Turned the heel on the first of the "Pele's Socks" tonight. (That is what I am calling the "Rib Fantastic" socks being knit of yarn called "Kilauea." You may (or may not) know that Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes and fire.

(This Pele, not that Pele)

(And I've seen the painting that's shown on the Pele page. I mean, in person - at the HVNP headquarters. And the Halemaumau crater - where, incidentally, people actually leave "offerings" to Pele - either flowers, or small bottles of liquor, or other items. I am not sure how serious Pele-worship is as an actual phenomenon; I was actually a bit surprised to see as many offerings as were there).

Anyway. There are a couple of phenomena in Hawaiian vulcanism named after her - there is Pele's hair (fine, glassy fibers, usually a bright gold - if you scroll down on that Wikipedia page, there is a photo) and Pele's tears (small drop-shaped bits of volcanic glass - they are, in fact, teardrop shaped). So if there's Pele's tears and Pele's hair, why not Pele's socks, as well.

Of course I hope I do not incur any bad luck by wearing Pele's socks. (There is an old legend - I think it was actually featured in a Brady Bunch episode as well - that removing volcanic rock from Hawaii brings bad luck. Or maybe it was a cursed tiki on the Brady Bunch, I don't remember. And of course the National Park Service, despite their mission to promote the scientific explanations of things, is perfectly happy to wink a bit at that legend, if it keeps people from toting home bits of a'a and pahoehoe in their luggage. I do think Pele makes exceptions for scientists; my father and some of his colleagues who were along on the trip had collecting permits which made it OK in the eyes of the NPS.

(Actually, on the Wikipedia site, it says the legend was actually created by an NPS employee - granted, one with a slightly "native" sounding name. But I like that idea...it's kind a modern version of the old dietary laws, where a lot of the stuff considered "unclean" to eat was actually stuff that, in those days, would have been unsafe to eat. That if you can't REASON with people, perhaps you can work on their superstitions.)