Stay Tuned For the Rip Rap

The heavens will NOT be filled with those who NEVER made mistakes. --Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I love this time of year. I love the cooler weather and the chance to put on warm socks and sweaters and, most importantly, sweat pants. I love being able to put the oven on without having to worry about overheating the house. And I love, love, love the colours.

This maple greets me every day when I'm coming home from work or from a walk with Seymour, and every day this week it has stopped me in my tracks:

And while it makes a lot of work for us, the leaves out at the back of the house make me smile with their golden glow:

It's the season for warm soups and for scones fresh from the oven:

And lots of afternoon naps:

It's been pouring rain for most of today, so I've had plenty of time to get caught up on my current project, the Rozeta Blanket. So far, it's been a completely humbling experience. I thought I had it all under control after the first week: I was getting used to the tapestry crochet technique, I had a pretty good tension going on, and I was checking my stitch count carefully on each round. But then I would flip the work over and find I'd neglected to stitch in some of the carried yarn... THREE ROUNDS AGO. So, I'd rip back and fix it up. And then I'd get caught up again and find that I'd missed a stitch TWO ROUNDS BACK... so rip, rip rip. At least this yarn holds up well under all of this stress.

I was feeling pretty good last night after an evening on the couch working away on my project while watching tv. I laid it out on the cushion before going to bed to admire it... and then I noticed these:

That middle point is NOT supposed to be there. And I put it in FOUR ROUNDS AGO. The house echoed with a loud, "OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....." I used to think that it was way easier to rip back in crochet... "Even after ripping back, you only end up with one loop to contend with," I would say. This is coming from someone who routinely has to put two hundred-odd knit stitches back onto her needles. But the thing about crochet is... well, it ain't knitting. In knitting, I would have dropped the stitches around that middle point and knit them all back up again properly. Not so with the hook, my friends. The hook forces you to be frigging honest.

Today was a bit of a marathon but I finally got myself to the end of week two of this CAL. At one stage, even Seymour was trying to tell me to take a break from it:

I haven't measured it, but I already know my gauge is a little small. I'm living with it, because I am NOT starting over now:

Week three will be published on Wednesday, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. This thing is only going to get bigger, which means there will be way more stitches to rip back if I screw up when I screw up. Even looking at the photos above make me a bit anxious, because I keep checking to see if I've messed up somewhere. And reading the comments online where others have posted their progress is starting to make me anxious.

But I will admit that, amid all this worry, I am really excited to see this thing through. And amid the fear of messing up is also the knowledge that yarn is not like life: you can go back and fix your mistakes, however annoying that is. And maybe, just maybe, I can get through the next few weeks without having to rip back...

Or maybe I should liven things up by making up a ripping back dance. Or maybe a rap. A Rip Rap. Heh. Or at least I could make up a clever hand gesture. I may as well keep things creative around here.

I'm off to get the dinner on. Have a good week.