knitting – ArgoKnot

Small Bites

March 29, 2026 | Leave a Comment

We seem to be living on tapas and small bites here in Almerimar since we don’t want to eat dinner at 9pm. In that vein I have two of my own small bite creations to post here.

I have finished the “Sonann” sweater with time to spare before the deadline for test knitters. Hooray! It is a design by “Journey through Wool” on the Isle of Uist in the Outer Hebrides. The suggested yarn is from Uist Wool, which I was not able to get in time, nor did I want to deal with our unfair tariffs. Instead I have used Jamieson’s “spindrift,” which is also a yarn from the Outer Hebrides, that I could buy through various US distributors. Of course that meant I paid the tariffs anyway, but the shipping was faster. My colors are “Sand” and “Wild Violet.” The sweater pattern will be released in mid-April on Ravelry. I enjoyed test knitting this design.

Here is a close up of the stranded pattern on the yoke. I am posting this on my ipad which doesn’t seem to allow me to re-size the photos. Since my computer will not connect to the internet I am attempting to use an ipad. Mysterious electronic glitches always occur when I am out of the US. I know it’s user error.

I may decide to rip back a good deal of this sweater, now that I’ve finished in time for the deadline for test knitters. I’m not entirely happy with the shaping, and I need to dive back into the instructions to see if I made an error in the increases or if it was in the pattern. It’s a big job, ripping all the way to where the sleeves get put on holders, but since I love the design and my yarn choices, I must do it!

My new tote bag is a gem. I am on cloud 9 that I found it almost a year after I first saw it. And I am notorious for getting my photo taken in windy places so that my hair is winging out like it’s going to sail away. Just look at the gorgeous tote bag and ignore the model. Please also notice the cute sweater on the hair-challenged model. The vest pattern is by Elenor Mortensen, and you can find her on Ravelry. This pattern is called “Eowyn Tee,” and it is knitted in the round from the top down with a clever boat neck that morphs into lace on the shoulders. I enjoyed knitting it, and enjoyed using cotton yarn (Rosario) that I bought in the Açores last summer. I certainly love knitting with yarn from places I visit. It’s the highlight of traveling for me!

The next project on my needles also uses locally sourced yarn. I saw the pattern and the yarn on a US website for the yarn store Wooly Thistle. They are carrying a variety of Spanish yarns from a company called Wool Dreamers. The yarn for this sweater is “Soana,” a 50/50 blend of Spanish merino and cotton grown in Spain. I couldn’t order it in time to get it from the Wooly Thistle before we left, and then I realized I would be in the country where this yarn is produced. So I looked at Google Maps to see how I might buy this yarn in person. No luck there as most of the yarn shops were a lot further north. Even though we had a car for a few days, it would be a really long drive to Barcelona or to Madrid. So I ordered it online and had it shipped to a local shop in Almerimar that offers package deliveries. I’ve never heard of this before. Boy, was I happy when I walked to the shop to pick up my package!

I am knitting the pattern that Wooly Thistle recommends for this yarn, and I’ve chosen a muted celadon green because I am thinking “spring.” It’s a design by Tete Beche (Orlane Sucche) called “Ilha.” I’m particularly enthralled with this design because it is supposed to evoke the baskets that are made on the islands off Portugal. What a wonderful idea, and the designer has done a very clever job of creating cabled and eyelet patterns that are quite like the wicker woven baskets from these islands. The name “Ilha” is Portuguese for “island” and is pronounced “ilyah,”. Since I enjoyed my time in the Açores so much last summer, this sweater will bring back sweet memories from that adventure.

At the moment my knitting looks like a blob. The cable and eyelet yoke will need a good wet blocking to bring out the pattern. Here is an image of the finished yoke that comes with the pattern.

And I want you to see some of the baskets that inspired this design. The open designs on some of the baskets and the braided edges on others are so well translated into knitting by this clever designer.

We have not yet moved aboard Pandora because it’s been too windy to put her in the water and move to a slip. Bob is also deep into cleaning and doing some repairs himself. Luckily the prickly man who was to rebuild Pandora’s rudder sent over a small crew to make it better. It looks quite good now. Thank heaven because a boat needs a straight rudder to steer properly! The current plan is to move aboard on Tuesday, March 31. We’ll start a new month aboard, and as soon as Mother Nature gives us a weather window we will sail to Cartagena, where I”m sure there will be more delights.

Time to knit. As always, thank you for following me!

Costa del Sol, Nijar, and Weavers

March 27, 2026 | Leave a Comment

Before I left home I searched onlinr to see if there were weavers in southern Spain as well as the Balearics, Corsica, and Sardinia. I got a long list of weavers keeping traditional patterns alive, and where to find them. I was excited to find so many possibilities of seeing the textile treasures of these places as well as connecting with weavers. Yesterday was the first adventure on the journey to meet local weavers.

Last year Bob and I had driven to Nijar, a bit east of Almeria to look for weavers. Yesterday I found all the same places! Last year I regretted not buying a handwoven tote bag from one of the shops in Nijar, and I was hoping to find it again, still full of choices. And we did! I remembered an entirely different shop, but Bob was convinced it was a place I don’t even remember seeing last year–that is until I walked inside. Then I was certain we’d found the place, and what a thrill that was. The same tile work outside the shop.

The very bag I wanted to buy last year….so I bought two in order to bring one to a weaving friend. I hope she loves it as much as I do. I will be carrying it today.

çThese were the other temptations. This wonderful loop work seems to be prominent in this part of the world. I bought a table runner in the Açores, on the island of Sao George done in this technique. I decided that as a table runner it would likely cause mishap with things falling over that I might place on it. Instead I intend to make into a long bolster pillow for our bed at home. It’s not done yet! While these bags were so tempting due to the skillful work involved, I went with my first love from last year–the simpler tote bag.

Here is the woman who was manning the shop during my visit, sitting at the loom demonstrating for me. The loom is only 2 shafts, and looks to have about a million meters of pretty fine cotton on it. The weft is heavier cotton, and she uses a fly shuttle to weave. At the moment she is weaving a rug, also a prevalent item for sale in this area.

There are tags on the tote bags I bought, so I asked the woman waiting on me if she is Isabel. She showed me a group photo on the wall and pointed to Isabel. Why didn’t I ask her name? I learned that she weaves the many handbags and tote bags that have the loop weave, yet I didn’t think to get her name. Hugely disaapointed about that.

Last year we found a cafe where we wanted to have an afternoon glass of wine and some food before driving back to Almerimar. It was just after 4pm, and they were closing until dinner at 8pm. They could not give us any food, but they did pour us two glasses of wine and asked us to leave our glasses on their door step when we left. They closed the restaurant and left while we had our wine in their scenic spot near the courtyard of a historic church. This year we arrived in time to have wine and a several tapas for lunch.

After lunch we walked through the town where I revisited a number of shops from last year. There are handwoven rugs and blankets in many of the shops, along with baskets, which this area is also known for making.

I bought a cotton blanket for Pandora, for those nights when I can’t sleep and end up in the main saloon reading or knitting. I bought a moss green twill patterned blanket like the one on the top shelf at the right of this photo. I wish I could get the table and chairs home somehow, but this photo will have to do.

There were also lovely hand embroidered pillows, and a remarkable collection of baskets. Just a reminder–both baskets and handwoven tapestry can still only be made by hand. There are no machines that can weave tapestry or baskets.

In taking a walk through the town I found this beautiful cutwork embroidered curtain. Too bad about the reflections, but I hope you can tell how well it is made.

We arrived here on Monday, where Pandora has been waiting for us since August. The repairs are not done to Bob’s hopes, which is something we always face when having things done at a long distance. The man managing our repairs did not stay on top of things, so the big inverter never got diagnosed to be either repaired or replaced, and the man who was doing the repair to our rudder from the orca attack, did a less than stellar job. He is quite prickly and declared that Bob is too much of a perfectionist (not his exact words–he used more colorful language) to appreciate the work that was done. Hmmm….

But on more positive subjects, this is almost a perfect time to be on the Costa del Sol. The sun is brilliant, while the temps are quite cool, so I am wearing sweaters every day! At this time of year–late winter/early spring– the winds are very strong, coming down from the mountains. Since this is desert, there is fine sand everywhere. Sometimes the mountains are shrouded in a cloud of sand somewhat similar to fog.

We have rented an Air BnB in a condominium complex. It is quite nice, and gives us a way to relax in comfort while Bob deals with various things to get Pandora ready to sail. It is too windy to launch her into the water at this point. On top of repairs and replacement of the inverter, we have to put all the sails back on her. We have a new Code 0, our biggest sail, but as I understand it, it’s the main sail that takes the longest to put back on. We haven’t tackled any of the sails yet because of the strong winds.

In the evenings we have a glass of wine on the balcony overlooking the rooftops of other dwellings and the boats in the habor. It’s quite magical. I should finish the Sonann sweater today and hope to get photos of me wearing it on this wonderful balcony with a view. The residences are low enough (right hand photo) that you can boat masts beyone the rooftops.

It will feel great to finish the Sonann sweater (photos soon), and even greater to move on to my next knitting project. From one of Wooly Thistle’s newsletters I learned of the Spanish yarn company, Wool Dreamers. They use locally sourced wool and cotton to make their line of yarns. Soana (not to be confused with the Sonann sweater name!) is a 50/50 blend of local merino wool and locally grown cotton. Wooly Thistle carries this yarn, but how could I NOT try to buy it in Spain?? As it turns out, I could not get it within a reasonable driving distance of this area. However, I could order it and have it delivered to a postal receiving place right here in Almerimar. So that’s what I did. Here are photos of the yarn and the pattern I will make with it.

I’m happy to be here, encountering weavers and seeing the skills of locally made textiles and baskets, not to mention pottery and other wares. It’s a great start to our season sailing in the Med. I just need calm seas to move to our next destination, and only the wind can decide when and where we’ll head next.

Rearview

February 10, 2026 | 2 Comments

The year 2025 has been twirling around in my head for a couple of months now. I don’t think of myself as goal oriented (although my husband declares I am), but I do feel it helps me if I take inventory of what I made in the past year. It’s taken a me a few weeks to get around to this, and I found that I needed to document some things with photos.

The main thrill of the past year for me was travel! I have never managed to go so many places in one year as I did in 2025. Bob will take all the credit for that since he sailed our boat Pandora to the Açores and then on to the Mediterranean, enduring an attack by orca whales to get to his destination, knowing that his trip made it possible for me to see a bit of Europe. Being in the Açores for a month, Scotland and the Outer Hebrides for two weeks, and finally southern Spain and Madrid for another two weeks was such an eye opener for me, being immersed in the many kinds of handwork done in these richely cultural places. I’ve written about the Açores and Scotland in previous posts. I’d like to write about Spain, but not today. I have developed a new tapestry talk about the many tapestries I saw at Galeria de las Colectiones in Madrid, and I will try to cover that here sometime soon.

From September until just before Thanksgiving in November, I took the Maiwa Natural Dye Worshsop, led by Charlotte Kwon and her daughter Sophena. Every week of the 10 weeks I spent 5 days dyeing, usually about 4-5 hours a day. The workshop came with new videos each week as well as PDFs to print and put in a notebook. The instructions were thorough. I got fabulous colors that led to dreaming about future projects. I gained so much knowledge after decades of fumbling around with dyes and taking short classes at various conferences. This workshop is incredibly in-depth, and I now feel I have a reasonable amount of knowledge, and even better, confidence!

Yum, right? I thought all these samples would go in a notebook, but it turns out we only had to cut a small bit off each skein of yarn or length of fabric, so I have plenty to plan to use in some small projects. Whatever I end up making will be such treasures from this workshop. I have spent about 10 hours cataloguing everything in the journal that came with the class. That’s on the upper right below. The lower left shows all the original dyes done on white and grey yarn, white wool fabric, white silk fabric, natural and white linen fabric, and cotton and cotton/hemp fabrics. Above it on the left are all the original yarns and fabrics dipped in indigo to change the colors. The lower right shows all the original shades dipped in a 2% iron solution to darken the colors. This is a tremendous cache of color on beautiful fabrics. Now that it’s all safely documented in the journal I want to start making things with these bits of fabric.

The notebook was rather a lot of work–far more tedious than dyeing! So I thought I should make a short video describing it.

I’ve been feeling rather UNsuccessful in my weaving projects this year. I am making almost no progress on the ruana fabric made with single-spun Hebridean wool from the Isle of Uist. All the yarns are the natural colors of the sheep, and I arranged them in a gradation on the warp. The one color that I had the most of is the weft. I wish it were off the loom already so I could put the ruana together. Oh well. I feel a bit better about my lack of progress when I realized how much time I devoted to dyeing right up to the holidays.

Aren’t these buttons sweet? I also bought them in the Outer Hebrides, at a shop called the Weaving Shed on the Isle of Lewis.

I grow older in the first month each year, and this year I have entered the next decade…70. Whoa. That’s a hurdle for me emotionally. A number of my friends (and Bob too!) are ahead of me, looking great and still in full control of their faculties, mentally and physically, so I am trying to believe I can do that too!

My children and grandchildren, and one significant other spent a long weekend with me to celebrate this landmark birthday. Tori, our oldest granddaughter (of three) made pasta and then turned it into ravioli….and she did it in front of an audience. She’s a natural!

And we had some great relaxation time in between cooking and being outside in our biggest snowstorm, walking in the woods and building two snowmen.

t was a year ago that I finished this tapestry. Hard to believe. It seems like more than that. Again, this is a realization that helps me make peace with the fact that my current tapestry has barely 1″ woven. Where does the time go?

This afternoon I took stock of the knitting I did last year. I had such a great time buying yarn in the Açores, in Scotland, and in Spain. I actually did something with a fair amount of it. Go me! The grey cotton yarn is from Horta, on Faial, in the Açores. The cowl on the left is a free pattern on Ravelry, and the cowl on the right is “Inspira,” also on Ravelry.

The pattern yarn in the stranded knit sweater is from the Weaving Shed, mentioned above. It’s a blend of merino and silk that is probably not from the Hebirdes, but it was dyed by one of the sisters at this company. The other sweater is 100% cashmere yarn that my son Rob gave me for Christmas in 2024. I wasn’t sure how to best use it, so I just made a simple top/down, raglan sleeve striped sweater in the round. I don’t think it weighs more than an ounce, yet it is SO warm.

My friend Jody took a photo of me wearing my new Scottish sweater, which is entirely Scottish yarn but a design by German designer Elenor Mortensen on Ravelry. I am standing outside the iconic Griswold Inn in Essex, CT.

Not too bad a rearview assessment of making things last year. I feel better now. Bob has been busy as well during our months at home. He made a couple of cutting boards, done with end grain, a rather complicated desk for our son Chris who wanted a pull out tray underneath for his keyboard. Now he is making good progress on an “L” shaped desk for his office.

Finally, i want to mention a book I’ve just finished reading: With Her Own Hands by Nicole Nehrig. It has given me some clarity in looking back at my last year of working in textiles, as well as my long history of doing so. I have been knitting for over 60 years now, and weaving for 50. Weaving tapestry for just over 25. Spinning and kumiho are also reaching the 30 year point. The author describes things in life that are beyone words, that some people can only respond to life visutally, not with words. I have always turned to words, but this book made me see that there are times when events and life experiences cannot be contained or described by words. Sometimes those of us who work with our hands can only respond in the ways we are comfortable expressing ourselves visually. This has been a year like that.

“Counting stitches or holding a complex pattern in mind may distract a knitter, crocheter, or weaver from worries. We lose self-consciousness through absorption in the activity. The repetition involved can lead to a hypnotic, calm state, a kind of meditation through motion. Textile work confers a sense of control and mastery that can counter balance the lack of control we may experience over what is happening in our larger world.” –Nicole Nehrig

Whatever you are currently working on, I hope it gives you this sense of calm, of meditation, and a strong sense of balance. Onward we go.

An Abundance of Good

June 3, 2025 | 1 Comment

It’s almost June, and I have been writing blogposts in my head for about two months. None of them has made it to reality here on this site. I am approaching the end of my 3 1/2 months at home before leaving to go back to Pandora in mid-June. It’s almost time to go again. Somehow, when I am living aboard it seems that several months at home will allow me to get a lot of things done. I envision myself weaving, knitting, creating every single day, but life always has other plans. Still, there has been a lot good over the past three months. In 10 days I’ll be on a plane heading to the Azores, where I will wait for Bob to arrive, unless he beats me there. There is a slight chance for that.

In spite of never accomplishing what I hope to do in any given period of time, I have experienced a tremendous amount of productivity and inspiration. I attended all the meetings I normally miss, and what an exceptional treat that was to be with so many other weavers who all have ideas worth noting. I now have a longer list of things I want to weave and knit, spin and sew. But before I can plan new projects I have to finish the ones currently on my looms, currently on my knitting needles.

This is the project I put on my Baby Wolf shortly after I returned home after taking a zoom class on double huck with Cally Booker in January, when I was aboard Pandora with no way to weave. It’s Finnish linen, single ply #8, which I think is about 2400 yards per pound. To start I set my warp at 33 epi, which is only 16 epi for each layer of the double weave. I wove two samples and washed them. I think they are both too loose.

Cally suggested I try 1/2 units of huck alternating with 1/2 units of plain weave before I decided to re-sley. It didn’t help.

I re-sleyed at 40 epi (20 for each layer), and I like what I’m getting now.

So I’m on the real project now, a cowl, with 3-4 colors in both layers of the warp, but only two colors in the weft. I may add more colors in the next cowls after this one. Of course, now I’ve decided that I want to take this with me on my summer travels. So the heat is on! I leave in 10 days.

And of course I wanted a new sweater to take with me for the windy, chilly Outer Hebrides that I’ll visit in July. I have now finished the 2nd sleeve and will sew it in later today. This is a design by Martin Storey called “Skylark,” for Rowan yarns. I bought this yarn years ago for a different sweater which called for two versions of Shibui yarns, “Fern” which is a soft organic cotton yarn, and “Twig” which is a fine linen yarn. That sweater required holding the yarns together, and of course that made it quite expensive. I thought it would look better in this design, even though this sweater “Skylark” calls for a wool yarn from Rowan. So of course this meant I was play a game of ‘yarn chicken’ which I detest doing! And I knew I was going to lose, which is why I decided to do the front bands in three strands of 16/2 linen from my weaving stash. You can see the front bands are a darker color. Then came the mistakes! Although it doesn’t show (to me) there are significant decreases after the cabled ribs at the bottom of the sweater. When I knit the right front (on the left in the photo) I forgot to do that! When I was almost finished with the shoulder shaping I realized that this part of the sweater was WAY bigger than the other front. I had to rip all the way back to the top of ribbing. Not fun, especially since it’s all stockinette stitch. Then came the next big mistake: I did not notice that I accidentally carried the front band yarn all the way across that second front until I was sewing the body pieces together. Can you imagine how frustrated I was when I realized I had another major mistake? I decided I could not face ripping back and knitting again–all that stockinette stitch. This unsightly stripe is on my right, and since I usually wear a cross body bag when I am out and about, the bag will hide most of this problem. If I get really inspired (unlikely) I could duplicate stitch with the darker yarn in various other places to continue the look. I often find that if I wear something before I consider it finished I never go back to do the embellishments I’ve planned. I am going to wear this sweater on Friday, complete with the cross body bag disguise. I’ll probably never do the duplicate stitch. It is what it is. And I won’t even mentioned that in spite of using a different yarn for the front bands, I had to go on long, deep internet search to find one more skein of “Fern” to make the 2nd sleeve. This sweater had its challenges.

A few weeks ago I found some beautiful linen fabric on Etsy. It is printed linen from Finland. I seem to be on a roll with materials from Finland. How could I resist this?

I made a simple top, except that at my level of skill that neckline was not so simple. I didn’t get the two sides of the V-neck the same, even though I re-did it three times. When I tried this on the first time I realized it needed darts, and I did manage to put those in after the fact. One point for me!

I decided to ‘decorate’ the neckline based on sage advice a weaver once gave me: If you can’t hide it, decorate it! I made some crocheted cord that is used in Romanian lace, but that only accentuated the uneven neckline. Then I tried some decorative edge embroidery, but that also drew more attention to the problem. Last ditch effort was to go through my vast scarf stash. Bingo! I found a scarf made of manipulated ribbon that I made in a workshop with Sally Shore, almost 2 decades ago! I have never had just the right top to wear this scarf, so I am thrilled that almost 20 years later it’s just the right accessory.

I no longer have any clue how we made these ribbon scarves. They were entertaining to make, and I don’t think it required as much sewing as it looks like it did.

In 10 days I leave to meet Bob in the Azores. He left home in late April and has been sailing ever since. He started in Trinidad, which is spitting distance from Venezuela, and stopped in St. Maarten and Bermuda. He got a change of crew at each stop. On May 31, he left Bermuda with two new crew members to head non-stop to the Azores. He hopes to get there by mid June, which will mean he’s been sailing for 6 weeks with no rest. He’s had technical problems and health problems along the way. He has mostly taken it all in stride, but I have not. I have to admit that I seriously thought we needed to rethink these plans. But he’s on his way, and the passage is going very well so far. The prep for this passage certainly didn’t.

I will fly to the Azores on June 15th, and just in case Bob hasn’t arrived, I have booked five days in what i hope is very comfortable hotel, right on the harbor, walking distance from a scrimshaw museum, a knitting store, and a fine craft gallery. I hope I find something wonderful to buy for Bob’s 70th birthday which is Sunday. We are missing being together on both our 48th anniversary and his landmark birthday. But he chose to do this trip so I know he’s doing what he loves.

In mid-July I will fly to Scotland to spend 2-3 weeks doing some very exciting things with a good friend whom I have traveled with numerous times. We travel well together and always have a good time. And this is when the abundance of good is going straight into the stratosphere. I have an appointment to see the tapestries that Archie Brennan’s family has given to the National Museum of Scotland. I believe they have in the neighborhood of 100 of Archie’s tapestries. They are in storage now, but I hope there will be an opportunity to display them. We all got cheated for his retrospective exhibition when it took place in July-August of 2021, when it wasn’t yet safe to travel. Maybe there is another chance for a big exhibition of his work.

After that I have an appointment to meet the current director of the Dovecot Studios. The last time I was in Scotland, and so looking forward to visiting the Dovecot, it was closed for renovations. Now is the time. I am so thankful. I’ve been asked to give a talk about Archie, so I am preparing for that, and yes, I am very nervous. The Dovecot is where Archie learned to weave, and where he established his career as a tapestry designer and weaver. He is a legend there. Here he is, age 16, in the center front, with the other weavers from that time. It is 1947 or ’48.

It’s going to be an exciting summer, full of an abundance of amazing opportunities. When I leave Edinburgh, my friend Kari and I will visit Stirling Castle to see the reproduction tapestries of the “Hunt for the Unicorn.” While I was studying with Archie and the Wednesday Group, we met the weavers from the UK, who visited the Met Cloisters in order to study the originals. Now I will get to see their finished pieces. And we’ll visit Galashiels to see the “Great Tapestry of Scotland” which is an embroidery on a vast scale, like the Bayeux Tapestry. As luck would have it, earlier this year I met three women who either worked on this monumental piece or are related to someone who did. What serendipty. Then we’ll head to the West Coast to do a sightseeing excursion through the Outer Hebrides. I’ve got a few mills and other textile places on my ‘must see’ list. I have to wonder if I’ll ever have such a textile rich trip again. It’s an abundance of good.

Short Time

February 22, 2025 | 2 Comments

This is my last week in Antigua, and the week is shaping up to be memorable. It’s our last year down here, so good byes are somewhat bittersweet. We’ll miss the friends we’ve made here, especially the locals. The future is full of possibilities with our travels to the Azores for part of June and July, and then my adventure in Scotland in the second half of July.

Bob is about to have a very exciting week. He has volunteered to greet some of the arriving mega yachts on a night this week. His watch time is 2am – 6am on Monday. His ‘job’ is to greet the yachts on arrival with a large banner, then photograph the crew standing onboard with the banner. And most importantly he will be delivering some number of cases of beer (Caribe, I think) to each yacht based on how many crew are on each boat. Here is the cast of volunteers getting their instructions.

Why is everyone looking up? There is a drone taking the photo from above. Hopefully the drone caught everyone, which I could not from where I was standing. I didn’t find Bob, but hopefully the drone did!

Antigua seems to have some kind of yacht event every week during the late winter and into spring. Right now the Caribbean 600 is about to start. Everyday we’ve watched boats go out for trials in the morning, returning in the afternoon. They motor right past us and then begin hoisting their sails. After I return home Bob will be crew on one of these behemoth vessels during the next big yachting event. He’ll be in sailing heaven. Last evening, after the volunteer event, we went to a reception for the sailors participating in the Mini Globe Race. This is an arount-the-world race of 15 very small boats, about 18 ft. long, that will be single-handed. What an interesting group.

The setting for the reception was the Sailing Academy, quite a stunning spot to spend an evening. Aside from the power boat on the left of the dock, the rest of the boats are the Mini Globe sailboats.

The founder of the Mini Globe Race, Don MacIntyre, designed the boat and then sailed around the world in it himself. He is in the center of this photo with Bob on the right and a local man from the Antigua Yacht Club on the left. Don held a reception where each sailor got to talk about what has drawn them to participate in something like this. I thought I would think they are all unhinged, but surprisingly I didn’t. Not that I would ever want to do this when I don’t even enjoy sailing between the islands down here. But, I’m amazed to say that in most cases I understood their reasoning. There are two women in this year’s race, an older woman from Spain, and a young woman from the UK.

Here is Bob with a German sailor, Christian, whose boat is named “Argo.” Part of the rules of this race is that you have to build the boat yourself, or buy it from someone who has already done the race. There aren’t too many of these boats so mostly the sailors have to make their own, either from plans or as a kit. Most of the racers have spent about two years building the boat before they can do the qualifying event of sailing from Lagos, Portugal, to Antigua. The race then leaves from Antigua (tomorrow morning) and heads to the Panama Canal.

Of the 15 entrants in this race (which will take 13 months to complete, ending back in Antigua) most are Australians, including a father/son team. Since it’s a single-handed race the son built two boats, one for his father and one for him. That was a big commitment and a big challenge. Now they will compete against each other. There was an interesting Polish man who now lives in Ireland, so his boat flies the Irish flag, which is quite a contrast to his strong Polish accent. There is one American man, Josh, whom Bob and I enjoyed meeting. He used to be an extreme mountain climber. He says sailing is lot less dangerous. Well, if he says so. He gave us his card with his website listed on it so we can track his progress. I know Bob will be glued to that, as he was when Jessica Watson sailed around the world.

Tonight there is another gathering to celebrate yet another sailing-related thing. There will be drinks and grilled food on the terrace of the yacht club, where the volunteer crowd was photographed yesterday evening. Bob is loving all this. At some point this morning the 15 Mini Globe boats will parade through the harbor blowing their air horns. They should sail right by us. Did I mention that Bob is loving all this!

Meanwhile, I am knitting, and there is a glimmer of a chance that I might finish my current project before heading home one week from today. This morning I spilled black coffee the part I am currently knitting. Horrors! I gave it a soak in cold water, trying not to get the attached yarn balls wet, and it looks like I have avoided having a stain. I can’t continue knitting until it dries. In the photo below I am checking to see if the back panel matches the number of stripes and the measurement of the first front panel. I am also taking photos to record the project in my new organizational tool, Notion. The right front and the back are now finished, and I am working on the second front panel. One week to go, including the finishing work which has some i-cord embellishment as well as sewing the pieces together. Alas, I have no buttons! I’d like to wear it in New England before the cold temperatures give way to spring.

Knowing that I will not be back here for the foreseeable future I had to buy more of Nancy Nicholsen’s island pottery. She does not ship so I feel compelled to enlarge my collection on my last few days here. Actually, I bought 4 pieces that will all be gifts. I’m not sure how I’ll get home with them since they weigh more than clothing, and I have a fair amount of that to pack. Here are my pieces, which live on Pandora and get used almost every night at dinner.

The new things I purchased are heavily packed for travel, so I can’t photograph them. I love these designs and the colors Nancy uses in her glazes. She gathers the clay locally, and her blue on blue pieces really match the color of the water here–the aqua of shallow, coastal waters and the deep indigo of the sea. These are wonderful mementos of Antigua.

My time here is now short. One week from now I will be sitting in the airport awaiting my flight. The future is looming large with projects I want to start at home, some teaching engagements, and more travel! I will soon be catching up with friends and helping to hang an exhibit of woven works. It’s all great!