Tag Archive for ‘fitness’ at adam knits!

Tag Archive for 'fitness'

Oooohhh, Shiny! 01Sep07

Hey everyone, thanks for all your great comments on my yarn being at The Loopy Ewe! I’m finishing up the dyeing and reskeining this weekend, so it should be off to Sheri and up at the store soon. Keep an eye out! Also, I’ll be placing an order for some 1500 MHz Sport Merino as soon as I ship off the wholesale order, so keep an eye out for that yarn at www.yarnnerd.com.

In other news, I got a new toy!

That’s right, I finally had enough money saved up to go pay off my bike and get it out of layaway. I picked it up last night, and my Dad helped me put on some clipless pedals and showed me a few things, and off I went! I was a bit worried about using the clipless pedals, but commuting these last few months has made me a lot more confident on the bike, and my fears turned out to be unfounded. The pedals are super easy to use and it’s definitely a lot more efficient than straight push pedals. My Dad was kind enough to take a picture of me riding (wow, I look like a 5 year old boy in that picture) around the neighborhood.

It feels really great to have a bike that actually fits me, and I’m really looking forward to next week’s commute now. I’m interested to see how much time I can shave off, since this bike is super fast. Oh, and it’s super light too, so it should be a bit easier to load it onto the bus to school (and hopefully it will get me less grouchy bus driver stares, since the mountain bike was a bit hard to load onto that rack).

All in all, it’s only been a few months since I started bike commuting, but it’s already drastically changed the way I look at transportation. I absolutely love my commute now, and I’m always looking for opportunities to ride instead of driving. Plus, I’m so happy to have finally found a form of exercise that I really enjoy. In the past I never found something I really loved, so it was always hard to stick to a routine. I just wish I had given cycling a serious try sooner!

I also have another pair of socks under my belt to show off. (Two pairs in consecutive posts! What is this blog coming to?)

Remember these?

“Jolly Good Chap” Socks

Pattern: Gentleman’s Sock with Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Hand-Spun by Anne, received in a swap.
Needles / Gauge: 7.5 spi on US #1’s. Knitted with Magic Loop.
Construction: I stuck to the pattern on this one, except I used a slip stitch heel instead of a stockinette one. I also modified the lozenge pattern to be over 60 stitches, since my gauge was less than the book’s.
Completion Time: 4 months (May - August)

I really love these socks. This was the first time (at the time of cast-on) that I had used hand-spun, and it was a very different and wonderful experience. The wool that Anne used is a bit more coarse than I was used to, but it makes a really sturdy and warm fabric. Anne’s spinning job was superb, and I know that these socks will be around for many years to come. They’re a bit slouchy around the leg, because the pattern gauge is a bit bigger than stockinette gauge, but the ribbed cuff holds them up, and I think that slouchy socks are wonderful. They’ll be perfect for cold winter evenings, to keep my feet warm while I drink coffee and knit. And the pattern gives them a very sophisticated look; so much so, that I fancy myself a Brit while wearing them. ;)

So thanks Anne, the yarn is wonderful, and the socks are even better!

Lastly, I want to leave you with a bit of a somber warning. If you are ever knitting a sweater, be sure to count the number of stitches in your gauge swatch instead of assuming. Or, if you always knit your swatches over 32 stitches, don’t make a 36 stitch swatch, and then measure your gauge thinking your swatch is 32 stitches. Cause that means all your impeccable math and perfect sizing doesn’t mean anything…, and it leads to this inevitable outcome:

Oh, and listen to that nagging voice in your head that says, “hey, maybe before you get too much farther, you should take it off the needles and try it on!” Cause it will be right. At least I was only 1 inch past the hem, so no harm no foul this time. I forge ahead, because I am determined to have a cosy sweater to go with my Englishman socks this winter.

Tags: biking, dyeing, finished objects, fitness, frogging, hand spun, socks, sweaters, works-in-progress, yarn nerd.

He’s Got Legs…(You Know the Rest) 24Aug07

33 Comments - you know you want to

Ok, we have a lot of ground to cover today people, so grab some coffee and hunker down. This could take hours. You know, metaphorically speaking. And you know how we roll when there’s lots to cover at Adam Knits…bullets!

from the "oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into" department:

You may have seen this little announcement, already, but if not, this is news to you. I’m proud to announce that Yarn Nerd is the newest indie dyer at The Loopy Ewe! So now all you crazy Loopy Ewe fans can get your Yarn Nerd fix, along with all the other great yarns and stuff that Sheri stocks. I’m really excited about this, and am looking forward to breaking into the wholesale market. And if the response I’ve gotten so far is any indication, I think this will be the beginning of a great thing. I’ve admired Sheri’s shop for a while, and I e-mailed her to see if she was interested in Yarn Nerd, and got an emphatic yes. I’m hoping to have the order finished in a week or two, so you should be able to grab some soon.

There are a few ramifications (hehe, I love that word) for the Yarn Nerd shop, mostly since I do need to sleep occasionally. At least for the next few months, all 900 MHz Merino will be dyed up for The Loopy Ewe, so if you’re looking for it at my shop and can’t find it, that’s the reason. I am planning to bring back some of my other yarns though, which means that I should have 1500 MHz Merino in stock by mid-September. I’ve had a lot of requests for this one, and it’s one of my personal favorites, so I’m excited to be bringing it back. It’ll be available in your favorite colorways, or as a custom creation with Create Your Skein. Plus, to satiate all you spinners (including me!), there will be a lot more roving being thrown about in my dye kitchen, so keep your eyes out for that.
from the "spindles are fun! I don’t need a spinning wheel, really! so stop tempting me!" department:

I spun up the last of my roving stash (don’t worry, I promptly bought more…), and I’m definitely getting better at the spindle. I’m starting to actually draft while the spindle is spinning, rather than stopping, pinching, moving my hands up, etc. I think this lovely 2 ply speaks for itself :)

Hello Yarn Corriedale in the Granita Colorway. Isn’t it lovely?

I also received my newest fiber purchase yesterday, a lovely BFL top from Flawful Fibers, in the Safari colorway. This picture, although terribly cute, doesn’t really show off how lovely and subtle this roving is. I can’t wait to spin it, but I’m also worried that I won’t be able to do it justice. But my desire to spin it outweighs my worry of flubbing it up, so I press onward. Yarn Ho!

"do these braids make me look fat?"
from the "I wish I could show you my sexy biker calves, but that might be a skosh inappropriate" department:

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on the biking, but I’m still going strong. I’m averaging around 4 days a week, and occasionally getting a weekend ride in as well. The benefits are many: hot legs, less gas tank fillups and a bunch more energy. And coupled with the fact that the Albuquerque bus is now free for UNM students, I can ride down to the park & ride a few miles from my house and take the bus to campus on school days. In fact, I’m loving the bike so much, I went and put a new one on layaway. There were some killer end of season deals, and the store happened to have one model of the bike I wanted in my size left, so I jumped on it. Hopefully I can pay it off by the end of September and start riding it! It’s a svelte 24ish pounds, compared to 40 something for my brother’s bike (that I’ve been riding), so I should be a speed demon on the new bike. Watch out ABQ, here comes Adam with his hot legs! (I wonder how many times I can say hot legs in a blog post…)
finally, from the "yes I do still knit, I’m just very lazy about taking pictures of the knitting these days" department:

Here’s some socks that I finished while on vacation, and I figured it was about time to give them the spotlight. I really love these socks, since they have all my favorite colors (you should see my closet, it’s a red and black explosion). I went for the no frills method, with a short row heel and a simple pattern, but I think they’re awesome. They definitely make me feel like a rockstar. And they match my red shoes. Oh yeah.

"there’s no place like home" eye candy

Pattern: Basketweave (6 stitch) from More Sensational Knitted Socks.
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 900 MHz Merino in Love and Peace or Else
Needles / Gauge: 8 stitches / in on US #1’s. Knitted Magic Loop style.
Construction: K1, P1 ribbing, then patterned over the leg, short row heel and round toe. Easy Peasy!
Completion Time: 3 weeks (July 22 - August 10)

"at least we're not wearing them this time..."

Ok, I think that’s enough bullet action for now. Have a good weekend everyone! I’ll be up to my eyeballs in yarn and dye, it should be fun!

Tags: biking, dallas, dyeing, emma, eye candy friday, finished objects, fitness, hand spun, schnauzers, shop, socks, spinning, unm, yarn nerd.

Yarn + Dogs = Less Yarn 26Jun07

14 Comments - you know you want to

I’ve been meaning to get this post up for a while now, but it seems I just haven’t found the time until now…isn’t that how it goes? It’s not really for lack of time, it’s just that I’ve been doing other fun things that have kept my free hours occupied. Like blitzing through the first 4 Harry Potter books in 4 days! Obsessed much? Yeah, I definitely am. I wanted to read them all again in preparation for the new movie and book in a month, but I just got a bit carried away. And I’m already making headway on Book 5, so I’m pretty much unstoppable at this point. Oh well, at least I’m getting some fun reading in…that doesn’t happen often when you’re in grad school!

In addition to reading my brains out, I’ve done a bit of knitting and yarn purchasing in the last few days. Village Wools is having a big closeout sale on Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Wool (only $4 a skein!), so I picked up a few of those, since they look perfect for stranded knitting. I got some great colors to make a Red Light Special for myself, in Gray, Yellow and 2 shades of Brown. I was inspired by Knitting Philistine’s new Fiberlicious! Flickr Group, and had a late night photo shoot involving bananas, yarn and peanut butter. I think yarn as food is my favorite new art form!

a banana w/ peanut butter and some milk…my favorite snack!

Unfortunately, Dallas went on a bit of a stash rampage when I wasn’t paying attention, and chewed up a gray and a brown skein, plus 4 balls of Felted Tweed I got from Fricknits! I wasn’t too happy, but it was my fault for not closing the office door, so I suppose that’s a lesson learned. (Combined with the previous lesson of not leaving freshly dyed yarn on the table, maybe I’ll be able to prevent future yarn tragedies!) I guess I’ll just have to go pick up more of that Jamieson & Smith yarn…what a shame.

I also picked up some Dale of Norway yarns, in black and white, for a secret gift project. I’m working on it now (and loving it!), but I’m afraid I won’t be able to give too many details until it’s gifted. It’s my first major project with stranded colorwork, and it’s quite interesting so far. It requires a lot of brain power to manipulate my left hand into holding one of the colors continental style, but I seem to be getting better at it. If anyone has any tips or tricks for stranded knitting, I’d love to hear them!

Then I spotted this fun swag at the checkout counter…“where my stitches at?” I’m not sure who got the buttons and dropped them off at Village Wools (Scout?), but I was sure happy to score one. Ravelry is an awesome site, and now I have a cool button to show it off!

You know what’s even cooler? Casey quit his day job so that he could work on Ravelry full time, because he and Jess feel that strongly about building an awesome site for us fiber lovers. That also means that development speed will pick up, so those of you still on the waiting list, don’t despair, because I promise they’re getting close!

Finally, in bike commuting news, my goal is to ride all 5 days this week, and so far I’m meeting that, having ridden today and yesterday. I’m getting lots more confident and really enjoying myself, so I’m determined to keep at it. The shrinking gas bill is definitely good motivation. Wish me luck on the last 3 days!

Tags: biking, dallas, fitness, hats, ravelry, the lys, the-stash, works-in-progress.

Ms. Hopper, I Hardly Knew Ye 21Jun07

14 Comments - you know you want to

Today was supposed to be the happy day that I revealed the name I had picked for my lovely blue bike, but alas, I had much sadder news to report. It appears that my bike will be moving on to ride around on the big streets in the sky, because sadly, she has given out. I went for a ride on Sunday and was greeted by a very loud (and unpleasant) noise everytime I hit a bump. I wasn’t sure what the problem was, so I didn’t ride to work either Monday or Tuesday, just to be safe. Then my Dad and I took a look at her on Tuesday night and determined that the shocks were giving out, causing the fork to scrape against the moving front wheel.

My Dad took it to a few repair shops and determined that it was not possible to put new shocks on it, because the frame was incompatible with the new shocks. We tried taking them apart to see if we could breathe some new life into the elastomer bumpers, but they were reduced to a puddle of goo. My options were either: 1) put a fixed fork on for $100, or 2) put my bike to rest. Being as the shifters are also on the cusp of going out, I decided that it would be best to salvage the new parts I put on and just buy a new bike. I only fixed enough the first time around to get it in riding condition, and am afraid that I may be fighting a losing battle with restoring her to mint condition.

So it is with much sadness that I have decided to retire my beautiful blue bike. I’m just glad to have found a suitable name for her, thanks to Penny: Grace Hopper. I think naming my bike after the woman who invented the first compiler and discovered the first computer bug is fitting, don’t you?

I’ll be saving up for a new bike, but in the mean time, my brother has kindly offered to let me use his bike so that I can continue my commuting antics.

So farewell Grace Hopper, I’ll miss you and the fun times we had together. I’ll never forget those years on campus: that time I rode into a tree (ouch!), and the time I skidded on some sand, and fell off, crushing my laptop in the process (double ouch!). You never judged me for being the uncoordinated clod that I can be, and I thank you for that. And although I will get a new bike, know that I will always remember you as the first and most loyal bike I’ve had. Rest in peace.

Tags: biking, fitness, nerdy.

My Trusty Steed, ___ 17Jun07

19 Comments - you know you want to

So how’s the bike commuting going you ask? Super! I really love it, and think I finally might have found a form of exercise that I can really enjoy. Plus the fact that I’ve gone 3 days over my normal gas tank fill up day makes it even better. In fact, I’m finding that riding my bike can be super relaxing, so much so that after getting home from work the other night, I rode another 5.5 miles over to my brother’s house for dinner. (My brother was kind enough to give me a ride back home, since going east is considerably harder than going west in ABQ because of all the hills!) I’m also feeling a lot more confident on my bike than I did before, and am getting comfortable riding with the traffic on the smaller streets. So all things considered, I love bike commuting and am so happy I gave it a try.

The only thing I need for my bike now is a catchy name, and this is where you can help me out. She’s (yes, I’ve given it a gender.) an older gal, but she is still full of energy and loves to go out on rides. Not one for being flashy, my bike is a workhorse, and she has a few scars to prove it. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be treated kindly and get a cleaning every now and then. Oh, and as you can see in the picture, she’s quite a nerd, and prefers to be parked where she can brush up on her Electricity & Magnetism Theory.

So do you have any ideas for a name I could use? If left to my own devices, I might just name her COBOL or some other programming language (yeah, I had a car that I named FORTRAN once…), so I figure that maybe I should give the non-nerdy people a shot.

In knitting news, I finished my first Gentleman’s Lozenge Sock with Anne’s beautiful hand-spun tree scum yarn, and the sock is looking fine. I was a bit worried about the fit, but it turns out that my fears were unfounded (I swatched, how could I be wrong?), and the sock fits wonderfully. I love the pattern, it makes such an elegant looking sock, especially with such nice yarn. I’m planning to cast on the 2nd one today, which should give me enough time to finish the pair and make them my June socks.

In Yarn Nerd news, I dyed up a custom order of 9 skeins this weekend, and tossed a few other skeins into the dye pot as well. I have plans for a few of them, but there’s at least 2 that are available, so I’ll probably just put them up on the blog sometime this week. I also have one other skein that was a botched custom order, which I’ll be offering at a discount, so keep an eye out for those.

In preparation for my big summer dyeing plans, I’m taking a simple survey that will help me decide what things are most important to my wonderful customers in terms of yarn. I have a good response so far, but any more volunteers who would like to help me make my observations more statistically sound are more than welcome. You can take the survey here. Also, if you put in your name/e-mail address, you’ll be entered into a raffle for some Yarn Nerd coupons and great Yarn Nerd yarns.

That’s it for me, I hope everyone has a nice Father’s Day, and be sure to tell your Dad how great he is! I know I’m thankful for my Dad, he’s pretty much the best ever. So thanks Dad, I love you!

Tags: dyeing, family, finished objects, fitness, hand spun, nerdy, shop, socks, yarn nerd.

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