SailingKnitter

Our sailing vessel Niki Wiki sits here tied to the dock at Club Nautico, Cartagena - but only for a couple more days! Soon, the diver will swim down and release our 5 bow lines from the moorings at the bottom of the bay. We'll toss the lines off the stern and off we'll go! Well, go, as in go over to the fuel dock and fill the tanks with diesel. Then we'll anchor out in the bay for a night to sort through all of the onboard systems.

Then we'll be off to explore more of the San Blas Islands (Kuna Yala). Look closely and you will be able to see Jonesy sitting up on the bow of Niki Wiki monitoring the sunset, and I'm standing on the stern (backend) watching the fellow take a picture of us. Why have someone else take the picture? Well, the new dock that has been being built next to us this past couple of months is not complete (this is where the picture was taken from). There is only a concrete framework. I tried to walk the plank, balancing on the narrow (8-inch wide) beams, but it was just too scary.

Here is my latest pattern to be introduced to the Holiday Mystery Gifts Yahoo group..."Bumps in the Night" Fingerless Mitts or Mittens. These are knit with sock weight yarn and have a simple garter stitch columns and 'bumps' patterning. The bumps are like bobbles but are much more subtle and are worked in just one row so they are easier too. Although I made a fingerless mitt as a sample for the pattern, I will be ripping back the top edgings on this hand and knitting it up as a matching full mitten. That's because it will be sent to the Akkol Orphange through the Mittens for Akkol Yahoo group.

Yesterday a group of us went over to Mister Emerald's shop on the Boca Grande penninsula here in Cartagena for a lecture about emeralds. Colombia is known for their emeralds ("Romancing the Stone") and we all wanted to know more about this RARE rock. This photo is of a natural emerald in it's hexagonal crystal shape with a flat top. This one is very large but has a lot of inclusions or other material which clouds the stone. Thus it doesn't have gemstone quality. But, of all the stones I saw, I like this one the best!