Knit Two Together

Good Things

Life holds many good things. Sometimes when it seems that everywhere I look is ... well... blargh... it helps to think about the good things.

Good Things #1 My children. My eldest, at 14, is a sensitive, caring intelligent young man. He chips in and helps out, especially by looking after his siblings. My second son, at 12, is able to light up a room and to make anyone, especially me, laugh out loud when he does. My 9 year old daughter is creative, gregarious and very loving. They fight - constantly it seems sometimes - but they love each other and me and I love them so very much.

Good Things #2 My friends. They know me - both my most positive qualities and my most negative - and knowing me, they accept and love me.

Good Things #3 My work. I am lucky enough to be able to earn a living doing something I am both good at and love. The support of a few special colleagues has been so important and appreciated. It's humbling to realize that there are people in my life who, even though our only connection is through the workplace, still care on a personal level. At a time in my life where it would be easy to feel like an utter failure and to wonder if anything will be good ever again, work gives me a place where I can be competent and where I can make a difference. It goes a long way to helping me feel whole.

Good Things #4 The wonderful people who read this blog and take the time to comment and let me know that, even though we may never have met, they care too.

Good Things #5 Yoga. Working out regularly, feeling strong and flexible, taking that time to look after me makes a big difference.

Good Things #6 Sock yarn and sunshine. A few minutes of brilliant sunshine flooding my face and some quiet time with beautiful fiber and colours flowing through my fingers and transforming themselves into something warm helps me to find peace.

Healing

You are absolutely wonderful. I say, on a nearly daily basis, that I have the best friends in the whole world. You are among them.

Meanwhile, tonight I feel up to a word of explanation. Simply put, my marriage has collapsed and is headed rapidly towards divorce. I don't believe in innocent victims, least of all me. I have made my own mistakes and am far from perfect. Like many women, I have felt it my duty to ensure that life was as pleasant as possible for those around me. Unfortunately for me, I lost perspective on that and forgot to include myself in the list of "important" people. Over a very long time the hurts and cuts and pain built up to the point where I simply couldn't take any more. I believe that I have really tried to improve our relationship by working on communication. To me, that's the key. You have to be able to communicate with someone if you hope to develop some kind of relationship with them. It isn't working out that way, and at this point I very much doubt it will.

I'm working on me though. Seeing a good counsellor, unlearning negative patterns, learning positive ones, working through misconceptions, misperceptions, and mistakes, and trying to become a whole and yes, happy person.

And I'm knitting. I finished Africa's latest pair of socks. I'll have to get a daylight picture for you. They're deep purple/blue sportweight cabled tall socks. He's gonna love them :-)

 Lots more sock knitting to come - Africa will get Christmas socks, as will Frog (because of repeated requests, which is, begging), was thinking of a Christmas scarf for another friend and you know what? Somewhere in there I would like a new pair of socks!!

Don't worry my friends - I'm all right and getting better all the time.

shattered

 Being whole again would be good. Being happy seems like to much to ask.

I used to write...

I used to write often. I used to write all kinds of things. There used to be pictures.

I started to write again, but it wasn't quite working.

I knit still.... socks for Africa, a shawl for a friend, Cece for me....

I plan to knit more.... socks for Africa, a shawl for me, a cardigan, perhaps socks or maybe a cozy scarf for a Frog.

I've been spinning too.... enjoying the zen that comes from the rhythm of flick, draw and wind on or the comforting movement of the treadles beneath my feet.

Racing is over for the year I think... the last one is set for next Sat Oct 10, but I expect it to be cancelled because the weather has suddenly turned very cold and there's snow in the forecast. I love the racing... the adrenalin and power... the friendships... days outside laughing.... I think I may finish 2nd in the points race this year, especially true if there isn't an event next weekend because my lead over 3rd is slight. I'm proud of myself, of what I've accomplished in a short time, of being able to compete.

My camera is broken, and although I could use the one in my phone, it's a pain to upload and move images so I tend not to. Trust me.... Africa's birthday socks were pretty. Fall in Alberta is pretty.

Other things in my life aren't so pretty to look at and they're taking up a lot of my energy. I'm quite drained of emotion and of life and of light right now. It's a lonely place, despite having been blessed with the best friends in the world. The internet is not the place to work through this time and so...

and so....

I used to write.

In Support of Sanity

This morning I sat down to read some blogs with my coffee. You know... get the mojo going before working lace. (I'm at the start of the increases on Cece - already behind)

As usual I checked in with the Yarn Harlot first. I can't go to the Sock Summit and reading about the enormity of that undertaking impresses the daylights out of me. That, and I genuinely enjoy her blog. It was Stephanie's blog that got me back into knitting after a lengthy hiatus and her blog that inspired me to write one as well. She's like that I think. Inspiring.

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, when she came to Calgary on a book tour. She is a tiny lady, with fluffy curly hair, bright eyes, a big smile and very talented very quick fingers. She signed a book for me, and one for my friend and then joined us for a beer after the signings were done. Sitting there in the pub talking about knitting with the Yarn Harlot - and yet so comfortable and relaxed. In the course of the conversation I revealed that I had no idea how to wrap a stitch and only chose sock patterns that didn't have that direction. Quicker than you could say "wool" she had her traveling sock out and showed me how to do it. Then she handed me the sock so I could try a few stitches, along with the encouragement, "The sock doesn't mind; it's happy to help". It's a great memory.

So today when I opened the Yarn Harlot I was stunned.

I left a comment somewhere around #3150 but I wanted to say more. I wanted to say what a genuinely open, friendly, skilled, talented, energetic woman she is. Nothing of what she has been accused of could possibly be further from the truth. Along with sharing her life with thousands through her blog and the increasing notoriety that comes along with several highly successful books on the shelves and book tours which are now events in themselves, Stephanie has become the target of someone's hate. It's wrong, it bears no semblance of rationality, it is probably criminal. The perpetrator claims to be a Christian American. She is probably the latter but I cannot imagine there is a single Christian denomination which would support her behaviour. Obviously she has somehow become unhinged and requires mental health care. I hope she gets it.

If you have a forum where you can stand up for the light, please consider doing so.

And Stephanie...

Hold your head high, walk in the light, have confidence that you have risen above the attacks heaped upon you, and know that karma will eventually balance everything.

And the winner is.....

ME!!

 

See the full story at NEKKIDRacing. Click on news.

I finished the gifty shawl but it's not blocked yet. I sure hope the magic of blocking works for me because right now it seems small but stretchy. Lavalette is a great pattern - a first time beginning knitter could successful manage this pattern once they have achieved reasonably even-ish tension. I'll post blocking pictures when I do it.

Still working on the 2x2 ribbed socks for Africa. Still looking for a birthday sock pattern as well, but I have a couple of ideas on that front.

Going now to stalk Ravelry for a quick and relatively simple summery lacey cardigan for me.

2 hours later....

Ravelry stalking pays off!

I am about to cast on Cece. I've tried this pattern before and not had any concerns with the lace bits or the shaping parts. The yarn I used (Elann Sonata) was DK but quite light and the resulting cardigan was enormous and frogged. This time I'll use the recommended Calmer. I need a light, lacey, short sleeved cardigan cover up to take with me on my mini-vacation to the west coast. Competition was Hey Teach! but Cece is the winner because I have the Calmer in the stash and no worsted weight cotton blend. I may live to regret it, because I suspect Teach would be a much faster knit given that it's stockinette from the underbust ribbing to lower edge. I am leaving Aug 16th but racing on the 15th so Cece needs to be done and blocked by Aug 14. Mojo don't fail me now!!

Africa suggested I should tell you the story of our last race event. He will get tired of my hand-knitted socks before he gets tired of racing!

** Well, I'll tell ya... see that pretty pinky purple trophy on the left? I won it on September 20, 2008 on my second ever race night. I freely admit to luck being on my side that night and I am insufferably proud of it nonetheless.

See the taller red one on the right? I won it last Saturday, July 4 for driving to a 2nd place finish in the main event. I am even more insufferably proud of it since I won that trophy all by myself - no fortunate crashes, no misread flags - just me behind the wheel of my EXR going as fast as I dared in the mud. Couldn't see a damned thing. Drove by catching glimpses of where I might be going through the side windows. Crazy Fun!!
First place went to my team-mate and good friend Joe "Steel Hauler" Dery. You can read what he had to say about it, and see lots of pictures of race cars, gear heads, and on track action by checking out the team website at  NEKKIDRacing Next race date is Saturday, July 18. If you're in Calgary and would like to come, please let me know and I'll be happy to provide some 2 for 1 passes. Either leave a comment, or use the email button.

Meanwhile I thought I might provide something in the way of limited knitting content.

Every summer I attempt a shawl. "Self," I say, "Self, you are a skilled knitter, you can read a chart and you can do a yarn over, and a yarn over backwards, and intarsia, and cables both with and without a needle. You can knit lace." Then I start hunting around... what's popular, what looks reasonable... what do I want to make it with. Last summer's shawl was the very popular Flower Basket done in Noro Kureyon Sock in a colourway that still makes me think of jungle parrots. It was simply too beautiful to be hidden on feet and I thought it would make a lovely shawl/scarf. Turns out it takes every single brain cell to be entirely devoted to every stitch of that pattern in order for me to successfully complete a whole repeat. That shawl remains stalled at 5 repeats. I took it out on my first day of summer holidays, sighed and put it right back into it's bag. I can't bear to rip it and I'm just not ready for another summer go round.

** Enter "Lavalette" - a beautiful and SIMPLE shawl pattern by Kirsten Kapur. She has graciously offered this pattern at no charge and asks that you make a donation to Alzheimer's and dementia research. I think that's a beautiful idea.
This shawl is a birthday gift for a very special friend. The birthday is near the beginning of August, but I'm making good progress and think it should be done in time.
Knitter Specs:
JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk
50% Merino wool/ 50% Silk
"Curry" (a warm shade of tumeric, less orange than pictured)
4.5 mm Knitpicks circulars
I think this one may be a winner. I want one! Fortunately, there is another skein of Zephyr in the stash in a beautiful pale sage...

** I can show you these as well. These are the current Africa socks in progress. Even when I am working absolutely stupid hours it would be very rare not to find an Africa sock on needles somewhere. They are my carry along knitting. Africa has seen these in person, but knows better than to ask when he'll get them.

Knitter Specs:
Cider Moon Icicle
100% Superwash Merino wool
"Prickly Pear"
narrow cactus colour stripes - green, cactus fruit purple fading through taupe to beige

Sock 1: 2.5mm Knitpicks dpns and Sock 2: 2.5mm blue aluminum dpns.
They're on different sets of needles because I still need to look up EZs sewn cast -off for the top of the leg and I spent a whole day at a conference, which was knitting time that could not be missed, so I started the second sock on different needles because I couldn't find my other set of Knitpicks 2.5s.
** Pattern: uh... yeah.... something like this
Toe up cast on (I use the Eastern/Turkish cast on) 12 stitches. Increase at corners every other row until there are 72 stitches, then go roundy round until the foot is long enough for Africa. Turn a short row heel a la PGR, then up the leg in K2P2 rib for freaking everrrrr!! (Note to Self: you don't love ribbing, why on earth would you do this much of it?) Then look up that cast off and do it really loosely, so that it doesn't bind at the top. Or something like that anyway.

All of which brings me to a special request.
Africa's 40th birthday approaches and I want to make him a pair of special socks. He knows he'll get birthday socks, and his glee at the prospect is not at all dimmed by the 3/4 finished pair. I would LOVE your ideas and recommendations for the perfect man-sock pattern. Africa loves all handknit socks, but does have a special fondness for heavier weights, so patterns for dk or worsted yarns would be good. If your favourite is for fingering though, don't hesitate to throw it into the mix.  He does read the blog but you should post your ideas in the comments. I may even ask him to choose the pattern! In the spirit of good karma, should I/we/he choose your suggestion you will get a special thank you gift of sock yarn from my very own stash.

** If you click on any picture it will open full size in a new window for your viewing pleasure.

Racing - again.... let me know when you're sick of it kay?

I promised a good racing story for this post. Sometimes pictures are just more efficient than words, especially moving pictures. This video is from the last race of the 2008 season. Remember, I drove a dark orange car with the number 69A on the side....

Hehehehe!! 

Now the answers to your questions:

No, I wasn't hurt. Not really anyway. I did have a most impressive, truly BLACK bruise on my left arm from shoulder to elbow and that arm was pretty sore for a good week. My chiropractor was a wee bit put out with me when I told him about it, but he straightened me out and I was good as new.

The car? Totalled.

Scared? Not a bit. I was seriously MAD about it! Those of you who know me, know my favourite word and I made full and loud use of it the whole time. Things like this happen in slow motion and you have a ton of time to think. First I was angry about getting spun out - again (was an unusually rough night on the track due to the presence of some inappropriately competitive people). At the top of the slope I sat there for a good 5 minutes wondering how the hell I was supposed to get back on the track. Actually, when the roll started I was happy - cause that seemed like a good way to get down. Then it seemed like I didn't have enough momentum and was going to stop on the roof, which pissed me off again because I'd have to hang there upside down in the straps until the rescue guys could flip me over again. Fortunately, I kept going! Finally wheels down on the track, still holding the steering wheel in both hands, first thing I did was gun the engine to see if it was still going! YAY! Not only wheels down but engine working - back in business!!

Yeah...no. The extremely concerned firefighter man and the equally concerned track safety people explained that my car would never race again.

If you can't win, lose spectacularly!

I drove off the track under a red flag (everyone else stopped in their tracks) right past the packed grandstand to a standing ovation!!

For more video and lots more pictures, including this year's stuff please visit our team website: NEKKIDRacing 

Next time I'll try to have some knitting content on this formerly knitting blog. Let me know what you think of the racing stories.

Oh.... last night.... finished 2nd in the first heat then got slammed hard into the wall right at the start of the second heat race and broke a tie rod. Out for the night. That's racing folks!

And what have you been up to?

Ten months is quite a lot of time to try to review.

Let's see.... where did I leave off?....

Oh yes! Claimer Car Racing. The September race was incredible! Wheels flying everywhere, minor crunching, spectacular crash avoidance skills, pumpkinheads who thought they knew it all....

There I was... racing in 5th position in the main event of the night. Africa's sitting in 3rd and set to move up when WHAMMO!! He throws a wheel halfway through turn 4 straight at the guy driving in 4th. Both of them spin out in the middle of the track while the wheel flies off into the infield. I (using my newly acquired mad driver skillz) somehow manage to squirt through the hole between them unscathed. Now then.... Looking pretty fine... 3rd place up nice and close on a yellow flag while they clear the debris Africa's car and the one he took out. Around and around a few times.... then the flagman signals 1 to go then 3 laps - green, white, checkered.

Something inexplicable happens next. The two cars in front of me, both driven by experienced drivers from the other local track, both of them PULL OFF THE TRACK!! WTF?!?!? and it takes me until I'm coming out of turn 2 to realize that HOLY SHIT I'M IN FIRST PLACE AND THERE ARE ONLY THREE LAPS TO GO AND THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE IS GETTING PAST ME!!!

You can bet I had my eyes glued to that green flag and I jumped on the gas the instant it dropped. No idea who was behind me or how close and I didn't care. The only thing that counted was getting around that track 3 times as fast as possible.

They said they could hear me screaming and howling from the stands as I pulled off the track. Hehehe... I was a little ecstatic.

They had a trophy presentation ceremony and everything!

What an amazing memory! Second time at the track and I have a trophy for winning the main event. You bet I'm hooked!!

Next post I'll tell you about the last race of last season - there's video you have got to see but I need to figure out how to do that first.

And what have you been up to?

Ten months is quite a lot of time to try to review.

Let's see.... where did I leave off?....

Oh yes! Claimer Car Racing. The September race was incredible! Wheels flying everywhere, minor crunching, spectacular crash avoidance skills, pumpkinheads who thought they knew it all....

There I was... racing in 5th position in the main event of the night. Africa's sitting in 3rd and set to move up when WHAMMO!! He throws a wheel halfway through turn 4 straight at the guy driving in 4th. Both of them spin out in the middle of the track while the wheel flies off into the infield. I (using my newly acquired mad driver skillz) somehow manage to squirt through the hole between them unscathed. Now then.... Looking pretty fine... 3rd place up nice and close on a yellow flag while they clear the debris Africa's car and the one he took out. Around and around a few times.... then the flagman signals 1 to go then 3 laps - green, white, checkered.

Something inexplicable happens next. The two cars in front of me, both driven by experienced drivers from the other local track, both of them PULL OFF THE TRACK!! WTF?!?!? and it takes me until I'm coming out of turn 2 to realize that HOLY SHIT I'M IN FIRST PLACE AND THERE ARE ONLY THREE LAPS TO GO AND THERE IS NO WAY ANYONE IS GETTING PAST ME!!!

You can bet I had my eyes glued to that green flag and I jumped on the gas the instant it dropped. No idea who was behind me or how close and I didn't care. The only thing that counted was getting around that track 3 times as fast as possible.

They said they could hear me screaming and howling from the stands as I pulled off the track. Hehehe... I was a little ecstatic.

They had a trophy presentation ceremony and everything!

What an amazing memory! Second time at the track and I have a trophy for winning the main event. You bet I'm hooked!!

Next post I'll tell you about the last race of last season - there's video you have got to see but I need to figure out how to do that first.