The Sailing Vessel "Mirage" & The Sock

As promised earlier, here is a photo of the Mirage. It's not the best photo because, as you can see, she was in dry-dock in the Napa Marina, up on props, and with no sails set, and everyone knows sailboats are at their prettiest in the water with all sails flying. Hard to get a photo like that, though, when the photographer (me) is onboard! Isn't she a pretty boat, though? All that "stuff" on her stern, partially covering her name, is our self-steering windvane. The blade of the windvane is not attached, but am sure I'll be getting photos of that during our cruise. It's a great device which frees us up to do other things, when we are on a set course, but needless to say we can't just go below and take a nap! The self-steering device may keep us on course (or close to it) but it can't recognize an obstacle in our path, or tell us when we're venturing too close to a rocky shore. Still, it's nice not to have to stand at the wheel every second while we're under way.

When we were settling our bill with the Napa Marina, I looked at the total and said, "I could fly to Italy and back for that!" Mike didn't bat an eye since he already knew what to expect. After awhile, a special truck trundled over, lifted Mirage and put back in the water. Mike and I sailed her to Angel Island that afternoon/early evening and then anchored off China Beach for the night. The next day we docked at the Alameda Marina. Mike says she's much faster now that she's got a just-cleaned and painted bottom.

Here is a photo of the San Francisco Bay as we were nearing Angel Island.

What a gorgeous evening. There's just nothing like a full moon when you're out on a sailboat.

Ok, now for the Sock Update: It's DONE! ONE sock is done! Of course, as my sister Karen would say, now I'm faced with knitting another one exactly like it when I might rather go on to a new project. Actually, I'm quite looking forward to knitting the same sock again...the practice will be good for me, and now that I know how to execute the heel and toe, it's not so scary.

When I tried to lay the sock out on my desk and take a picture of it my cat, Scout, decided it was HER sock. If I tried to get it away from her she sunk her claws into it. So I just let her have it (or think I was letting her have it). Later, she wandered off and I took the opportunity to hide it!

It looks blue in the photo, but actually it's purple, as the photos in previous posts show. I tried it on, too. It's just a tad big. It would probably fit my husband (though a little snugly) but he didn't seem too enthusiastic about the colors so I'm going to keep them for myself. I used natural fibers so I will block them to make them a little more snug on my feet. Can't wait to wear these on a cold night on the boat!