SailingKnitter

Christmas Stocking Purse Ornament

Well, I've been having fun knitting up some holiday ornaments lately. I know I'm a little warped...I just love to create colorful little decorations and share the pattern with other knitters. So here's my Stocking Purse Ornament which is a new design for the Holiday Mystery Gifts Yahoo group this month.

This little hanging purse is only 3" wide and about 7" long and is knit with Knit Picks Palette fingering weight wool yarns. Add a ribbon to tie onto the tree or as a package tie. The purse frame was found at a dollar store as a ready-made purse. I simply removed the old (glued in and squeezed into the frame) fabric so that the knit ornament could be glued into the frame instead. I haven't decorated mine yet - but I'm planning to add (sew or glue) colorful seed beads to the Christmas Trees, and perhaps clear seed beads to the snowflakes on the foot.

This little guy is big enough to hold a gift card, or any other special gift. Anyway, the pattern is free only during the month of May to members of the group. After this month, the pattern will be for sale on Ravelry.com.

Jonesy on the seaside Malacon on Isla Mujeres

We moved the boat yesterday from our great spot in the anchorage in the harbor. We motored through a narrow channel and up into a well-protected lagoon here on Isla Mujeres. The weather forecast is for a storm from the north to sweep through here starting tonight which will bring high winds from the northwest. As the harbor anchorage is open to the sea to the northwest, that means the wind-driven waves will roar through the harbor. Not fun. Usually the winds are from the east where the island protects us from the waves. So, we hoisted the anchor and fled to safety.

A couple of nights ago we experienced the WORST thunderstorm we've ever seen!
The lightning was so fierce that even though it was night, the whole area was lit up like daytime! The light from the flashes was a solid light reflected by the storm clouds and the strikes so brilliant that I had to close my eyes. And it was right on top of us! The squall winds were clocked by another boat at 50 knots! The gusts blew us over first on the starboard side and then over on the port side. The rain was blowing sideways which means that it came right in the ports (windows) on the hull before we scampered to close them and crank down the handles. We were fine - didn't even drag the hook although several boats did and one ended up on the rocks (but he's OK).

Jonesy negotiates the dinghy dock - or what's left of it

Is there a good part of it? Yep, the silver lining is that we got a thorough freshwater wash down of the boat which was still crusted with salt crystals from our rough trip up to Mexico! But I do have to wonder if the little dock that we use to tie up our dinghy when we go to town is even still standing now. This picture was taken before the storm - what do you think? We'll let you know...

In the meantime, we'll hang out on the boat and for now, enjoy the much cooler air temperatures (78 degrees this morning) that the latest front has brought down from the north.