To frog, or not to frog, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The ill fit of a garment, Or to take stitch-ripper against a sea of yarn And by opposing end them.
So what is frogging anyway? In crochet terms, frogging means undoing or unraveling your stitches. For example, you’re crocheting along and, lo and behold you realize that you made a mistake a few rows back, so you “frog” those rows past the mistake and do it over. Or, in my case, I’m working something free-style and it just isn’t working out so I frog it.
The particular garment in question this time is a gorgeous jacket that I absolutely love, but it doesn’t sit quite right on me. It was a ton of work and I enjoyed every stitch of it, but now it hangs in my closet and does nothing. Whoo-hoo! A-frogging we will go! One nice thing about working from a frogged item is that the yarn is mostly stretched out already so there’s no worrying about the garment stretching later. Also, there are no roly-poly balls of yarn getting all tangled up as you work. Lastly, there is something satisfying about destroying a project and watching it take shape into something else.
Sometimes though, I am loath to frog. I think “Jeez, I worked hard on that”, or it’s a particular yarn that is hard to frog, like wool or alpaca that constantly needs a stitch-ripper and is a pain in the butt to unravel. In those cases I try to find a family member who may like the garment. I will also try to sell it at my craft shows. I’d be glad just to get the cost of the yarn back. I’ve donated a few of these items to silent auctions and clothing drives and it’s made me happy to know that somebody somewhere is enjoying it.
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