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Dear Ellen,

I finished my last WIPs Dancing entry just as the Canadian Men’s Team scored their sudden death victory over our hocky team.  For a country reputed for politeness, I’m thinking that wasn’t really the nicest move on their part.  On the bright side it did make it easy to ask Dale to come photograph my finished object.  Had the U.S. won he would have been glued to the TV.

A Stitch Away from Genius is an Einstein Coat that will serve as a bathrobe.  I realized this pretty early in the knitting as I learned more about alpaca and drape and the fact that it just doesn’t have the sproinginess to maintain a dense, resilient fabric as one would want for a coat.  (At least not with a single strand of bulky weight — two maybe…better yet, one with a woolly friend would have been better.)   The fabric I have is not dense at all…it does have nice drape and is very comfy so I’m just as happy — it is luscious on and will get good use.  Now I need to find purple or burgundy paisley satin p.j.’s.  I added the embellishment to give it more zing (that was a LOT of purple) and to add some structure to the fabric.  It worked.  I’m pretty satisfied with the results.  This means I tallied 4 medals this Ravelympics…3 WIPs Dancing, 1 Aerial Unwind and 1 Short Track Shawl.  I feel accomplished!

Here’s hoping your gansey comes in under the wire!

Love, Jan

Dear Ellen,

While waiting for the dryer (so I could finish packing) I competed in the Aerial Unwind.  I can now say farewell to the shrug that wasn’t.  I love the way you can still see the Ramen quality of the yarn after rewinding.  I have no doubt that will come back to haunt me when I decide to use this yarn again.  It’s too lovely to think I won’t use it.  The cashmere really wants to be good friends with neighboring stitches, so I imagine it will want to be good friends with neighboring loops and curls in the center of a center-pull ball!  (It did occur to me, while teasing it loose as I frogged, that it would be ideal for fair isle or something needing steeking.

Last night’s Annual Wallow was quite a good time.  The skits were not as funny as in years past, but they were enjoyable.  And our event was being held at the same time as Katsucon, one of the big anime conventions.  It was fun seeing everyone in their various costumes — either mess dress or anime world.  And the two groups seemed to enjoy each other quite a bit.  Here I am with a new friend.

I’ll probably not post from Jamaica, so have a great week.  Dale and I will!

Love, Jan