. Just another thing to add to my long list of household improvements. I don’t seem to be making much progress on that list, but I suppose at this point, thesis progress is more important than painting progress. I just have to remind myself that December is right around the corner, and take things one equation at a time.

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Adam

in a nerd's life, dallas, ee, emma, home improvement 101, nerdy, school and yarn nerd

Letting Out My Inner Bum 28 Feb 08

21 Comments

Let’s just pretend that two weeks hasn’t gone by ok? Moving right along ;)

Anyway, I’ve been up to my usual tricks, including work, homework avoidance and lots of orchestra practice. I had a big concert this past weekend, featuring some of the most difficult music I’ve ever played in an ensemble. Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances may sound nice, but man is that thing a beast! The tempo is pretty much the equivalent of a Mack truck barreling down the highway at 120 MPH. In the end though, I got most of the notes, so I was fairly pleased with myself.

As far as knitting goes, I have no proof I’m actually knitting anything, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. My primary project right now is top secret, but the big reveal should be soon. I also have a lovely sock going, but at this blogging speed, you’ll probably see a finished sock by the time I get around to the pictures.

I had a small Yarn Nerd shop update last week, including a lovely new merino/bamboo/nylon yarn I’ve termed 900 MHz Bambylon. (Try to type that 10 times fast!) The small batch I put up went fairly quickly, but I will have more on the way soon, so don’t despair, there’s plenty of bamboo yarn action to be had.

Also, I will be receiving a shipment of some new yarns soon, including a Superwash Merino DK Weight and a Merino Sport Weight. Both yarns are absolutely lovely, and the DK Weight is a great replacement for my older 1500 MHz Merino base, which I had to discontinue. So look for a future shop update with those yarns, I think you’ll really like them!

I’ve been fighting off a bit of a bug this week, and so I whipped up some soup to soothe my tempestuous stomach. Nothing like a delicious chicken and rice soup made with wild rice and rotisserie chicken to cure what ails you.

Thankfully, I’m mostly on the mend, save for a pesky sore throat that just won’t go away. I wouldn’t mind if the deep sexy voice stayed around for a bit longer though. Anyway, it’s a good thing I’m feeling better, since I’m off on another snow excursion this weekend.

I think a weekend spent ripping up the mountain with my Dad, Uncle and little Brother will definitely do me good. Maybe not my throat, but definitely my inner ski bum. You gotta shirk that responsibility and play everyone once in a while right?

So whatever you’re doing this weekend, make sure to take a least a few moments and let our your inner bum. Lay around, knit a bit, watch TV or just sleep in a little longer. Because all work and no play turns Jack into a raving lunatic.

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Adam

in a nerd's life, family, knitting, music, school, snow, weekend!, work and works in progress

A 500 lb Gorilla 12 Jan 08

17 Comments

As usual, the winter break is quickly slipping away, with only one week left before the return of school. It should be a good semester though, as I only have one class to take to fulfill my coursework requirement for my MSEE. It’s also more of a practical course (Advanced FGPA Programming for the curious), so I’m hoping that translates into more lab based hands-on work, rather than theoretical math homework.

One thing’s for sure, I am sure enjoying this one class per semester gig. I only had one class last semester, and it was pretty light on homework, so it made for lots of knitting and dyeing time. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep up with all the Loopy Ewe orders last year, since I was taking 3 classes per semester. So it’s nice to be able to slow down and ease into more practical work, and less busy coursework. And hopefully, before I know it, I’ll be done and will have all my evenings free to play with my sticks and string. (Do note that I am closing my eyes and pretending that the 5000 lb thesis gorilla sitting next to me is really a 5 lb poodle…)

I’ve made significant progress on feeding my stranded mitten hunger, with this beauty, which has been completed in the time between the picture and this post.

I’m using my own hand-dyed 1200 MHz BFL, in colors I dyed up for a soap swap with Megan. I had a feeling the colors Megan picked would be dynamite, so I tossed some yarn into the dye pots for myself. And I’m quite happy I did. Even though two color knitting is involved, mittens knit up fast! I knit the first mitten in under 6 hours for sure. I’m hoping to have a complete pair to wear out and about next week. :)

Speaking of quick knits, I have a few completed hats that I haven’t shown off yet. First up is a Shedir knit for my roommate’s birthday gift, back in early December. I used the suggested yarn, Rowan Calmer, which was a bit of a love/hate relationship for me. I love how it looks with the cables, and that it’s easy care (it’s a cotton/acrylic blend), but it was a bit of a pain to knit. It’s super stretchy, and is a bit hard to tension properly when throwing, because it just pulls out like a slinky. I really love the finished product, and so does Tony, but I’m not sure it’ll be a standard yarn in my repertoire.

The hat is also a bit of a send off gift, as Tony is moving out next week. He and I have been roommates and friends for 6 years, since being randomly assigned together in the dorms during our Freshman year of college. We didn’t get along too well that first year, in fact, we might have had our share of major annoyances with each other. But over time, we learned to get along, and now we’re really good friends. He’s been in Albuquerque taking a break for the last year or so, and last Fall he decided to go back and finish his degree in Socorro.

After trying a semester of daily commuting (it’s about 75-90 minutes), he’s decided to move back down until he finishes. I’m sad that he’s moving out, but I know he’ll be around to visit, especially since I’m letting him keep his old fix up car in the garage to work on during weekends. I know that 6 years ago I would have never predicted becoming such fast friends with a complete stranger, but looking back, that year in the dorms was one of the biggest growth periods in my life, and I’m glad I decided to get a random roomie.

The other hats I haven’t shown are the pair of matching Koolhass Hats (Koolhasses? Koolhi? Bueller, anyone?) that I knitted for my brother and his wife. I loved this pattern, and would highly recommend it to anyone. We all know that Jared is a talented designer, and this hat is no exception. It’s great looking, easy to knit and very versatile.

I knit the hats out of Malabrigo (the orange version), and Manos Wool/Silk (the pewter version), and loved both. It was my first time knitting with both yarns, and I think I might just be a Malabrigo addict now. The colors are so rich and the yarn so soft, you can’t help but fall in love with every stitch.

Finally, there’s a Yarn Nerd shop update online, with a nice stash of 1700 MHz BFL and 1500 MHz Merino. The BFL is in some overdyed colors which came out really nice. Go pick some up, because I’m dangerously close to keeping it all for myself, and the last thing I need is more yarn! ;)

Have a great weekend everyone, I’m off to knit another mitten!

Published

Adam

in a nerd's life, colorwork, finished objects, hats, knitting, patterns, school, techniques, unm and yarn nerd

Another One Is Over? 05 Jan 08

25 Comments

Jeez, is 2007 over already? I was just getting used to writing ‘07 on the checks, now I have to switch? It’s very easy to get stuck in the mundane while(1) loop of life, circling around and around, performing the same tasks for every daily iteration. That’s why I appreciate the yearly reminder to hit “Break” in the debugger, and back out a little bit, to make sure that the loop is moving somewhere, instead of just incrementing variables idly.

Oh sorry, I seem to have slipped into code speak for a moment there, I’ll try to switch back to English…

What I was trying to say was that it’s nice to take the opportunity to reflect on 2007, and look forward to what’s coming up in 2008. There are many things that happened in my life in 2007 that were noteworthy, especially in the world of knitting.

Last February, I took my side hobby of dyeing yarn and turned it into Yarn Nerd, which has been more successful than I would have ever imagined! Thanks so much to everyone who has bought my yarn and encouraged me along the way, it’s been a blast. Going from dyeing a few skeins a month to dyeing 150+ has been an adventure, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I have a lot planned for 2008 as well, including new base yarns and colors, so it should be another great year for yarn nerds everywhere.

As far as knitting goes, I had a very good year, with a respectable amount of finished projects that I’m very proud of. The final total was 6.5 pairs of socks, 11 hats, 1 sweater, 1 shawl (not THE shawl, but a smaller one), and a kitschy Christmas tree. Not a massive amount of things, but I also dyed a lot of yarn, worked close to full time and took 2 full semesters, so I’m proud of my little knitting pile.

For 2008 I have some ostentatious plans, and a new obsession with stranded mittens. I haven’t knit any mittens to date, but for some reason, there’s about 5-6 mitten designs that I want to knit these days. I made a little montage of some planned 2008 knits, and went, “oh my, there’s so many mittens!”, and I’m quite alright with that :)

I also got some great books from my brother for Christmas, and they’ve provided me a lot of inspiration for some planned sweaters. He got me both The Knitting (Man)ual and Knitting for Him, which I would highly recommend to anyone looking for classic men’s patterns. These two are on the top of my sweater list:

As far as projects that followed me into 2008, there’s only one, which I have affectionately termed as The Death Star. That’s right, the Garden Shawl is still uncompleted. My Mom was gracious enough to let me off the hook for trying to finish it by Christmas, but I’ll be darned if I let another year go by without finishing this baby. I’m determined to finish it at some point, and I’m really close to finishing the body, but the edging is supposed to be quite the beast. I’ve toyed with doing a simpler border, but I think at this point, I’ve put so much time and effort into the shawl, that it deserves the full edging, no matter how hairy.

The one other significant happening in 2007 was my transformation into a crazy biking nut. You might remember the running pledge at the beginning of 2007, where I pledged to run 100 miles by April 1. That didn’t quite happen, but I did manage to muster up the courage to start riding my bike to work over the summer. I really had no idea I would finally discover a form of exercise I could get behind, that would also allow me to save money and the environment. 6 months later and I’m still loving it…enough to ride to work when it’s below 30 outside! (Which is actually a lot of fun in my opinion, especially if it’s raining a bit. I never said I was normal.)

So that’s my 2007 recap. I think 2008 will be a great year, especially since I’m anticipating completion of my Masters. I just have to get cracking on this darn thesis. Maybe my huge knitting list will be motivation, since I’ll have loads of knitting time once I no longer have to write crazy simulations and study for tests.