Casting A Line

  It was so good to shake out the sails and have a happy little sail up and down the river Medina in our little yacht. The breeze started as a North Westerly, then veered around to a South Westerly so ideal for both directions. We even made over 4knots of speed at windy corner!
 Back on our mooring after a picnic lunch I decided to get the fishing rod out and cast a line. I love fishing at anchor or on a mooring, it is so absorbing. I find it very relaxing, my mind can day dream and take in the nature around me, watching the river, wildlife, the colours on the water and sky and yet as I fish it keeps me in the "now", ever watching and feeling for that slight pull on the line, bubbling excitement mixed with quiet anticipation of a silvery prize.
When we are sailing in the Solent we often tow a line off the stern of the boat and sometimes we are rewarded with a couple of mackerel or whiting. A fresh fish supper after a day's sailing is so very special when it's your own catch.

This time all I caught were a few Mud Crabs on account of not having any proper bait with me (a fisherman/woman always has to have an excuse you know).

This fella was the biggest and very lively, so I was only brave enough to land him in the bucket!

After he posed for his photo he was returned to the river. 

Skipper was off sailing Peewit- she looked so pleased bobbing along oars stowed and little blue sail catching the wind. Peewit is our Self Build PBO Pup dinghy and we use her as a Tender for our yacht. She is rigged to sail, I made her a sail out of some old sail cloth and she enjoys a bit of a breeze to get her moving. 

Tales of "the one that got away" to tell Skipper and prove of a "lively catch" on camera to show upon his return over a cup of tea and cake.

A Spinning Day Out

A few days ago a friend and fellow spinner held an Open Garden Day for charity and asked a group of us to come along with our spinning wheels to "spin in her barn"  The vistors to the garden could not only enjoy her newly restored Manor house garden but also find out more about the flock of Jacob sheep and the newly aquired alpacas she keeps on the farm.

With fourteen spinning wheels busy whirling producing all sorts of different yarns, we all had a great afternoon.
There was a variety of fleece, tops and yarn on show, plus other equipment used such as a drum carder, hand spindle, peg loom. We had weaving and knitting items on display to show what can be produced. 

And of course a day spinning always requires tea and cake!!

Later in the afternoon I had a lovely stroll around the garden.

The new lavender garden looks simply stunning in the afternoon sunshine.

Having spun a bobbin full of fine merino on my wheel, it was most relaxing to wander through the garden enjoying all the colours and scent.  

Sailing Around The Ionian Islands

 While Good Old England has been having a rather wet,windy and not so summery June, Skipper and I escaped to one of our favourite sailing waters in Greece. This time our yacht for our flotilla holiday was called Arta. She is a  Gib'Sea 302   A really good sized boat for a crew of two to handle easily and very comfortable to live aboard plus of course she gave us some really excellent days sailing!

 We remembered to take our club burgee with us this year to proudly fly- The yellow and red flag of the MMA (Medina Mariners Assc.)
Our route this year was sailing out of Sivota on Lefkas Island towards Spartahori, then ontoVassiliki and down to AY.Euphemia on Kefalonia.

 Here our lead boat skipper told us that there was a storm coming and that none of the boats would be able to go out the next day. It certainly did blow up with very strong winds and the flotilla tied on extra ropes together and lowered a few kedge anchors to hold us all steady. It was all rather exciting and as the "storm" was only very strong warm wind with glorious sunshine all day, it was a perfect day to find a sheltered spot on this beautiful little beach and swim and sun bathe and catch up with some reading.  As the sailor's saying goes "it is better to be in here wishing you were out there, than out there wishing you were in here!"

The next day dawned sunny and breezy and we were able to get out sailing again and continued on to Little Vathi on Meganisi Island. We had some brilliant sailing particularly on the last day when we motored down to the "tail of Meganisi" after a relaxing anchor stop and swim in one of her tiny bays we  up anchor, raised the sails and glided along on the deep blue sea...

On Our Mooring

 It's has been great to be back out on the boats finally! We've been having cold, wet and  windy weather just lately so this was the first opportunity to take our Mirror dinghy out on the water this Season. We were meeting up in the afternoon for some informal "racing around the buoys" with our fellow dinghy sailors, so Skipper and I got out there early to do some fine tuning and have a bit of practise! I say "informal" but racing sailors are always competitive!!
We sailed over to our Swing Mooring where our little Sunstar18 is kept and tied up alongside. Whenever we are aboard we always fly our club burgee and of course our Ensign flag. They flutter brightly in a breezy NE wind.

    

 The tide is still low as we have our lunch which includes a nice hot mug of tomato soup. It is lovely to see the sunshine and blue sky but the breeze is rather cool. I love spending time on our mooring just watching the river. I sit at the bow and watch the river bubbling and rolling in, happy and gurgling, slapping and sploshing on our mooring chain. The sunlight dances on the tops of the wavelets. We watch the shore as the other dinghies get rigged and launched ready for the racing,

And so we climb back on board our dinghy and  join the little red sails of the other Mirrors and have a great afternoon chasing around the course followed by the customary drink and banter in the pub at the end of the day. 

Hand Painted Yarn

At the IW Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Guild we had a "Fun Day" of Hand Painting Yarn with Dyes. It was an opportunity to mess about with lots of colour and experiment with painting techniques. First we soaked our yarn samples in warm soapy water so as they would absorb the colours more easily.














Then laying the yarn on some cling film it was time to get all creative. I love colour and although it was so tempting to dip my paint brush in all the dye pots! I tried very hard to take it slow and carefully consider the colour blending





Once painted the yarn was wrapped up in the cling film and placed in a steamer for around ten minutes to fix the coloured dye.

At home I was able to wash the yarn samples in clear water and dry in the garden.

 These are my little skeins of colour, 4x 25grms of kid angora and 50grms of hand spun wool and silk.  

Doesn't it look yummy? I'm not sure what I will do with these blasts of colour yet, I think I will certainly enjoy knitting or weaving them in one of my projects though.

 I love the process of my craft from thinking up an idea to developing it into a piece of knitted work. Whether it's spinning the wool, weaving the cloth; it's very satisfying making something unique. I shall ponder on this yarn and see what it wants to be... 

Simple Cheerful Weaving

 Back in January I blogged about wanting to weave some cloth with a nautical or seaside theme using wide stripes of colour. A basket full of oddments of coloured yarn left over from recent stock making items was catching my eye every time I entered my work room, all the colours just looked so lovely and enticing, muddled up and cheerful!
 So rather sorting them and placing them back up on the shelves where I store my yarn in orderly colour sections I set up my loom and got creating.  

With no particular plan I threaded the Warp, it was a matter of just grabbing a colour from the basket just like a "lucky dip"as I knew all the colours sat well with one another anyway so it was real freedom and pleasure to enjoy the creative process and relax and watch the cloth spring to life. 

 I selected two very pale soft cotton yarn in a cream and green to load on the shuttle for the Weft as I wanted the stripes to become the main pattern of the fabric.

There was just enough cloth woven to be able to make this little scatter cushion. A "stash busting" using oddments cheerful cloth that reminds me of deck chairs on the beach and seaside holidays! 
I thoroughly enjoyed "going with the flow" and just weaving on my loom, pure and simple is often the best. 

All About Boats

It has been a busy time over the bank holiday weekend, with plenty to do to prepare all the boats for our sailing season.
Peewit our little dinghy looks beautiful again with her varnish job finished, she was loaded on the trailer and taken down to her little plot in the dinghy park.

Our Mirror dinghy caused a bit of extra work! While Skipper was getting her ready for her turn on the trailer he noticed some rotten wood, at least the area of concern was well above the waterline (port transom). So she had to be worked on, patched up and painted before she was ready for sailing and taken down to the river too.

Photos above show our Sunstar 18 having her coat of anti foul paint on her hull and some maintenance work done on her rudder. She will be lifted back onto the river in just over a week's time.

All our little boats are waiting for the tide, sunny days and adventures!