Tag Archive for ‘home’ at adam knits!

Tag Archive for 'home'

Time Is A Luxury…That I Have Now! 16 May 07

You know, it’s amazing how much I can get done when I don’t have homework! Last night I managed to cook dinner, dye yarn and relax for a bit, all in the same evening! I could really get used to this no work after 5 PM gig. ;)

To top it off, I got to open the windows to let in the breeze from some evening rain, and witness this beautiful sunset. Isn’t it gorgeous? I looked outside and realized that the color of the sky matched my roses! These brilliant bursts of color don’t last too long, so I dashed outside to get a picture. It’s actually the 2nd night in a row we’ve had rain, which makes both my garden and me happy. Although anymore nights of rain will most likely cause the local populace to begin to go crazy from the lack of Vitamin D, so hopefully we’ll have a nice sunny day soon.

In knitting news, I finished my Broad Spiral Rib socks, and I love them ever so much. There’s just something about this yarn and the pattern that makes me want to wear them all the time. I haven’t even pulled them off my feet long enough to give them their inaugural wash! They were a blast to knit, and I couldn’t wait to finish so I could wear them. All in all, it took me a little over 3 weeks to finish them, which I think is a good pace for me. That puts me about on track for a pair a month, which I think will be my new goal. If I accomplish that, by this time next year I’ll have more handknit socks than normal socks!

Pattern: Broad Spiral Ribbing from More Sensational Knitted Socks.
Yarn: Austermann Step → Dark Gray/Light Gray/Turquoise (Color #21). This yarn is “enriched with Aloe and Jojoba Oils”, and although I don’t know if it really helps or not, the socks are very soft.
Needles / Gauge: I think I got 8 stitches / inch with US #1’s. I knitted these with Magic Loop, as usual.
Construction: I knitted these top down, with a K1, P4, K1 cuff, then the spiral ribbing on the leg. I did a slip stitch heel with garter selvedges. For the toe, I used the Round Toe, which I’m now madly in love with. It seems to be the best fitting toe for my feet that I’ve found so far!
Completion Time: Just over 3 weeks (April 21 - May 15)

I also tried dyeing roving for the first time last night! I’ve had a sample on hand for a while, and have been meaning to dye it up. Anne graciously agreed to accept the roving as part of our hand-spun/hand-dyed trade. Now if I could only figure out how to braid it! Anyone know of a good link they want to send my way? I tried to have Scout show me a while ago, but I got lost at, “it’s just like braiding hair!” Not being a girl, or having any daughters, I have no experience in hair braiding, and am therefore inept at fiber braiding.

Anne also picked a lovely custom colorway of Dijon Yellow and Light Gray, which I dyed up in some 1500 MHz Sport Nylon for her. I really love the way these colors go together, don’t you? I can’t wait to send her this yarn and get the lovely yarn that she spun up for me!

I also dyed up a Create Your Skein order for the talented Flint Knits, who is planning to make a Chevron Scarf from these 2 skeins. Didn’t she pick great colors? I really love these skeins together and think they will look awesome as a Chevron. I hear they’re all the rage these days ;)

Lastly, speaking of things that are the rage in the knitting world today, I’m sure you’ve heard of Ravelry by now. It’s an amazing new site that Jess (of frecklegirl) and her husband Casey have been working on. It’s an online knitting notebook/community where we fiber nerds can hang out, interact with each other and geek out over yarns and patterns. I got an invite a week or so ago and have been having a total blast. I know that a lot of you are waiting to get in, and I know many people are frustrated, but I assure you that it will be worth the wait. Jess and Casey have been working hard (really really hard!) to make sure that the site is up to snuff, and that it doesn’t go down in flames when it opens. It will be ready soon though, so try to bear with it just a little longer ;)

Oh yeah, and here’s the part you were hoping would come…I have 2 Ravelry invites to give away to you, my lovely readers. In an attempt to not be stampeded on, or accused of favoritism, I will be giving away these invites to 2 random commenters. Just leave a comment on this post by tomorrow morning at 9 AM MDT, and I’ll randomly pick 2 people to send an invite to. If you currently have a Ravelry account, just be sure to let me know in the comment so I don’t pick you.

That’s it for me, so good afternoon and good luck!

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Adam

in albuquerque, customers, dyeing, finished objects, home, knitting, ravelry, socks and yarn nerd

Green-”ish” Thumb 03 May 07

19 Comments

So you know when you don’t talk to someone for a while, and you have a lot to catch up on, but you don’t really know where to start? That’s about how I feel, even then it’s only been a week since my last post. (Although in the Interwebs, 7 days is pretty much like an era!) It seems like my life has been nothing but school this week…and maybe it seems like that because it’s true!

I’ve just been chugging along, getting ever so close to that light at the end…even though it still feels like I’m going in circles. I did finish classes today, now I just have 3 finals to go. Sadly, the last take home final isn’t assigned until the 2nd to last day of finals week, so I still have 8 days before I’m free and clear. And no sooner will I get there than I’ll be starting preliminary thesis research for the summer, so it won’t really ever end. Such is the life of a grad student I suppose. Just one more year…one more year…

It hasn’t been all work and no play this last week though, I did get to do a lot of work with these lovelies:

I’m not exactly the biggest green thumb in the world, but I’m trying to learn. It also helps to have a Mom who’s pretty much the gardening queen of the universe. Just a little.

I am both enamored and creeped out by Lamb's Ear

I planted a container with flowers, a container with some Lamb’s Ear (I’m not sure whether to be enamoured or creeped out by this stuff) and grasses, and the coup de grace: an herb garden. There’s nothing than I love more than some fresh herbs, and now I have a little herb store in my front yard!

I have no idea what they are...but aren't they pretty?

I think all those lovely flowers should suffice for Eye Candy Friday, don’t you?

I also have a bit of fiber love to spread too. First up, check out the Tree Scum yarn that Anne spun for me! Isn’t is amazing? We’re doing a hand-spun for hand-dyed trade, and I’m super excited since I’ve never knit with handspun before. I can’t wait to dye her yarn so we can trade and I can get to the knitting! Second, it’s another FO made with Yarn Nerd yarn! Teresa knit up this gorgeous Clapotis with some of my 900 MHz Merino in the Berrylicious! colorway. Isn’t it awesome?

In other fiber news, I finished my first Broad Spiral Ribbed sock the other day, and immediately cast on for the second. I’m not sure if I could ever allow myself to fall prey to Second Sock Syndrome…I think the guilt alone would cause me severe anguish. Anyway, I love this sock and can’t wait to finish the pair.

I used a Slip Stitch Heel with Garter Edges and a Round Toe (definitely a new favorite). The Broad Spiral Rib pattern is from More Sensational Knitted Socks. This Austermann Step yarn is nice, but I’m not quite sure that the “Aloe and Jojoba enriched” claims are entirely true. Although the colors are so nice, I think I’ll forgive the marketing speak.

I’m glad the previous weekend was relaxing, because I think that this weekend will definitely have a significant portion of take home finals and math books. Do you have anything fun planned?

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Adam

in customers, finished objects, home, knitting, school, socks and unm

Phew! 24 Feb 07

11 Comments

Man am I tired! Has it really been since Tuesday? It seems like that last blog post was about 5 minutes ago, that’s how fast things moved this week. Between homework, work, wedding prep (more on that in a second) and Yarn Nerd stuff I’ve been quite the busy bee. I only finished dinner an hour ago, because I’ve been cleaning all day!

Why you ask? Well it all starts with wedding prep. The astute among you might remember that my brother got engaged back in August. Well the time is nearing, and we’re now two weeks out from the wedding. (I’m trying my hardest not to wig out completely…) My brother moved into his new apartment yesterday, which means that he moved out of my house as well. I took the opportunity to move my office into his old room, since it’s very conducive to yarn dyeing, and I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. ;)

So check out the new digs! It’s a very sunny room, and the closet has tons of room, not to mention three clothes bars which work great for drying yarn! It’s not terribly well insulated, so it’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but it’ll be fine since I won’t be sleeping there. Oh yeah, and it has a separate entrance on the front of the house, how cool is that? I should totally get a neon sign that says “Yarn Nerd” and hang it in the window.

I wasn’t content to just move though…I’m a total neat freak, so I ended up cleaning the whole house from head to toe. It was like pre-spring cleaning day around Chez Adam…no baseboard was left un-vacuumed, no toilet left unscrubbed and no trash can left unemptied. So now 4 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, and 3 bathrooms later, I’m pretty pooped out! (I guess I should have picked a smaller house!)

I think I’ll make some tea and settle down for a little knitting, especially since Arcade Fire is on SNL tonight! Wanna see what I’m working on? It’s just a little shawl type project that I’m making as a gift for a friend. (Details blurred since they’ll most likely read this.) I’m knitting it with my 900 MHz Sock Merino in the new Raspberry Sherbet colorway. It’s the first time I’ve knitted with my new base yarn, and I must say, it’s quite nice!

Have a great weekend! What’s left of it at least!

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Adam

in a nerd's life, family, gifts, home, knitting, shop, works in progress and yarn nerd

Buried Alive 30 Dec 06

14 Comments

I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to write this post, seeing as I’ve been sitting at home all day, but here goes.

We’re trapped!!! Someone come help us!!! Ok, it’s really not that bad, but there’s definitely a lot of snow here in New Mexico. So much in fact, this storm has set a new record for the most snow Albuquerque has ever received. I think it’s 14.8″ at the airport and counting. I have around 18″ at my house and it finally stopped snowing a bit ago.

I woke up this morning to find that a big branch from my front tree actually snapped off. This poor tree has been cracked and broken for a while now, and all the snow hasn’t been too kind to it. Luckily the fallen branch missed my neighbor’s car, but only by a few inches. He ventured out into the weather before I took this picture, but man was that branch close. There’s also another branch on the tree that’s very close to breaking. I’m not entirely sure this poor tree will live to see the spring.

The dogs usually love the snow, but they’re not too keen on the fact that it’s taller than they are. Poor Emma couldn’t even go into the yard until I dug out a path for her. She kept getting completely buried!

I’ve done a lot of knitting (almost to the heel flap on my Yarn Pirate sock) and yarn winding today, but I’m starting to get restless. It doesn’t help that I’ve been home from work all week (Sandia Labs closes the week after Christmas); and that all my family is on the westside doing puzzles and eating good food, while I’m stuck here. My roommate is here, but he never leaves his room and doesn’t talk to me much, so that’s not much in the way of human interaction. So send me some cherry comments ok? It’d help to know that there’s still people out there in the world :)

This is Adam, your Mount Everest Albuquerque knitting correspondent, signing off.

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Adam

in albuquerque, home, knitting, snow, socks, vacation and works in progress

Snow Day! 19 Dec 06

11 Comments

12/20: Still snowing…Work is on a 2 hour delay this morning, cause the roads aren’t looking too good. If you’re in Albuquerque too, hope you’re enjoying it, cause it looks like we’re going to get plenty more these next few days.

Yeah, it’s a Snow Day! I even got early dismissal from work! This was the sight that greeted me when I got home from work (although it did take a whole hour to get home).

There was about 3″ of snow in the highest parts, which I haven’t seen in Albuquerque for quite some time. I was expecting the storm to peter out about an hour or so after it started, but it went strong all afternoon. I don’t mind, cause it’s lovely and means I got to make some comfort food for dinner.