SailingKnitter

Look at what I stumbled upon here in the tiny town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico - spinning wheels!! Multiple spinning wheels!! And to make it even better - this is the carpenter shop that made these wheels!!

Hikuri is now a charming patio restaurant, with a silkscreening workshop and a Huichol indian art gallery/store. Jones bought a vibrant silkscreen t-shirt with Huichol artwork the other day. So what's the connection to these wheels? Seems that the owners made these to help the local Huichol indians spin the wool yarn faster for their weavings. It's a great story that you can check out here .

The weavings are absolutely beautiful as you can see by the photo! Of course, I see inspiration for colorwork knitting with the patterns and colors. Next summer, when we return to this area to hole up for the hurricane season, I plan to find out more about the Huichol weavings and yarn production. For now, we're just a few days away from traveling south again so we have to concentrate on boat repairs (I say "we" when y'all know it means "Jonesy").
Jonesy is repairing the aft head (again) as I write this blog. We had to go into town (Puerto Vallarta) yesterday and spend $160 US dollars on a new pump for it. This is after he has spent hours unclogging the exit hoses of seawater "crust" and whatever else. Poor guy!!! He changed the oil in the generator the other day, installed eyebolts for me to hang the new sunscreen drapes in the cockpit that I made, and took the propane tank into La Cruz to have it refilled. Chores - life is never without chores, we just have different ones than most other folks.
But we still have time to party! Here's a photo of us at Philo's with fellow cruisers Danny and Deborah of Cyclades a beautiful New Zealand built wood 48 foot ketch. Yeah, I'm knitting as usual.

And speaking of knitting (which I guess I always do) I found a thread & yarn shop (Hilo y Estambres) in the small town of Bucerias!!! No wool (lana). Just acrylic, nylon, and cotton. Plus everything is in dusty plastic bags behind the counter which is the norm at most traditional shops. Everything is so dusty because the roads aren't paved, so most merchandise is protected in plastic. Sure makes it hard to shop. Plus you have to ASK for what you want. Tough to do when we're struggling to learn more spanish.
I still have a tremendous stash of yarn on the boat so it's no biggie. The only real "problem" is trying to control myself from starting too many projects at the same time.
After a long day of knitting, it's time to curl up in my hammock for some quiet quality time - and watch for distant spouts from the whales in the bay.