Category Archive for ‘nmt’ at adam knits!

Archive for the 'nmt' Category

Hey Teachers! Leave Those Kids Alone! 13 May 07

The saga is over. Phew! That semester was craaaazy! But it’s over now and I have nothing but free evenings and BBQs ahead of me. ;)

I didn’t actually finish my last take home final until 5:30 PM on Friday, the longest finals week on record! I spent 8 hours in the library, sitting in the same chair the entire time. I put my pencil down at 5:30 and realized, “Hey, I’ve been sitting here all day!” What I’m really curious to know is how I managed to go 8 hours without using the bathroom…I must be turning into Jack Bauer!

Thanks so much for everyone who sent me good wishes on my crazy hard final, I actually got a B+ in the class! I’m very excited, because I was sure she was going to fail us all. It’s not good when the entire class scores an average of 50% on the midterm (worth 40% of our grade) and. I think the final went a lot better though, and I’m very happy with my grade! (Although I did have a small nervous breakdown before the test, followed by a huge adrenaline rush. It took me 10 minutes to stop shaking after it was over!)

I also traveled back down to the metropolis of Socorro for the first time since I graduated last year, to see a few of my friends receive their diplomas. It was really strange, because even though it was only a year ago, it feels like it was a whole other era! I think the fact that my friends who just graduated were my last link to Socorro also helped to make it feel like the end of a season. Even though my last year of school wasn’t the greatest, I still had a lot of good memories down at New Mexico Tech, here’s a collage to prove it! And yeah, I had about 15 different hair colors for those 4 years…don’t ask ;)

I also have to say congratulations to Holly and Carmen on getting those elusive diplomas! Holly, Carmen and I were pretty much like the 3 Amigos during our Tech tenure, and I’m super excited that they’ve both finished the gauntlet! Jeez, we’re getting old! ;)

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Holly (she’s kinda crazy like me!) and Carmen → Congrats! </div

Ok, that’s enough sentimental college memories for me…maybe someday I’ll tell you about all the crazy things I did in college! __On second thought, maybe not!__

PS: I promise that a fitness update is coming soon! I started running again yesterday, and it was great! I’m looking forward to a bit more activity over the summer now that I’m not consumed by homework and tests.

PPS: I’m almost done with the Broad Spiral Rib Socks…and am hoping to get lots of Garden Shawl knitting done with my free time now! That’s right Mom, I’m gonna knit on the shawl! Happy Mother’s Day!

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Adam

in ee, grad school, knitting, nerdy, nmt and weekend!

In Which I Become An ADD Knitter 21 Apr 07

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You know, I used to be really good about only having one project on the needles. But lately that seems to have gone completely out the window. I actually have 2 projects that have been sitting for over a month, 2 that have been on my needles for at least a week or two, and I just cast on for another pair of socks today! What’s happening to me?! What’s next, buying yarn with no project in mind? Oh wait, I’ve already broken that rule a few times.

I guess I’ll just chalk it up to anticipation for school to end, and my short attention span these days. I’m juggling so many balls it seems that I can’t spend a prolonged amount of time with anything, so I guess that has migrated to my knitting habits too. Although, one positive note is that it gives me lots of knitting content to show off now!

So what do I have on the needles anyway? Let’s see…

Garden Shawl (for my Mom) → I really need to pick this up again (sorry Mom!), but it definitely won’t happen until the semester is over. When it takes 30+ minutes to do a round, it’s difficult to find time to get much done on it.
Emma’s Sweater → I’m not entirely sure this one is even going to fit, and seeing as it’s quite warm these days, I think this might be destined for the frog pond until Fall.
Topi (for my brother Clay) → This one is a fairly quick knit, but it seems to have not gone right a few times. I’m knitting it out of a skein of Yarn Nerd 2400 MHz that I saved for my brother a while ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to make it sturdy and still have enough yarn. After a few false starts, I ended up double stranding the top, and single stranding the rest. I was almost all the way done when I realized that I’d made the bill way too big, it looked like a duck bill! (Why is it that it’s never possible to fess up to these things until it’s too late?) So now I’m almost done, I just have to wrap the bill, stick in the insert and sew it shut.

Medallion Mitts → I needed to use up the rest of the yarn from my Dad’s Jaywalkers, so I cast on for these fingerless mitts, from my Knitting with Balls book a few weeks ago. I’m close to finishing the first one, but still seem unable to do so…they would be nice though, since my new cubicle is a bit on the chilly side.

Broad Spiral Rib Socks → This is a new knit (cast on today!), and I’m already in love. I happened to be browsing a bookstore yesterday when I noticed that they had a copy of More Sensational Knitted Socks. Needless to say I bought that sucker, and spent the evening browsing through it, and it’s totally awesome. There’s both toe-up and top-down instructions for all the socks, how cool is that? And lots more discussion on different heel and toe techniques, as well as lots of different cast ons and bind offs that can change your sock’s look. Charlene Schurch? I love you!

could these socks BE anymore sensational?

Anyway, I was smitten with the Broad Spiral Rib socks, so I cast on first this morning. I don’t have a picture of the pattern, so you’ll just have to wait until I get there ;) The yarn is some Austermann Step that I got in Chicago a while ago, in turquoise, gray and black. Kind of last month’s Project Spectrum colors, but let’s be honest…I’m much more of a greys/blacks guy than a pink/yellow/green guy. (Although, if you want some PS goodies, check out the Yarn Nerd update on Monday!) At this point I’m definitely smitten with the sock, but looking at the above list we’ll see how long that lasts.

Do you think a doctor will prescribe ritalin for knitting ADD? Yeah, I figured not ;)

So there’s your knitting update, now onto Saturday Sky! Today’s lovely sky photo features some nice sky, clouds and…a green toilet? Yup, coming to you from the metropolis of Socorro, NM, here’s the crazy antics that those nerdy engineers are up to down at New Mexico Tech.

One of my former roommates took this and sent it to me, and I just about died laughing. Some students managed to get a green toilet up on top of the library clock tower, which is actually pretty darn high. So high in fact, the firetruck ladder won’t even get close to it, so the poor school has no idea how to get it down! Ha! How good is that? We engineers can be pretty clever!

So why is the toilet green? You really don’t want to know. Green is a very mythical color down at NMT, involving tales of green sheep and drunk miners. I remember many a St. Patrick’s day that involved naked green people streaking across campus!

The things you do when you attend a school with a 7:1 guy to girl ratio I guess.

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Adam

in gifts, grad school, knitting, nerdy, nmt, shawls and socks

I’m a College Graduate! 14 May 06

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Woo-Hoo! I’m now an official college graduate with a diploma and everything! I couldn’t be happier :)

The ceremony was pretty good, despite it being very warm outside in the sun, and all the incessant rambling that our school president did. But I got a diploma, saw my family and friends and ate Green Chile Cheeseburgers at the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, so it was definitely a great day. (I think that’s the thing I’ll miss most about Soccoro…the burgers and G.C. Cheese fries there are amazing).

EDIT (5/16): Here’s some pictures from the ceremony, and you can check the rest out here.

last day in socorro, much rejoicing insues

I keep waiting to wake up from this dream and find myself as a Freshman again, but that hasn’t happened yet, so I’ll take it.

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Adam

in nmt

Working for the Man 09 May 06

3 Comments

Well things have been changing pretty rapidly around these parts, and I have a lot to report. I finished school last Friday, and that was a very wonderful feeling :) It is still weird for me to think that I don’t have to go to school as an undergraduate student anymore, and that it’s already been 4 years since I started at Tech. The time certainly did fly.

And in my usual fashion, I’ve jumped into my next activity with absolutely no break, save for the whole no homework thing. I started my new job at Sandia National Labs yesterday, and so far it’s awesome. I don’t have my security clearance, which means it’s a bit difficult for me to get some of the things I need to done, but everyone I work with has been really helpful in working around the problem. I work out in what I’ve termed the “Leper Colony”, but at least I get a lot of exercise walking all over base all day :) And today I got some work on a project, and let me just say, it’s like a dream come true. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could get paid to work on the stuff that I am. It’s so amazing, and I’m completely thrilled! I’m very thankful to have found something I really love, it’s a very good thing to wake up and be excited to go to work.

As far as the knitting world goes, I was planning to cast on for the Topi hat from the latest Knitty, but I got bitten by the sock bug again. I am almost done with my first sock, using the Thuja pattern from Knitty. I really like this pattern, the ribbing on the top looks totally awesome. I was going to take a picture…but the darn camera chewed throught the last of the AA batteries the other day.

Anyway, it’s in the same yarn as my last pair of socks, the black and white varigated one. I really like knitting men’s socks, because it means that 400 yards can almost cover 2 pairs, since I like shorter cuffs and have somewhat small feet. Also, I convinced Scout to sell me her first dye of her new Smore’s Colorway, which is absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to make some sweet socks out of it!

Well that’s about it, so peace out knitting world, I’m off to bed since I have to arrive at my cushy government job bright and early ;)

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Adam

in knitting, nmt, socks, work and yarn nerd

The Sock Crisis is Over! 03 May 06

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Woo-hoo! I finally finished a pair of socks! Here they are, fitting snugly on my feet. The one on the left is the first one, done with size 0 DPN needles, and the one on right was done on a size 2 circular using magic loop. Although both fit, you can definitely tell a difference between the stitch gauge from size 0 to size 2. I like the size 0 sock a lot more, it just feels more like a sock to me. So I think I’m going to take my size 2 circ back and get a 0, or two, so I can learn two socks at once!

keeping my feet warm and cozy

goes great with jeans!

Now that I have the socks done, I can start on my Topi! School is winding down quickly, so I’m soon going to have a lot more time to knit! I’m already done with 3 out of 5 classes, and just have 2 tests this Friday and that’s it! Then I start work on Monday, I’m so excited!

And tomorrow night, Emma starts in a new special 4 week agility class, where hopefully I’ll learn something about shaping. This agility thing is requiring a lot of coordination, something I’m not known for, but I’m keeping up so far ;)

Sorry, but I just have to say it one more time: One more day of class, and I’m free!

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Adam

in finished objects, knitting, nmt and socks