Sailing around the Cape of Brooklyn

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We’ve finally made some movement.  We left the Great South Bay out the Fire Island Inlet and headed west.  Our first stop was Jones beach, where we were fogged in for a few days. Then to Rockaway Inlet, where I went ashore and relied on mass transit to get around.  We had dinner at Randazzo’s on Sheepshead Bay, a throwback to my past in Brooklyn 30 years ago!

Winds have been in th 15- 20 knot range and we’ve worked with our reefing system but lost a batten to the seas one day.  We ventured up the East River and met some big boats – almost too close- at Hell Gate.  That day we passed under 9 bridges – all of which we cleared and made it to City Island, where we were able to replace the batten and get ice cream!  Then it got cold and windy again.  We headed to our last home harbor in Cold Spring Harbor and spent several days there and got to see family.

We’ve both been atop the mast with more trips planned.  Most of our rain leaks seem to be in check and we are presently in Stony Brook Harbor.  We biked an hour and a half yesterday to have dinner with friends and I think after we head to Port Jefferson later today when the rain lets up, we’ll pick up the car again.

I’m working with a new photosite and expect to see pics here at any minute.

Life Aboard Water Lily

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Water lily6Well we have moved aboard our catamaran.  We have been finishing work on the boat and addressing new challenges as they occur.  The most traumatic part of the move was leaving my cats with my son.  One had not been seen for about 2 weeks but we suspected he was coming in to eat.  I brought my daughter home from college yesterday and after she was home for about 2 hours at her dad’s house, the missing cat appeared.  My son thought he was dreaming when he awakened in the middle of the night to find his cat in bed with him!Loki

We are adjusting to our new space.  We may have more storage room than anticipated.  Food, clothing, boat gear and most knitting supplies are neatly tucked away.  The sceond stateroom is largely a storage space.

It rained the week before our launch and then during about the first week on the boat.  Leaks sprouted, we broke a solar panel, we had the sailmaker here to adjust the sail cover, lazy jacks and third reef point.  We caulked and caulked again.  Both DH and I have been aloft to work on the mast.  DH rebuilt the marine head when it stopped functioning. There was so much to do, at times I didn’t appreciate the settings.

We left Fire Island and sailed to Blue Point where we stayed for about 3 days.  That was where there were torrential rains and winds and all sorts of leaks were found.  From there we went to Watch Hill on Fire Island, which is a beautiful national park and the marina hadn’t opened yet so noone else was there and the price was right.  From there we headed to the Patchogue River for mother’s day weekend because we had a lot of commitments with family and friends.  The setting was lovely and the sun finally broke through.  We sailed with friends and walked the boardwalks at Watch Hill.GroupPhoto

Early this week we headed to Timber Point, another beautiful park.  There are ospreys, terns, red winged blackbirds, barn swallows and i think yellow warblers.  I am beginning to settle in and enjoy the sights and sounds.  Today we’ll head towards New York Harbor and we’ll spend next week in harbors on the north shore of Long Island.

Packing Again

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So there’s one thing that this mobile life does.  It causes you to reassess your possessions every time you move.   Do I want to keep this?  When will I use it, do I need it now or should I put it in storage for a few months or long term?   In the process, initially I think everything is vital and as time moves on and space diminishes, possessions become less essential.  Once again i am sure I am taking too much with me.  What if it gets cold; I will need my fleece,  jacket, sweaters, wool long johns.  If it’s hot I need a bathing suit, tevas and towel.  I’ve got both bases covered for the moment.

Bookkeeping can be challenging.  We can do almost everything online: banking, paybills, stay in touch with family and friends,  maintain licenses and certifications.  We gave up the printer for now.  We just couldn’t find one small enough and will rely on libraries when we have to print something.  We purchased 2 Kindle 2 electronic readers so hopefully our reading needs will be met. When we are in range of the 3G network we can even get magazines delivered directly to the device.

The Cats!!  They will stay with my son for the next 2 months and when we move on land for July and August, they will join us.  Then…  I’ll miss them.  They took a walk with me last night to the Bay and follow like puppies, except they hid for a few minutes when a dog and owner walked by.

My yarn!!  I spent a day shrink wrapping my yarn and roving in a food saver, which was recommended by other sailors.   I reduced the volume by a full boat bag- which means perhaps I should get more?  It was fun and easy to use.  Of course if the seals break, I’ll have suitcases and storage bins exploding all over the place.  Devotees of this appliance wax poetic.  I was visiting my daughter in Providence and stopped in a hardware store to get more bags.  The worker said they didn’t carry them, they were cheapest at BJ’s and then went on to tell my how he divides large cuts of meat, at great cost savings, and it will last for 3 years!! frozen.

My spinning wheel will come for the first leg of the trip and I’ll decide if I use it enough to sacrifice the space.  If not, I’ll be using the drop spindle.  I reduced my knitting library to the essentials it is already tucked away in my cabin.

Yesterday I painted and cleaned the boat and for the next few days, I’ll be cleaning and organizing the house.  And making all those decisions, to keep store or toss.

Fabric Lessons Learned from the Grand Canyon

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grand-canyon8

We just returned from a wonderful week backcountry camping in the Grand Canyon and I am happy to report that I was able to haul my butt out of the Canyon at the end of our trip.  Unfortunately my camera died on day 2 and I have a grand total of 8 pictures from the trip.  Here are our happy faces at the beginning of day 1 hiking into the canyon.  I was much less happy at the end of the day and found solace in starting a lace pi shawl while recovering. DH actually had to carry my pack for about 1.5 miles at the end of the day. He is my hero!! My legs wouldn’t hold up any longer with the weight, I felt like I was in a scene from a movie when the person comes stumbling into town and then collapses.

grand-canyon3

So first lesson was that lace knitting is the lightest project to work on.  I think i increased my pi shawl to 290 stitches while still in the canyon.

The real revelation was that the best blister protection is the Dr. Scholl’s lambs wool (can you say roving) and it works by felting with your wool sock.  I swear by it.  No irritation from tape and it created great protection when I felt any hot spots.  At the end of the day, just remove the felted pad from the sock. I thought it was a big improvement over moleskin, which tends to slip around and bandaids.  At the end of 6 days: no blisters!!!

We did some remote camping and for 3 nights we were the only one at our campsites and we saw very few people in the canyon.  I felt so cozy with my handknit hat, cowl, socks in the tent but lost a hat at Granite Rapids.  Early spring is the time to go.  Not too crowded, flowers beginning to bloom and cool weather (OK so it snowed one night and there were 60 mph winds  but the tent held up).

grand-canyon5 I’ve developed a new spa program too. I only use a spork (combo spoon and fork) and mug to eat with and my portions are limited to the size of my mug. So I’m thinking of marketing a book and including the mug with recipes, that and 5-7 miles of hiking daily is a good fitness program. DH thought we might be slowly starving, but I never felt hungry.

Spring Projects

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I completed the Duxbury sweater from Simply Shetland and sent it off to Chelsea, after I tried it on.  I wanted to wear it for a day or two but the weather wasn’t going to allow her to wear it for too much longer this season.Duxbury complete

I love the way it came out.  I enjoyed the Celtic knot in the front and back and had fun attaching the shoulder straps.  Perhaps the armholes are a bit big but…

Duxbury front Now I am on a felted clog binge.  I had wanted to make these for a long time and the local Michael’s had a sale on Paton’s Classic Merino.  First I made a pair for myself and then DH and my son wanted a pair.   I will surprise Chelsea with another knitted item.  The Paton’s Classic Merino felted easily – I have to finish all the felting projects quickly because we move onto the boat May 1 and will no longer have access to a top loader washer.  I erred in the cuff of my pair and decreased much more than suggested but I have a narrow foot and they fit great. I felted DH’s and am finishing my son’s.

felted clogs finished clog

Too bad I am finishing these super warm clogs just as the weather begins to improve.  Hopefully the moths won’t get to them before I need them again.

Now I have just selected my knitting project for our backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon – of course I am not finished packing yet but have decided on a laceweight Pi shawl  Light to carry, compact and should take forever.  I am going to use a pattern from A Gathering of Lace, called the Shetland Tea Shawl.  It’s basically a variation of EZ’s Pi shawl but all the math has been done.

I have plied my Kood aid fingering weight and am happy with the results.  I think it will become a scarf or shawl.  I am experimenting with black overdyeing to get a deeper tone (?) for some of my other Kool Aid yarn.

Kool aid skein

I will be sad to leave Fire Island in a month.  The winter flew by and I even made some knitting friends here, through Ravelry and the Spinning Study Group of Long Island.  At least the internet will keep us in touch and I’ll be sailing through this way again.  The SSGLI meets monthly and also runs a fiber study group, where I have learned a lot about breeds of sheep and spinning techniques.  Last weekend there was a workshop and I had a spinning immersion.  I’ve concluded that my Kromski spinning wheel will join me and the cats on the boat at least for the first leg of our journey.

I Feel Spring

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I can feel Spring on the edge. Snowdrops and crocuses are in bloom and even though the temperature is in the mid 40’s, it feels warmer. I completed my knitting frenzy and already sent it off. The Duxbury sweater for my daughter is beautiful, I am happy with the pattern modifications although the armholes may be a little large. I brought it on a 3 day trip to Nova Scotia, but was too exhausted at the end of each day to even look at it. I did complete a pair of socks during the car ride though. We were looking at seaside places to buy for retirement. We saw several beautiful affordable places but concluded that: a) it is just too far away from my roots in NY; and b) it may be too complicated to gain residency during retirement. It seems that doctors are in demand and in order for me to retire from medicine and live full time there, I would have to work as a doctor. Not exactly what I had in mind. It would definitely cut into knitting, spinning and sailing time. There were beautiful properties though if you only wanted a second home there and that would be less complicated.

I finally knit up a pair of Fiber Trends clogs and am ecstatic. I don’t think it will be a stash buster for me because now I plan to knit them for everyone I know and have particular colors in mind. I found that the Paton’s Classic Merino felted like a dream.

I am looking forward to tonight – Spinning Guild, tomorrow – Fire Island knitters coming to my house to dye with Kool Aid; and Saturday when I will attend a knitting workshop.

In between, DH has been getting the boat ready for us to move aboard May 1. The only problem (well actually there are more) is that the boat is blocked in the yard and there is a chance we could move in on the hard. There is always the lingering question of what to do about the cats. I think I will have to attempt to have them live aboard for our 2 month initial trip before we move to our next lighthouse. Then we’ll be ashore for 2 months and perhaps by then, my son will have chosen a law school and may live off campus… In between all this I am working and preparing for a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon at the end of the month. I’ll knit a lace weight shawl.

Snow Day!!!

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Fire Island LightI looked forward to the snowstorm all weekend.  How childish that I was looking forward to an unscheduled day off work.  I only work 2 days a week and will have to reschedule all these patients anyway but….yipeeeee!!   Overnight the house was shuddering with the wind.  Snow frames all our windows and the wind and sleet are still blowing.

DH went off island anyway but I intend to stay by the fire and work on my Duxbury Sweater.  I am down to the second sleeve and love how the saddle shoulder is knitted onto the front and back of the sweater pieces. Duxbury Saddle Shoulder I’ll remember this sweater because it is about my 4th Fisherman style sweater and the first where I have gotten rid of the cable needles.  I worked with techniques from EZ’s knitting glossary and a video I found on Youtube, which was even easier.  I realize I let my stitches float in the air a little more than shown on the video.  In between I darned DH’s slipper socks, which he has worn to shreds.  Later I hope to spin up some Corriedale that is Kool Aid dyed.

Cherry Kool Aid Single Ply

I may also dye the rest of my Corriedale roving because I just received a pound of grey Shetland and white BFL that I am eager to get to but have been working sequentially on projects lately.  I’ve decided to make socks out of the Mohair Merino Blend since I havent’t tried carding nylon into my yarn yet and want them to wear well.  My next pair for DH will be EZ’s mocassin socks so I can replace the sole as needed.  I saw that he has completely worn away the sole on the slipper socks that have a suede bottom that I made last summer.  I’m happy that he likes them so much.

We went to the Adirondacks last week and went cross country skiing and snowshoeing.  Lake Placid was pretty quiet considering it was Winter Break for many schools.  I got to wear all my warm 2008 items, Thorpe, Cowl and Norwegian mittens.  And I could knit in the car and got several hours of work on the Duxbury.february-20093 The cowl has been reworked again.  Since it is too big and I am too lazy to rip it out, I have now knit up an I-cord so it fits snuggly.  It’s great to wear when I run because I like my hair in a pony tail and hats don’t stay on.february-20091And for a random photo, this large sea creature was offshore last week, hmmmm.

A Valentine Trek

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DH decided it was time for me to leave the knitting and spinning at home and take in some fresh air (well actually I packed my socks to take with me) I was duped into leaving the cozy couch by the offer of a nice meal out at a restaurant. This is a big deal because the only restaurant that remains open all year on the island is 2+ miles away on sandy unpaved roads. The tide was right and we were able to take our bikes along the ocean for a bit, where we saw a Harp seal that was wounded and had washed up on the beach. Help was on the way from the Marine Foundation. Further down the beach we found a bunch of sand dollars. We sipped hot cocoa and pressed on, actually past the restaurant – hey this was more than I signed up for.

We rode through the Sunken Forest and through Cherry Grove and the Pines. This added about 5 miles one way to the trip. We ran into some people who chewed my ear for a while until DH was ready to pack off again.

Back to the restaurant and a wonderful meal, and cocktails. Then the ride back home in the dark on the ocean. What a life!

Back at home, I am  knitting my the Duxbury cable sweater without any cable needle. What freedom!  I have experimented with a few different methods and have found the best ones for me.  On the spinning front, i’ve been swatching some recent yarns and making big plans.