![\"IMG_1731\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1731.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a> ![\"1-IMG_1732\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/1-IMG_1732.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"2-IMG_1733\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2-IMG_1733.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"6-IMG_1722\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/6-IMG_1722.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\nA sycamore tree against the winter sky.<\/p>\n St. Anne’s Church in Old Lyme, where we went to hear Elisabeth Von Trapp sing a holiday concert with my good weaving friend Susan.<\/p>\n This winter we have a new sailboat that we bought last spring as we finished our 3rd winter sailing aboard our Saga 43′ Pandora<\/em>. \u00a0Our new boat is bigger (an Aerodyne 47′), which means I can bring more stuff onboard!–and it is smoother sailing so that I should be more comfortable when we are underway. \u00a0I had to get all my ‘gear’ onboard in early October, and I put two copper pipe looms down below. \u00a0One is rather large and will be used to weave a stanza from a Robert Frost poem in a font chosen by our younger son. \u00a0The other loom has the still-unfinished small Portuguese Man of War. \u00a0I sure hope I finish it this winter. \u00a0I also have my bolster lace pillow in a cabinet that would normally store clothing. \u00a0There is so much storage on this boat that I hope I never fill it up with clothes.<\/p>\n We had planned to sail to the Caribbean so I had to get everything onboard in early October when Bob set off Hampton, Virginia, which is where one departs \u00a0in early November to sail non-stop for 1500 miles to reach the British Virgin Islands. \u00a0Bob would return before Thanksgiving so that we could have the holidays here and then we would fly to Tortolla in late December. \u00a0Well, that did not work out….. Since this is not a sailing blog I won’t go into the details, but it was a suprise to both of us and a difficult decision to give up our plans for the Caribbean. \u00a0Bob tells the whole story on his blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now we will be getting onboard our new Pandora<\/em> in Florida in late December. \u00a0Our revised plan is to sail to the Bahamas yet again, but to then head to Cuba if we can get permission from the State Department. \u00a0Bob has been working on this for the past several weeks, and we shoujld have an answer soon. \u00a0I am NOT looking forward to the long crossing — 350 miles — from either the far Bahamas or the Turks and Caicos to Cuba. \u00a0I’ve never done more than one overnight at a time. \u00a0 Sailing westward from the far Bahamas will allow us to visit the southern coast of Cuba (about 600 miles long). \u00a0The prevailing winds and currents make it imperative to sail westward along that coast. \u00a0We will finish up in Havana in late spring with the short, 90-mile sail back to Florida. \u00a0So that’s the plan, but we don’t yet know if we’ll be allowed to do it.<\/p>\n If we do go there I’ll be looking for weavers! \u00a0I am always looking for weavers, bobbin lace makers, and any other textile makers. \u00a0While I have stumbled on a few sites that describe commercial cotton mills back in the early 20th c., I have found no evidence of current handweavers. \u00a0I have found several references to bobbin lace making, and I am quite encouraged by this. \u00a0In fact one story hits so close to home I am in shock! \u00a0A few decades ago a woman from the Westchester, New York, weaving guild traveled to Cuba and wrote about meeting a bobbin lace maker. \u00a0I was a member of the Westchester guild for several years in the 1990s, and I have friends who’ve been members of this guild for many years. \u00a0I’m certain that several of my friends must know the woman who wrote this article! \u00a0At the moment I cannot get back to the website where I read this. \u00a0It’s got to be there, and I hope I find it again soon.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, here are two other interesting stories about bobbin lace in Cuba. \u00a0In 2013, a group of photographers associated with Foothills College in northern California had an exhibition of photographs depicting modern Cuban culture. \u00a0There is a photograph of a Cuban woman, Adriana Martinez, doing bobbin lace taken by Joan Sperans. Adriana teaches lacemaking at a nearby school.<\/em> These lace artists are in desperate need of thread for their art and trade. They often use string as a substitute. Despite the use of string, their work is still beautiful and of excellent quality. We talked and made tentative arrangements for a textile-based exchange when I go back to Cuba. I am hoping to encourage some textile artists to go on Ron Herman\u2019s next trip. Before departing Havana, I received a surprise call from Adriana wishing me a safe journey. Adriana and the other women are so sweet.<\/em><\/p>\n I plan to bring a few spools of laceweight linen with me, and I will be thrilled beyond description if I can meet Ms. Martinez….or any of her students. \u00a0At least I know where to look, presuming there are still art fairs on the Prado. (And I know that “bolillo” is Spanish for bobbin lace. \u00a0Knowing the words “rendas de bilros” in Portuguese certainly helped me find the lace museum in Vila de Conde. ) I also found an article about a lace maker named Ana Blanco who left Cuba in 1962. \u00a0Since she was an adult at this point she may no longer be living. \u00a0She taught bobbin lace in the Jacksonville area of Florida for many years, and won the 1990 Florida Folk Heritage Award.<\/p>\n A quick look at Cuba.<\/p>\n<\/a>The Connecticut River waterfront on a chilly December morning.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n This what Sperans wrote about this woman making lace on a traditional bolster pillow: Adriana Martinez set up her Belgian lace exhibit on the Prado at the Sunday art fair.\u00a0I stopped to admire her beautiful work and we started talking. She told me she was a professor of tatting and bobbin lace. Within an hour, several women who came to the art fair to learn how to make lace surrounded Adriana. <\/em><\/p>\n