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Mitteny Goodness 03 Feb 08

These days it seems like writing a blog post is a 3-4 day ordeal, and I’m not really sure why. Usually it begins with me deciding what to write about (1 day), then taking pictures (1 day), editing, tagging and uploading those pictures (1 day) and then finally sitting down to actually do the writing (another day). This is also assuming that I even do these things on consecutive days, which hasn’t really been the case lately. I don’t think it has anything to do with blog doldrums or anything…I just think life tends to get in the way, and I often thing of blogging as something that “I’ll get to later.”

At any rate, later is finally here, and I have a lovely new knit to show off.

My first ever mittens, and I am smitten indeed. The pattern is just perfect, and the final result is quite eye catching, in my opinion. I really enjoyed working with the BFL also, it just has such a different feel. I almost can’t describe it in words, it feels so lustrous and organic to me, like working with yarn fresh off the sheep. It’s definitely wool, but not the wool you’re used to.

Pattern: Herringbone Mittens, from Elliphantom Knits
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 1200 MHz BFL, dyed in custom shades of Dijon Yellow and Chocolate Red
Needles / Gauge: I used US #4’s, and got 6 sts / in and 8 rows / in.
Modifications: To compensate for the shorter row gauge with the sport weight, I worked a few more pattern repeats in the body and thumb. See Ravelry for more details.

They definitely came in handy last weekend, as I went up to CO for a bit of skiing. It was my first day out this season and the mittens were quite nice for those chilly CO mornings. Nothing like warm hands while you shush down the powdery slopes. I’m terribly uncoordinated in everyday life (I fall down stairs and walk into walls routinely), but for some reason, when I have some sticks strapped to my feet, I’m as graceful as a swan. It’s one of those mysteries I don’t think I’ll ever solve, but that’s alright with me. I try not to question things, as skiing is about the only athletic thing that I can do with any aptitude. Granted, I am getting better at the bike these days, but before bike commuting, I was known for biking into trees. Yipes.

Thanks for your reassurances on the coffee smell too, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks confusing coffee and skunks is impossible! I’m not too concerned about it, since the guy who works in the lab with me isn’t bothered by it, the only complaints have been from people walking through, so they’ll get over it. Besides, they wouldn’t want to have to work with me sans caffeine anyway ;)

Alright, I think it’s about time for me to wrap this post up, since it’s getting a bit late. Not a terribly exciting post, but it should suffice. I hope everyone has a good Sunday (isn’t it the super bowl or something tomorrow?), and I’ll see you next time knitting fans. (Yeah, that was the worst sign off ever. I’m aware of it.)

Published

Adam

in biking, blog, colorwork, dyeing, finished objects, knitting, snow and yarn nerd

Olfactory Offense 22 Jan 08

41 Comments

The Low Talker. Man Hands. Vegetable Lasagna. Denim Vest. If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you know what I’m talking about. Nicknaming a person based on a strange attribute or idiosyncrasy can often be quite humorous. I’ll even admit that I have a few nicknames for select people. I don’t really attach monikers to people I know, but there are a few people at school/work/etc. that I encounter often enough to warrant more than just, “the guy 3 doors down from my office.”

Anyway, I often wonder what monikers people might have for me, and I think I might have stumbled upon one: Mr. Skunk Coffee. See, I leave a French Press at work, and everyday I bring in fresh beans to make my morning coffee. Well my office is pretty much the Folgers pouch brewed in a percolator type, so strong earthy coffee is definitely not par for the course. (If you’re a Folgers fan, I have nothing against you, I just like my coffee with an obscene amount of grit. ;) Mmmmm.)

Lately it seems that someone will walk into the lab, start sniffing, and declare, “do you smell a skunk?”, or “who sprayed pesticides in here?”. Inevitably they’ll end up in my cubicle to point a finger at my delicious coffee. I’m not really sure where skunks or pesticides come into the equation, it’s just strong coffee, but I do wonder if it’s strong enough to become a moniker. Any thoughts? Do you think pressed coffee smells like skunks?

I might just take some air freshener in with me, since I think I’d rather be the guy whose cubicle smells like flowers, instead of the guy whose cubicle smells like skunks.

In the land of things that don’t smell, I finished a lovely hat this weekend, and I’m quite smitten with it.

I used a skein of a luscious llama and soysilk blend that I picked up at the Taos Wool Festival, in a nice tweedy brown. I wasn’t ever able to decide what to do with it, until I flipped through The Knitting (Man)ual and saw the Cabled Hat and Scarf pattern. The combination of a big fat cable with seed and moss stitch was too much to resist. I only had 130 yards of the llama, so I used some leftover Plymouth Suri Merino for the brim and the top of the crown.

Just in time for the cold snap we’ve been having here, brrr! It was below 20 almost everyday last week! This is the desert, not the arctic, sheesh. ;) You can view the project on Ravelry if you’re a member, for more details. I also managed to finish the Herringbone Mittens, but I haven’t taken them off of my hands to get pictures yet! They’re so warm and cozy, and were the perfect start to my stranded mitten obsession.

I’ll leave you with a small taste of the next planned project. That is if I ever take the yarn out of it’s resting place in the swift! It just looks so nice there, don’t you think?

Published

Adam

in coffee, finished objects, hats, knitting and work

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 colorwork, finished objects, grad school, hats, knitting, knitting techniques, patterns, 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.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go turn these lovelies into some mittens. Happy New Year!

Published

Adam

in grad school, history, knitting, nerdy and yarn nerd

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.