It's Racing Season, so that means.......socks?

When I was much younger, my family lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Whether you personally like motorsports or not, you probably know that Indianapolis is the home of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" - the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.  Every May, names like Mario Andretti, Al Unser (we didn't have to use the "Senior" back then), A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Gordon Johncock and Johnny Rutherford were commonly heard around our dinner table as we'd talk about who would qualify fastest, and who had the best chance of winning the race.

I remember asking my parents several (probably more than several) times if they would take me to the race.  We went to the Museum a time or two but I was always told that the race itself was too loud, too dirty (as in need-a-shower-to-wash-off-the-tire-debris dirty), and someone might crash and die and I would be scarred for life.

So I never went to the "500" while we lived in Indy.

But last year I took the kids and we met up with an Army friend of mine, and the five of us went to the race.  That is the subject of a whole other blog post.  But it got me to thinking, 2011 is the centennial year at the Speedway.......

I don't paint, or compose music, or do woodcarving or build models.  But I do knit.  So I designed a pair of socks to commemorate the Centennial of one of the Wonders of my world - my first knitting design, the Centennial Socks.

Lots of symbols stuffed into these socks:

There are 66 stitches around the sock.  This is twice the number of cars in the starting grid at every Indy 500 (with a few exceptions).

The cuff is knit in 3x3 rib, so there are 11 sections of 3 knit stitches set off by 11 sections of 3 purl stitches.  The cars line up on the starting grid in 11 rows of 3.

Down the back of the leg of the sock is a 9-stitch panel of seed stitch.  At the start/finish line of the Speedway is a 9-row "Yard of Bricks" that is the original brick track surface from way back when.

Front and center of the leg, and continuing down the top of the foot, is a rather simple lace pattern.  It resembles (more or less) the Pagoda - the control tower at the track.

On either side of the sock is a seed stitch check pattern.  Checkered flags.  :)

There are four repeats of the Pagoda motif in the leg of the sock, because four is the most times any driver has won the Indy 500 (A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser, in case you were wondering).

Why did I knit them in red?  Well, after we moved from Indianapolis, I got hooked on this Japanese dubbed-in-English cartoon called "Speed Racer."  Speed always wore lucky red socks.  His car had fenders and the engine in the front, but I still think he's pretty cool, and I think every race car driver (and every racing fan) needs a pair of lucky socks.

You can buy the yarn here, and soon I hope to update this post with a link to purchase the pattern as well!

Many thanks to Mr. Wayne Long at Mid-Atlantic Sports Cars for the use of his facility and the 1965 Lotus roadster reproduction, for taking some of the photos, and also to Velvet for being an assistant foot model.

Happy Centennial to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and happy knitting to you!

I thought Spring had Sprung!

I really don't like it when the weather doesn't cooperate with my fashion decisions.  I have to go to a fund-raising dinner this evening, and had decided what to wear some time ago.  Now the day has arrived and it is freezing cold!  Argh!  My outfit is appropriate for the calendar and the event, but not the thermometer reading. The weather ticker on my browser says it's 25 degrees Fahrenheit right now, and the high is only forecast to be in the 40s.

So now I am forced to decide whether to wear my original choice of clothing, dashing to and from the car in an attempt not to get frostbite between there and the venue, OR wear something else just as appropriate but not what I originally chose.

I also realize that compared to what the people in Japan and the Middle East/Northern Africa are enduring, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.  Perhaps I will wear my first choice and offer up my goose-pimples for those who have nothing to wear, appropriate or otherwise.

This......

is one of the reasons I so enjoy homeschooling:  the fact that I'm right there when one of my kids makes a connection, and I get to see the light-bulb moment.

This afternoon, between thunderstorms, Velvet and I were outside watching the chickens and she picked up a burr she found lying on the ground.  We tossed it at each other a few times, laughing as it stuck to our clothing - it wouldn't stick to jeans, but loved her long-sleeve T and my fuzzy sweater.  She held it in her hands, taking a really close look at it, and then said,

"Hey mom.  Is a burr where they got the idea for Velcro?"

Yes, indeed.

The next time I volunteer to plan something, refer me back to this post.

I am trying to plan a retreat.  I am fortunate to have Google Calendar with which to work out the schedule, because you can just click and drag things to change them.  I have clicked and dragged some of the things so many times it is unbelievable.

I think if a person is responsible for hosting/reserving/scheduling a retreat, that person (and that person ONLY) should have complete control over everything having to do with said retreat.

When you have one person nominally "in charge", but at least two other people planning in other locations, a mess is guaranteed to result.

I have, presently, a mess.

I have a feeling that several people are going to gripe and complain.  Several more people will not only gripe and complain, but they will do it behind my back while making sure that I either overhear or that someone else tells me about the griping and complaining.  Six months ago I was looking forward to this.  Now?  Not so much.

Why is it.....

that I have a 2,000 square foot house, but my kids always want to occupy the same 10 square feet of it?

Super Secret Sock Story Progress Pics

Here's the gorgeous yarn; the color is more bright than this picture shows.  First, in the hank:

And wound into cakes, ready to knit up into a pair of awesome socks!

I worked on them at a gymnastics meet, and actually got a lot done that evening.

I have finished the first sock and am halfway down the leg on the second one, so I hope to have photos of the pair very soon.

I've started mentally styling the photos that I'll provide with the pattern, and had a completely awesome idea (which of course I can't share YET).  And the business location I thought of using actually has a perfectly suited piece of merchandise, as long as I can charm the staff into letting me use it as a big prop. I think if I promise proper photo credit, that they will go for the idea.

Oh, and while I was watching the gymanstics and knitting my secret sock, I was wearing hand-knitted socks:  "Sunday Swing" from Knitty:

Funny how the photo makes them look blue, gold and black; the yarn is really turquoise, old gold and brown!  But it was the closest thing I had to Mountaineer colors.

R.I.P. Cindy

Our little rescued cardinal didn't make it.  She was gone when we got home from Divine Liturgy this morning.  Here's a photo of her from yesterday afternoon:

You can see a little of how her entire tail is missing.  She was eating, drinking and pooping yesterday, but I guess she must have had internal injuries or some delayed shock from Antonio's attack. I hope she didn't suffer too badly.  Velvet and Lightning McQueen buried her in the pet graveyard under the hemlock trees, and marked her grave with little stones.