Here’s the closest I’ve been able to accurately represent the color of Cascade 220 #8013, Walnut Heather. Of course, it’s reasonably accurate on my monitor, but might look a bit different on yours. It’s an ashen gray-brown - which may not sound thrilling, but I’m absolutely in love with the color.

A lot of knitbloggers have been discussing their Kryptonite lately. Their one fatal flaw as a knitter. I think that mine, like that of most other knitters, is my unwillingness to rip back and correct a mistake. I also have this problem with denial. “It’s not that bad, no one will notice, heck, I don’t even notice!”

Why should this be? If I do a drawing, I erase 95% of the lines as a matter of course. If I write a paragraph, I delete and re-write at least half of it before clicking Save. If dinner turns out badly, I eat what little is edible, and throw the rest away.

I try to tell myself that ripping back is just part of the process of knitting, but it doesn’t really help take the sting out of having ripped back the Mistake Rib Scarf three times in the first six inches.

First, I started out with four rows of garter stitch, which seemed like a good idea at the time. But of course, the mistake rib scrunched itself up, so the garter stitch flared out in an unattractive fashion.

Next, I knit about four inches before there was a mysterious skip in the pattern (like that use of passive tense?) and everything shifted over by a stitch. I didn’t notice this for three rows.

Finally, I valiantly managed to knit about eight inches before I realized that the entire thing was only about 3 1/2 inches wide. That’s a pretty narrow scarf, no?

I’m starting to think it was bad luck to pick a stitch named “mistake.”

Third time’s a charm, right?

P.S. Do you like my incredibly cool needle/stitch holder arrangement? I couldn’t find my 5mm circular needles when I went to cast on, so I just grabbed two bamboo DPNs and a pair of rubber bands.

The rubber band is wrapped around the far end of the DPN, to serve as a stitch stopper (because the needles are a wee bit too short, and otherwise stitches would fall off the end, as I learned to my dismay). When it’s time to bang it into my purse, I hold the needles together nose-to-tail (as it were) and wrap the last turn of the rubber band around both needles. It’s actually working pretty well, although I admit it is rather lacking in the “style and panache” department.

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Those of you who still access the site from http://erika.fisherking.org may have had some trouble earlier today. Every year without fail, for the six years I’ve had that domain, on September 28th I am startled to find that its registration has expired. (But I just paid the annual registration fee last year!) I pay up, then drum my fingers impatiently for 5-6 hours while Dotster gets around to turning it back on. No worries!

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This is the post where I jumble in all the assorted photographs from the weekend, without any real coherent thread to join them.

Apple Tree #2 is ripe! (Tree #3 should ripen next month. They were chosen to ripen in series, so that for three months in autumn, you’re never more than a week away from a total apple overload.) These are small and tart, yet also juicy and crisp and not too astringent. If you stand next to the tree on a sunny afternoon, the perfume of perfectly ripe apples is enough to make a person swoon with delight.

Okay, I had to get a picture of this. Eight years, and I’ve never seen Brady sleep with his face smashed into the blanket like this. How can he breathe? Does he do this kind of thing on purpose, just to weird me out? (I don’t half suspect that he turned on the kitchen faucet, sat there for a while watching the sink overflow, then turned it back off again and sidled away, chuckling to himself.)

“You’re taking pictures of me asleep again, aren’t you?!”

These little buggers are everywhere at the moment. They’re the Fraggles of the caterpillar world. The best word to describe them in action is “cheerful.”

The monster dill tree is going to seed! It turns out I love dill more than anything. I love the smell the plant makes when you brush against it, and I can’t get enough of the taste of the seeds. I like to mix them into a jar of mayonnaise to create my own tangy sandwich spread. Oh, they’re good!

Progress on the RPM sock continues. Also pictured: Brady gnawing on the cast-on tail.

I’m smitten by RPM. The pattern was written to take advantage of handpainted yarns, and I really think it’s perfect for that use. (Cat hair pictured for, uh, scale.)

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