The Sea Calls, or Rather, the Grays Harbor Historical Port Emails...

After submitting an application to be on the sailing crew of the Lady Washington or the Hawaiian Chieftan, both tall ships,Ethan received an answer the very next day. They are exciting to have him join the crew, ASAP, thank you very much. Thus, Ethan has set about getting ready. He is tidying up his stuff here at home and we are making parts of a historical 18th century sailor's costume for him. It seems that the most important thing for me to make was a wool vest.

We went to pick out fabric from the fabric store on Saturday night, but the seasons are changing and all of the wool they had on the bolt was simply too business like and too thin. We opted for purchasing a men's coat at the thrift store from which I upcycled the wool. Reworking it into a vest was a lot more work than I had expected. The biggest part was the fact that the pockets were in the wrong place, so I had to patch them and create new, vest-style pockets. I also cut up the coat to make it shaped like a vest. Much of the time my sewing machine was not working properly so I ended up hand sewing much of it. I am not thrilled that it was so hand made, but Ethan is very happy with that aspect. It turns out that the sailors would buy used clothing at consignment and thrift shops to repurpose the material. Some of it was refashioned, just as I did. Some of the cloth was cut into strips around treated in such as way as to make it part of a rope. He says that the hand made quality makes it all that more authentic. I am glad it makes him happy.

Ethan spent his Saturday with Grandpa Don making this Marlin's Spike. It is a sailor's tool used to undo large knots. He is very happy with how it turned out. He made a practice one out of pine as well, so as to learn the technique, but unfortunately, Remmie got a hold of it and crewed it up. Bad Dog! He hasn't done that kind of thing in a while. I feel a little bad that it happened, but thankfully the important one was tucked away.

Ethan leaves on Friday and I don't know when he will return.I picked up some special snacks for him to have on his plane and train rides to the port in California. It feels good to be able to send small bits of home with him as he sets sail on this exciting adventure.