SailingKnitter

What do you do with leftover sock yarns? Knit MonsterSocks! This pair, fresh off the needles, are worked with various brown and gray shades of yarns. They are not quite identical because some of the yarns were self-patterning. But fraternal twin socks still keep teenagers' feet warm in Kazakhstan.

On the needles now is the 2nd sock of a pair knit with black/pink/purple self-striping Regia yarn. Simple, basic socks are what gets tossed in my purse for social knitting. The more social events, the more simple socks get done. Every Friday a group of us cruising women get together at a different restaruant each week and enjoy a "Ladies' Luncheon". This is a Cartagena restaurant which is located in what used to be the animal stable of a home hundreds of years ago! Now, it's a lovely spot to have a meal.

Life Aboard
The good news is we have plenty of meat (colombian sausages, chicken, hot dogs, beef) to share at the Cruiser's BBQ Potluck tonight. The bad news is our refrigerator/freezer unit died yesterday. Unfortunately, there is not a replacement compressor here in Colombia. So, Monday morning, Jonesy will be on Skype (computer telephone) to call the states and see if we can get one sent via FedEx to us here. In the meantime, I guess we'll have to use the ice chest and eat out more often (yippppeeee!)

We've been getting the boat ready for some long-term cruising of the remote San Blas Islands again. The exterior stainless fixtures have been polished, and the wood trimmings are freshly varnished all thanks to the excellent work of Jose who works non-stop for $30 per day. Our fire extinguishers have been recharged and we purchased one additional unit. Jonesy installed a 12-volt little fan in my galley so now I have a constant delicious breeze while I cook or do dishes. Which means, I'll cook more often (but not necessarily wash dishes more often).

Oh, and the battery charger for the engine and generator start batteries failed last week. So, Jonesy found another battery charger and installed it which is not all that pleasant a task as he has to crouch down under the floor hatches and wiggle around to get in tight spaces. The new unit is not as powerful as the old unit, but is a good choice for what we need it to do for us. Suddenly we've been hit with some equipment failures and expenses that were not anticipated. That's life aboard a sailing vessel.
The Club Nautico marina is hard at work on their new building and docks. Six days a week there are a crew of men working in the hot sun on this new dock right next to our boat. Everything is done with manual, human labor and crude tools. When you can get this type of labor for $10 a day and the cost of machinery is astronomical or the stuff is non-existant here, the choice for strong men is obvious. Of course, their work has made it noisy for us, and difficult for us to get on and off of our boat. Before and after this hard day of work, a lot of the men take out their bucket and single line & fish hook and fish off of the docks. Some days they get quite a haul! To be able to get some food protein is a real bonus for people living on the edge of poverty.


So, I'll leave you now with this - yep, a size 18 mannequin wearing size 6 clothes. I know that gals like to wear their clothes tight around here (don't know how they can stand to do that in the heat!), but this is a bit too much "gappage". I do love the realistic mannequin though including the midrift bulge!