Tag Archive for ‘a nerd’s life’ at adam knits!

Tag Archive for 'a nerd’s life'

Catching Up 18 Dec 07

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 a nerd's life, biking, christmas, dyeing, gifts, knitting, nerdy, school, 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.

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Adam

in a nerd's life, brothers, cooking, holidays, music and vacation

Lather, Rinse, Repeat. 03 Oct 07

27 Comments

Well, it appears that it’s high past time for a new blog post, as evidenced by my family’s gentle chiding.

Truth is, I got nothing. Nothing that seems particularly exciting to blog about that is. Life is just chugging along, humming with the day to day routine: wake up, ride to work, work, ride home, make dinner, watch TV & knit, pack bags for commute, and go to bed. Repeat. This is not necessarily a bad thing as I’m a creature of routine, so I rather enjoy the doldrums of daily life. But sometimes you just need a bit of something special to spice things up, you know?

Like some tasty Pumpkin beer and yarn to match.

Quite fiberlicious eh? It’s a new colorway dyed specifically to evoke my deep love for everything Pumpkin, and it certainly makes me happy. It’ll be present in my next shipment to the Loopy Ewe, so you can get yourself some too.

The yarn also serves as a reminder that no matter how much I may have gushed about the arrival of Fall, the devil is in the details, and those details involve colder weather. Ergo, my leg hair isn’t quite cutting it as insulation against the cold morning air. Not one to be deterred, I went out and bought a few Fall commuting essentials.

Let’s just say, you may now call me Captain Spandex. Don’t ask for a picture, cause you’re not getting one ;) I just think it’s really funny that when I started biking my mantra was “no spandex, no way”, and now I’m sporting some tights of my own. I guess it really is function over fashion!

Ok, enough rambling. Sorry for the lame post, but I promise I have some better material coming soon. It’s Socktoberfest after all.

Published

Adam

in a nerd's life, biking, dyeing and yarn nerd

Not Sitting on the Dock of the Bay 18 Sep 07

25 Comments

I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier for Monday to roll around than yesterday. Because this Monday brought with it the promise of a better week, one where I could ride my bike and sit on my butt without wincing. You never know what’cha got until it’s gone right? Well, let’s just say, you never know how much you appreciate having the ability to sit down until it becomes very painful. I don’t really want to go into details (because they are slightly more intimate than I prefer to reveal on this blog), but let’s just say I ended up having a minor procedure last week involving my tailbone and a scalpel. Ouch.

My solace came in the form of doctor mandated hot baths, which can be very nice when paired with a scotch on the rocks. Thankfully, this week is already a lot better, and I’m almost back to normal. I can ride my bike again, and sit down at work without needing an IV of Ibuprofen (not really, but it would have been nice…).

And another reason to appreciate Monday? Why getting your “therapy for a crappy week” purchases of course! First up is this sweet shirt that I scored at Threadless. They printed this one a while ago, and it just got reprinted, so I jumped on it.

I think it’s also a sign of good things to come with my next grand transportation experiment, as I am now car-less for the week, and maybe next week too. It’s another long story, but someone hit me quite a few months back, and I’m finally just getting my car fixed now. It’s just body damage, but that means it’s gonna take a long time in the shop. Giving me the perfect opportunity to see how truly car-free I can be. My goal is to only bum rides off friends and family if absolutely necessary, otherwise I’ll take the bus and ride my bike everywhere else. I don’t think it should be too difficult, as I’m already riding my bike lots of places already, but I’m interested to see how it goes when the car safety net is no longer there. I’ll keep you updated.

My other “poor me, I can’t sit down” purchase is this lovely hand-spun yarn:

I came across this link to Crumbs & Co. in one of Megan’s posts, and when I clicked over, I saw it. The very same skein of yarn I had seen on Flickr and drooled over was sitting right there, pleading with me to buy it. So I did. And now I have this lovely skein of yarn in my possession. It’s Merino spun up in DK weight and it’s absolutely exquisite. Go check out Crumbs for yourself, she has some awesome stuff!

And to top off my wonderfully good happy week, I took this awesome picture yesterday. Things are definitely looking up. Thank goodness for the ability to sit. And scotch.

Published

Adam

in a nerd's life, biking, hand spun, nerdy, the stash and why me?

Adios Amigos! 03 Aug 07

19 Comments

Whew, it’s vacation time! I’m sitting here in the airport, waiting to hop on that jet plane and fly off into the Seattle sunset. I can’t wait! I’ll be attending a wedding near Bremerton this weekend, and then spending next week bumming around Seattle. The extent of my plans include meeting some groovy knit bloggers, drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee, and knitting until my fingers fall off. It’s going to be magnificent.

sorry Mom, it’s another feet picture!

And I’m super glad this week is over, since it’s been a doozy. Between work, new dog schedules and packing up Yarn Nerd orders (thanks guys!), I’ve been swamped. Definitely ready for a nice vacation. I also took up a new hobby this week…one that I think I’m already addicted to. Thanks to Adrian for being my enabler!