SailingKnitter

Australian Homespun Magazine, May 2018

It's here! I just received my copy of the May 2018 Australian Homespun Magazine which includes their special feature about Extreme Knitting. Why am I so excited? Because I'm one of the "extremists".

A few years ago, my diving buddies challenged me to knit underwater while we were all living anchored out on our sailboats at Roatan Island, Honduras in the Western Caribbean. I'm always up for a new adventure, so after a beautiful dive along the reef's wall in the West End, we stopped for our usual decompression safety stop and I knit.

This publication is marvelous! They have all sorts of fiber/textile activities such as quilting, sewing, knitting, embroidery and much more. It's a complete fiber artist bundle of joy! There are pull-out templates tucked into the magazine that are ready to use for your own craftiness. Anyway, I'm honored that they asked me to participate.

A big thank you shout out to sailing vessel "Interlude" for sharing your passion for diving (and your equipment) with me and for making these photos possible. Jonesy and I miss you gals.

Coming back down off of my cloud of celebrity-extremism to real life, and the little projects that have keep me entertained and out of trouble...here are some bracelets that I created from up-cycling jeans.

I simply cut out some side seams from the used jeans -some right up close, and a few with about 1/4 to 3/8ths inch of
fabric left on the sides. After picking out the horizontal threads, I tossed these in the washing machine to encourage a soft frayed edge. Add a decorative button and a loop made with 1/2 of a little girl's hair band and voila! A bracelet. I made some more plain for the guys.

Last month, at a retreat with American Sewing Guild (asg.org), we learned  about using elastic hair bands for loop closures over a shank button. Serendipity happens! I was waiting for an online order to arrive with some lobster clasps as closures for these bracelets, but happily used this method instead.

These bracelets are simply something special for the kids in the orphanages I support in Kazakhstan. It is very real treat for them to be able to CHOOSE what they want to wear and have something that is different from the other kids.

On a more practical note, here are two pairs of knit and felted big wool mittens. These are intended to be worn over another pair of mittens for extra warmth.

We're continuing to enjoy the relatively mild weather here in coastal Florida. Sure, it is hot and it rains just about every afternoon, but we find windows of sunshine for our daily walking adventures. Below are pictures of an alligator, great blue heron, ibis and egret, wood stork, and manatees floating on their backs in the marina to gulp fresh water from a leaky water hose. We know to never feed or water manatees or any other wild animal as it encourages them to get used to people and could endanger them. This hose was soon shut off by the owner. Enjoy!

Alligator

Blue Heron

Egret & Ibis

Wood Stork

ee

Manatees floating on their backs drinking fresh water

Life is good.