I've made myself a promise – no more new projects until major ones are finished – except for a purse project – something portable, light and chartless. This one takes 1200 yards of yarn, but weighs only 90 grams when finished. It's the Free and Easy Pie Wedge Shawl and I'm using Fleece Artist Baby Curls from my stash. Light as a cloud colourful as a rainbow, it reminds me of a story.
A recently circulated, Snopes verified, office e-mail contained a photo of a fire rainbow. "The rarest of all naturally occurring phenomena," it said. Well once upon a time, long ago (about 1981) and far away (Waubonsie State Park Iowa), there was day in January where the temperature hit 60 degrees (that's15 in Canadian, sort of like the dollar). C and I thought it the perfect opportunity to go camping. It really was the good old days. Arriving at out campsite mid afternoon, we put out a fruit bowl and a bottle of wine and a tape was playing from the car. Judy Collins was singing the Rainbow Connection.The sky was perfectly blue, but just as that song came on, I kid you not, we saw a rainbow hitching a ride on a wisp of cloud. Here we are, 28 years later, living in Canada, and there was an explanation. It was a fire rainbow, not just some figment of our romantic imagination.
The rest of the story: that night it seemed to get colder and colder. The colder it got, the closer I stayed to the campfire. We heard it went down to 20. Nothing was helping, I just couldn't get warm. The next day after C had dropped me off at home I realized I was sick and took my temperature – 104 degrees.It was one of those bad flus of the early 80's.
The story's not over yet. I was off sick for an entire week. The next Monday at work, I realized my wavy soled shoes (remember Famolare's?) felt wavier. They felt like large choppy waves. It turned out that I had melted the soles of my shoes trying to stay warm at Waubonsie. And that's the end of the story.
Wait, it's not the end. I finished this post with the exception of the picture and put it to bed for the night. I, too, went to sleep, radio on by my bedside, listening to my favourite – CBC Radio One. In my sleep I heard the song, the Rainbow Connection, one I've previously only heard twice on the radio sung by Kermit the Frog and Judy Collins. Was I dreaming? A voice announced this version was by Jane Monheit. How could I dream up a name like that?
The real ending: confirmed by CBC's playlist. It was indeed a new version of the song. I wasn't dreaming, the Rainbow Connection strikes again. What are the chances?
Life's a Stitch 
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