Project Spectrum Update

I finished the first sock for G! And it happens to be blue, so I am half done with a PS project. I must say, I am not rushing out to start the next sock. This one took me about a month. Blah. But it's pretty, isn't it? G loves it.







I also finished the back of my green sweater. I saved the front for last. Yes, I have been avoiding the short rows. It is not the how to that worries me, but the placement and how many to do. What if I end up with cups coming out the side of the sweater or at the top of my books, or just under them (which would give me sort of a four boob effect, wouldn't that be attractive?)? When I took the short row class at Stitches East, I think the teacher said that you just need to do a couple of rows of short rows. But I am "luckier" than the average girl in that area so I kinda doubt a couple will be enough for me.

So, I have two things I should be working on. But of course instead I want to start a hat, wrist warmers, something lacy and a tea cozy (I really do. I drink tea every day and I want it cozier!).

Ah, nice lazy day. I have the day off. But not because it is snowing with freezing rain forecast for the evening commute. Considering I telecommute, that would be pretty funny. No, I get a comp day for the weekend work I did in Aruba. Sweet! I didn't even sleep in. Ten years ago (probably even two years ago), I would have slept til 11:00 then watched E! for hours. But now I don't want to miss any of my precious day off! Of course, when I say I didn't sleep in, I should disclose that I normally wake up at 9:00 because I work in the next room on CENTRAL time. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to get up, wash my face, make my tea and yogurt and be in my desk at 8:30 in Wisconsin. Tee hee hee. I love it.

Oh, and I updated my blog template. I was tired of the green. I had started calling it "eek green" cause it was so bright and clashed with so many colors. I played around with new Blogger today and I like some of the new features.

Socks on the Beach

I knit socks on the beach in Aruba last week. I mostly worked on G's sock made from C*EYE*BER Fiber handdyed yarn in "Ocean mist" that I bought from the Cloverhill booth at Stitches East. Matches the background nicely, doesn't it?





I also worked on this sock in a DK weight on size 3s. Cause, I love G, but his feet are BIG (well, to be fair they're not that much bigger than mine) and it took me a month to finish one sock. I am loving the sock on size 3s. It's like "speed socks."



Aruba was lovely. The water was amazingly turquoise and warm. The sand was soft. We got sit under these beach huts called "palapas." We got to see beautiful sunsets and had some amazing dinners. In fact, the main restaurant at our hotel (Raddison) was recently named the "best restaurant in the Caribean." But G and found that it wasn't even the best restaurant in Aruba! It was a very good restaurant, but we had much better service and much, much better food at three other places. We ate lots of good fish, some fried yuca and plantains (I could have had a whole meal of these! Wish I knew someplace in Baltimore to get them) and some yummy island drinks. But I only had one mojito (my favorite drink); somehow our hotel was out of mint that week.

We didn't really explore the island. Since I was working every morning and early afternoon until Thursday, I just wanted to relax on the beach after work. We did explore the area restaurants though, which made me happy. When I travel alone I don't always have the energy to venture far from the hotel and consequently end up eating in the same boring hotel restaurants or room service. I like when G can come along on work trips. He plans out our meals.

Oh and he got us a couples massage. It was wonderful, well mostly. It was the kind of massage where they do the quick, pounding with their hands on your legs and arms for part of the massage. And I have a bruise on my leg! And I had to pee for the last 30 mintutes (including the stomach massage part!) so I had to concentrate on holding it and not enjoying the last bit of the massage. But afterwards, I did feel so relaxed and loose. G loved his too.

The other big thing about Aruba was the iguanas and lizards. G was obssessed with them. They were everywhere (G even saw some swimming in the pool on our first day!). He had fun tracking them with the camera and he got some good shots.





They got a little too close for (my) comfort during lunch. I seriously thought this guy was going to jump on our table.



The first night there were two cats begging at dinner (the hotel adopts any feral cats that adopt it and has them fixed and feeds them, but like any cat anywhere they were trying to scam more food) and later in the week we dined with iguanas.

The other wild life that G was obssessed with were the comerants. He tried to photograph them just as they dove into the water.

(I must say we have good wild life sighting luck on beach trips: we saw tons of dolphins in Delaware, whales in Maui, seals in Cape Cod and now iguanas!)

I have lots more photos, but for now, I'll leave you with a shot I call "Water, ahh..."

Uniquely Me

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 7 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

My first name is common enough:
There are 406,457 people in the U.S. with the first name Theresa.
Statistically the 137th most popular first name.
More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Theresa are female.

But my last name is rare:
There are 5,009 people in the U.S. with my last name
Statistically the 6,885th most popular last name. (tied with 52 other last names)

But if I go by my maiden name, then I am not so unique; there are 73 of us. That's cause there are 53,994 people with that last name in the U.S.

But then I checked my friend L's name and it said there were 0 people in the U.S. with that name. In fact, my OTHER friend L doesn't exist either, according the site. So, it seems howmanyofme.com is not very accurate. Either that or it can't process Russian names.

A Tangled Skein Now Open!

The Hyattsville store, A Tangled Skein opened in late Jan., I am told (thanks annonymous commenter!). The Web site is up too.

Now, G and I just need to find time for a trip to Franklin's. This weekend he will be busy writing a paper. And Sunday night we are headed to D.C. for a show (I can't remember the name of the singer right now, Alexis something or other) with his aunt. Of course, Hyattsville is on the way to D.C. ... We might need to take a break and have some beer and yarn. :)

A write up of my trip to Aruba is coming soon.