Mistake Rib

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.