Outing #11: A neighborly trip

Finally, finally got Tom, Kathy, and Kelly from the neighborhood out on the water! Tom grew up around boats, so he knows what he's doing, so I had my experienced sailor with me to fall back on, which is good because I don't know how to explain what to do to other people.

Perfect, perfect day for sailing. Really, it could not have been nicer. The forecast was for 11-12 mph winds and mid-to-high 70's, mostly sunny. We gathered ourselves up around 11:30 and headed off to the boat. I took the truck so I could remove cushions afterwards. Kim wasn't in her slip, so exiting was very simple (backing up is still hard - I really need to do some practice). And off we went! The depth sounder did appear to be behaving better, though it was giving some oddly low readings out on the water again. Either the river is running extremely low, or it is being flakey.

We were on a broad reach or downwind up to the bridge. It looked like there were a number of smaller sailboats racing up by the bridge, and generally sailing back & forth, so we avoided them and headed back, getting some nice tacking in. Tom handled the tiller for a bit, which was a nice break for me, and Kelly and Kathy enjoyed the boat heeling over. Kathy hadn't been on a boat that had really heeled over before! There were a few boats flying their spinnakers, but I think with the gusts I was very pleased with the sails I had up.

We puttered around a bit more, heading downwind (up river) some more because we weren't quite done yet, and Kelly broke out her amazing tomatoes and some bagels. Also, an Italian plum that was completely to die for - that was the best plum I think I've ever had.

Docking was pretty much a cinch. The current behaved the way it was supposed to, but it was so low & the wind was balancing it that I was able to just drift in at a very civilized speed. Learning to stay calm...

What lessons? Umm, not sure. I still need to remember to adjust the jib sheet block on the starboard side. I need to scrub down the boat.

Here's my awesome crew:

A week's worth of throwing = 11

It's now officially one week of being back into ceramics, and I have little to report other than 4 cylinders an evening appears to be my current limit. Tonight, I pushed it and threw 4 mug bodies and one large (3.5 lb) bottomless rectangular piece, inspired by Rodrigo's admiration of a similar piece at Hilary & David's house. When I stood up...GROAN...everything was tight. There were even ligaments or tendons or whatever at the backs of my knees that were tight. I think I need to stretch every two pieces, even if I have all the clay ready to keep throwing.

So I now have 7 mugs with handles drying, in various states of stumpieness (seems to be something that's plagueing about half of them), and 4 more w/o handles. It feels good to see my little collection growing - I have a full kiln shelf now, for sure! I'm starting to think I should make the land-locked yacht club mugs for Christmas. If I sketched some boats on them, I think that'd be most excellent. I'll need to dig around in my photos for some good references.

ETA: The 4 w/o handles now have handles - Nolan & Connor, Kelly's kids, came over and watched me pull a handle and attach it to one of them. Now I can be the nutty neighbor with a boat and a wheel in the basement :-).

leather hard up front, bone dry in the back


here's the bottomless piece in progress:

How I can handle one kind of wheel, but not another

Outing 10A was on Jim's boat, Katzenjammer, which is a 34' C&C (pretty sure about the C&C part - I have a lot of trouble remembering boat kinds, though it's quite important to the boat owners). He's taken great care of this boat & has had it for a very long time, and it shows. I'm pretty sure he could drive it with one hand tied behind his back. We took it out and had light winds on the Columbia, and cruised up towards the bridge. It's interesting to me to really FEEL how much larger everything is on a bigger boat. The sails are - to me - enormous. The deck is large, the cockpit is spacious, and I envy the seat he has at the wheel. The seat is curved so when you're heeled over, you can still comfortably sit upright rather than just hanging on. I steered only the very tiniest bit - I actually really enjoy having someone else skipper. I can relax a huge amount more if I'm not 100% responsible for driving. I thought steering with the wheel would not be a big deal - after all, I use a wheel to drive a car - how hard can it be? Well, hard. Apparently finally internalizing the tiller movements needed to change direction on my boat means that I turn the wheel the wrong way. I kept changing "the other right, the other right" but it was not pretty. Brain...hurts... Mike (landlocked yacht club) told me that Don once hit another boat while racing because it was a wheel rather than a tiller. I can believe it!

Jim used the autohelm to hold course while we put up the sails, which worked like a charm, though it made me a little nervous (but honestly, what doesn't?). It's clearly how you can deal with singlehanding, also.

So, the other wheel that I can handle... I finally got back into my little studio after the clearing exercises in August, and threw a few cylinders. I'm trying to duplicate a favorite mug, and... it needs a little work. I made 5 cylinders, but cut through the bottom of 2 of them, and the remaining three look like distant cousins but not all that close. Definitely needs more practice. Oh, I haven't forgotten how to wedge or center, but there are a lot of rough edges in the shaping. The very last one I threw was shorter and stubbier than the others - probably due to leaving more on the bottom, and hand fatigue. I've lost so much strength in my hands and upper forearms! Some preventative icing was applied.

If I can get some mugs that look halfway decent, they'll be for Heidi's birthday present. Fingers crossed, more practice will be in order this coming week! But for now... There were some casualties:


And some that actually look like mugs:

Outing #10: The effect of tides

Labor Day weekend was very, very wet for two out of the three days. However, there was a bright side to all of that rain - first being that I didn't have to get out and water the garden, and second that it gave me a chance to get out and test out my rain gear. Oregon Research hat from REI outlet (a steal at $21, but don't bother checking because they're all gone) ROCKS. I love this hat. As the yarn harlot would say, I want to hug it, kiss it, and call it George. The rainpants worked well, too - I don't feel like I over heated - I work capris under them. The jacket - well, that may need a little work. I don't know if I need to up the water repellance of it with some treatment or if I need a different one.

So, I got out for two walks - one a relatively short one just down to Broadway to drop off shoes (but I did wear my boots). And the second in Forest Park - starting at the Aspen trail off of Thurman, past the bridge, but not my normal trailhead. I walked up to the Dogwood intersection on the Wildwood, which ended up being about 4.7 miles. It was lovely, green, and relatively sheltered from the rain, though there were muddy spots. It had a little elevation, so it was good to work that in.

Monday - partly sunny, and so Mark, Mike & I headed out onto the Columbia. It continues to be quite shallow, and there was no wind. We ended up just motoring up to past the sea scout base, and then motored home. But we had a good hang-out, got to see my depth sounder completely lose it's mind (the channel is *not* 13 feet deep, nor is the slough 18 feet). That's a bit worrisome, because I won't have warning if I am about to run aground.

The current has dropped incredibly. I turned the boat around where I normally do, expecting to have the current push me a bit further away, and I actually drifted past my row...in the wrong direction (upstream). And as I headed toward the row, I had to crab over pointed what should be downstream. The current was very gently moving in the wrong direction, and so I had the bow pointed towards the row behind me, and I had to swing the bow more than 90 degrees to get it into the slip. Mondo bizarre, though it worked fine, and Mike confirmed the bow-swinging timing for me. It couldn'thave been the wind, because there was NONE. I checked later, and it looked as though the tide was rising, which could affect it.

The down side? NO PHOTO! :-( I was in such a rush to get home for an outing that I tore out of there like my hair was on fire. Good thing, too, since I ended up being 30 seconds *behind* the person I was meeting (who, in my defense, was 8 minutes early).

...and I knit, too

Obviously I haven't been posting much about knitting, since the hobby du jour is sailing, but I have actually completed some knitting in my not-sailing time. Primarily while watching Season 4.5 of Battlestar Galactica: The Addiction. (Sad it's over, but also glad, because I couldn't watch just one episode, and I don't enjoy the next day when I stay up until midnight watching the whole darn DVD). Buffy Season 2 also made its contribution to the knitting time...

But, after the Sock Summit, I did feel as though it was time to pick up and, well, knit a sock, since I hadn't yet this year after the unsuccessful pooling start to the yarn I used for the batkus scarf. So I finally picked up some yarn that I'd gotten on sale at OFFF last year - Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, and out of guilt, cast it on. It's not the oldest sock yarn in the bunch, but it IS a year old. Happily, it didn't pool, and so I was able to keep the knitting mojo happening, and 3 weeks later - voila! Completed pair of socks using the basic pattern. I *think* this is my 9th pair of socks!



Currently on the needles, but possibly requiring a small frog, is some STR (Socks that Rock) brown/black/orange yarn that, even though it's also "lightweight" like my KWB STR socks, the 28 stitches I used for those socks seem to be way too large for this set. Am going to frog the toe. Stay tuned on that front.

This weekend I hope to do a bit of hiking. I just bought (I know, I know, how can I buy them when I also KNIT them, but they were on sale, and I've heard good things about them) some SmartWool (TM) hiking socks. We'll see how they fare, and I also want to try some of my handknit socks, to see if they are hiking-worthy. I suspect that they may be too light - I do like a bit of padding for my precious little feet - but I'm going to have to try!