SailingKnitter

I am finally making progress again on this Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong sweater although I am still a FLAKer slacker. Yes, it has been languishing for years on the needles, and no, I don't even need it anymore. But I'm determined to finish it for the orphanage in Kazakhstan. Some big kid will get a warm, tightly-knit wool pullover. I make myself work 2 rounds minimum each day. Creeping, creeping along (in Wool of the Andes, by Knit Picks in discontinued color 'rain').

After my brain, and hands get tired from twisting all of the cables on the sweater, I pick up my sock knitting to relax. These are a little pair of baby socks from my trusty Tiny Treasures pattern for the baby house in Kazakhstan. The yarn did all of the color changes for me, I just knit.

Then, because there was a lot of leftover yarn and the group needs another several hundred pairs of socks for the kids next fall, I knit a pair of 7" foot children's socks. These were soon finished, so I dug out a pair of teenager socks that I never finished (because I didn't take enough brown yarn on my trip to the states) and finished them (because I had found the brown yarn on the boat).

These are a wilder version of my Handsome Devil Socks pattern. The slip-stitch patterning makes a nice textured leg and top of foot which should be toasty warm too.

So, we're still in French Harbor/Fantasy Island at anchor in the rain today (yes we have internet on the boat!). Yesterday was sunny & beautiful and we both jumped in the water to cool off and get a tad of exercise. As we were drying off on deck we were lucky enough to see a big rainbow from the reef over the Fantasy Island resort and ending at the top of a jungle covered hill on the island. Picture perfect! I was too busy testing the swing of the hammock to get the camera out so you'll just have to trust me on this one.
Oh! There was other knitting progress made this past couple of weeks - I finally worked the 2nd armhole edging and sewed buttons on my Grass Creek Vest designed by Mabel Corbett. It's knit with pure Shetland wool - you know, from the isle of Shetland as in Scotland.

And I knit a cotton washcloth for a cruiser-friend from the January Dishcloth pattern from the Holiday Mystery Gifts group. The color striping was done for me by the yarn - Sugar'n Creme Striping worsted weight.
There was some "good watching" here in the bay this past week. This is a photo of our friend's boat s.v. Hooligan with a large barge & tug doing a 180 degree turn off their bow. Tim & Paula & dog-crew Nigel were ashore on a walk when this took place so I documented it for them. A brand new dry dock facility complete with 300 TON travel lift just opened up this past few days and this barge was one of it's first customers. I guess having large ships and barges moving throughout the anchorage is going to become the norm here. Of course we've always had the shrimp fishing boats coming and going as seen in this photo (the orange boats are shrimpers). The travel lift though is good news for us boat owners who now have another option for hauling our yachts out if need be.

So, that's been life aboard s.v. Niki Wiki - lots of quiet times, social outings, reading, knitting, cooking, and even a little boat repairs. Jonesy managed to caulk up the leak in the dinghy transom so our floor is now dry! And I smeared silicon caulk around the hard dodger to try and stop the drips that were leaking into our Navigation Station area inside. Well, the drips have slowed - but now it looks like they're coming in from the window. Next sunny day....