SailingKnitter

Socks, socks and mittens. That's been the excitement in these waters this past week. I've been merrily churning out warm goodies for the kids at the orphanages in Kazakhstan from the yarns that my guests brought down to me in March.

Notice the sailboat sock blockers? Those are my new treasures. I bought a set in Adult Medium and another set for the Adult Large socks that I make. The lace patterned socks especially need a good stretch to show detail, and I also like the crispness of a sock fresh off the blockers.  They are made from wood and have lovely finishing and can be purchased from Chappy's Fiber Arts and Crafts EBAY store.

This first pair is a simple knit with a self-patterning yarn. The next photo is a pair where I knit the leg and foot in black with the cuff, heel, and toe in a self-patterning yarn. These are a pair of socks to demonstrate parts of a sock for my upcoming sock knitting class in Oregon this July. Of course after the class these socks will be bundled up with whatever has been finished up to that point and sent off to the Motherless Child Foundation.

The obligatory foot over water shot taken from the boat

After anchoring out here in French Key Harbor for a few weeks we are ready to set sail and wander up-island a bit. The plan is to leave tomorrow (Sunday) or wait to Monday if the winds haven't settled down. Our plan is to anchor a spell in Calabash Bight and Port Royal - still on this island of Roatan. Hurricane season is approaching and we want to go-see-do in more natural places. Internet access will be spotty if at all.

A large part of my yarn goodie bag from my guests was some worsted weight alpaca, silk, and merino wool blend in assorted yummy colors! This yarn is incredibly soft - so I decided to match up the multi-plied "twists" with some solid colors and make mittens for the kids in Kaz. I actually got going on these because we had some very humid days and I couldn't knit on my wood needles which I use for socks. They were just so tacky/sticky and the stitches wouldn't slide. But the knitting must go on! So I whipped out my big sized metal needles and made these 2 pairs of adult sized mittens.
On a recent (hot) walk, we spotted these orchids blooming. The actual orchid plant is rather ugly, but the flowers are so lovely! I left my fingers in the photo so get an idea for the scale of these little blooms. When we get to see something special like this it makes getting our exercise worthwhile (other than the health benefits).

So off we go!