Sunday, February 3, 2008

Crocheting and Sailing in the BVIs


I recently got back from a week of sailing in the British Virgin Islands. One of the biggest problems I had preparing for this trip was what projects to take to crochet! I had two projects that I absolutely HAD to take - they were due the next week, but I knew that wouldn't be enough. And I had two long days of plane travel to fill, also. From past experience, I knew not to bring fluffy yarns or furry yarns. (One year I tried to crochet a sweater using an eyelash-type yarn mixture, and that was impossible to work with on deck! It kept flying in my face!) So - this is what I choose: Deco Ribbon by Crystal Palace (that's what I'm working on in the picture), Lily Sugar 'n Cream, (I had promised to teach my husband how to crochet, and thought that would be a good yarn to work with, and it wouldn't take up too much luggage space), and, of course, Plymouth Fantasy Naturale (I wanted to work on the Granny Square sweater from my previous post, for ME!)
So here's the report: I finished the two projects. Whew! Big sigh of relief! I taught my husband how to chain and single crochet. He's not ready to go beyond that, yet. We were both exhausted and stressed from a hard day sailing, and then dinghying (is that a word?) over lumpy seas (as the British guy who checked us out with our boat before we left the harbor said the ocean would be) about twenty five minutes to a restaurant, and twenty five minutes back. Don't ask! I played with the Sugar 'n Cream, making baskets, and I worked with the Deco Ribbon, making a tote.
The winds were 20 - 25 knots most of the days we were there, and it did rain every day, sometimes heavy. So the time I could spend crocheting on deck was limited. I had to be ready to do things with the sails, or steer, or whatever was needed. And I didn't want to get the yarn wet. So I worked at night most of the time, when we were anchored. The last two days, though, were sunny during the day, although still very windy, and I did get to crochet a little on deck.
On the plane, (really 3 planes each way!) I also did some tech editing.
And we do have some great sailing stories to share! (Note the "lumpy" water behind me!)

No comments: