# I'm frogging a 90% finished sweater.



## malinda (May 12, 2002)

When I learned to knit as a child, I never frogged anything. I committed myself to that project and that yarn! Even if I didn't absolutely LOVE the finished product, I wore it, because I made it!

Now, I'm at the point where if I don't love it, I usually don't wear it. I want to love the things I've knitted, wear them in public, and enjoy the finished project!

I have a cardigan (only my second sweater - but I've recently finished my 3rd) that I started two years ago. I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it, and decided I MUST make this sweater. I ordered one extra skein of yarn - just in case. I was merrily knitting along on this cardigan in the beginning - we had a long road trip about that time and I was able to get the entire body finished and had begun the sleeves when I realized that I might not have enough yarn! When I got back home, I went to the LYS and bought two more skeins, which of course were a different dye lot. But I gritted my teeth, determined to make it work.

I began where I had left off with the first sleeve and realized this different dye lot yarn was certainly different - but maybe a non-knitter wouldn't notice? I was a bit disgusted with the project, so it sat in hibernation for many, many months.

In the meantime, I had discovered Ravelry, and looked up other projects in this pattern. I learned that the printed pattern booklet (that I had bought) was wrong! As in, the pattern called for 7 skeins and the cardigan really took 8 skeins (though I was already on my 9th skein)! This project was quickly turning into an UGH!

This year, I made a New Year's Resolution to try to finish a bunch of projects that have been on the needles for many moons. I drug this cardigan out once again. Now the second sleeve is nearly finished, and I've discovered yet again - I will need another skein to finish the neck edging and buttonhole edging!

I'm really frustrated with the entire cardigan, and I don't think I'm in love with it anymore. I don't feel any shame (well, maybe a little) in frogging it and starting an entirely new and different project - one that I've thoroughly researched and am certain will work with the amounts of yarn that I have.

It's been quite a learning experience, and really disappointing. Please, anyone else with frogging stories, let us commiserate. :buds:


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

It's not a cardigan, but I did work up a 'slouch' hat that, which, when made exactly following the pattern, even the yarn brand and type, came out so small that it wouldn't fit an infant! Even though it was supposed to be sized adult. I wound up frogging the whole thing, even though it had been completely finished. I adjusted the pattern and made it again, that time it came out so big it could have fit on 2 people's heads! So I frogged it again, but this time only back 3/4 of the way, adjusted again and finally managed to finish off a suitably sized hat.

I tend to do a lot of frogging, because I have yet to find a single pattern that ever comes out the way I expect. I figure a good pattern is one I only have to adjust slightly.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

My sympathy on the frogging.

The last time I did that it was with a beautiful cabled sock.
One of the very trickiest patterns I had ever done, and it was completely finished.
It LOOKED fine, but I had made so many mods to the pattern w/o writing them down...
when I got 2 the second one I realized there was just no way on Earth I could come close to matching.
It didn't help matters that the yarn was a very dark grey color.

I couldnt face that ball of yarn for many months after I ripped it out.
It just made me feel sick to look at it. 

Finally I just ran that yarn through my sock machine and gave the socks away! 
Problem solved.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

:indif:

Cheater.


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

wow, you are good. 
i have countless UFO's because i lost the love when something did not work out the way i wanted it. maybe it is time to frog the things istarted ten years ago


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

*in hushed tones*

I have been considering frogging a few of my earlier chunky creations to correct the errors of hands-on education. Don't tell.:whistlin:


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

FR that's one of the horrors of fuzzy yarns, they can be VERY difficult to rip, especially if they have been warn. That mohair can be like iron once felted. Good luck with the frogging!


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

I've frogged two sweaters that I can remember in my many years of knitting. Both just didn't fit right. One I reknit in a completely different style and wore it for years. I can't remember what happened to the other; think I reknit it and gave it away--obviously have blocked that nasty bit out. This month's workshop in the Online Guild of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers is finishing UFOs. It's turning into a confessional as people admit to the large number of projects they never finished and why--it's astonishing how many people start so many projects and never finish them, but so easy to do I guess!


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## Charleen (May 12, 2002)

I haven't frogged anything only because all I've made are dishcloths and a few scarves. BUT...I have bought quite a few sweaters at thrift stores & yard sales and frogged them to save the gorgeous yarn.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I thought frogging was the Chinese method of buttoning- ha. It took me about three posts to figure it out.
Last year I became enamored of crocheting- at the tender age of 63. Now I'm really addicted and love the idea of finding a whole new world to investigate. 
Now if I can just figure out why I seem to lose a stitch every time I return a row...............


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

where I want to said:


> Now if I can just figure out why I seem to lose a stitch every time I return a row...............


Make sure you are chaining 1 at the end of each row, then insert your hook in the last stitch, not the chained stitch, of the next row. I had that same problem when I first started... because I had no one to tell me that I needed to do that to prevent the piece from shrinking. My first dishcloth was a funky trapezoid as a consequence. LOL On that very first piece, I didn't have the heart to actually frog it. I kinda liked keeping it as a memento of just how far I'd come.


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I've never frog a sweater before completion unless I only made the sleeves and not the body yet. I have one that is not done and I've lost the pattern. I'll probably frog that one, someday, when I've got nothing else to do.


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## SturdyStella (Jan 2, 2012)

Oh glory, I feel your pain! If it would help any at all, have a friend do the frogging for you maybe while you aren't around. I had to have a knitterly pal rip out an almost finished sweater for me. I came back to seven balls of yarn-no frustrating sweater in sight. I felt so relieved to have it done. Hope you do too!


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## TJN66 (Aug 29, 2004)

Ok...what is frogging? I didnt figure it out from all the posts =/


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## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

Ripping out stitches. Frogs go Rip-it Rip-it.


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

Backtracking... undoing all the work and time spent in getting to that point. For some reason I occasionally derive a certain amount of pleasure from frogging a particularly difficult piece. It's almost cathartic to rip out all those PITA stitches that caused all the stress in the first place! :hysterical: And isn't it funny that you can undo in about 30 seconds what might have taken you many hours of effort?


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

I frogged one of the scarves I was working on over the holidays 6 times, until I was finally happy with the needle size and pattern. Definitely a learning experience - go with your gut instincts, and you'll be happier with the project.

I do have a question - when you frog out that much yarn, how do you get rid of all the little circly kinkie-doos in the yarn? Do you niddy-noddy it and wash it? :shrug:


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

With wool yarn, you can soak it then let it dry. Cotton doesn't kink up so much. Not a clue about acrylic yarns.


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## sheepish (Dec 9, 2006)

I belong to a knitting drop-in group at our church. My friends are amazed at how often I will rip and re-knit something. But I have found that If I am not happy with a product partway through, I will only compound my unhappiness by adding more time to the project...so frogging is where it goes.

One thing I do, If I am not going to re-knit the balls of yarn immediately, I make them into soft centre balls, rather than hard balls. That way the yarn is relaxed and the tension stays correct when it is knit up. If the balls are hard, sometimes the knit product shrinks a bit when the yarn relaxes after knitting.


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## FarmersDaughter (Jul 8, 2008)

I'm fairly new to crochet so my projects have mostly been scarves and hats, but I don't mind frogging an almost completed project if I'm not happy with it. I like the process of crocheting because I find it relaxing, and I want the finished project to be something that I would be happy wearing or proud to give to someone. So, re-using the yarn for something else just gives me more crochet to do (a win) and a finished project that I like (a win). I don't even think about the time I spent making the original one that I ripped out. It wasn't wasted time. It was spent doing something I enjoy and I probably learned something while doing it.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

I really don't feel _all_ that bad about frogging the cardigan. But it is the largest, most intensive item I've frogged yet. I've already chosen a new cardigan to make out of it and am excited to start!

I, and I think most other knitters/crocheters, like to knit/crochet for the art of the craft, not necessarily the finished product. It's the journey, not the destination, right? When I knit in public, non-knitters always say, "I could never do that. You must have so much patience". I want to say back, "It's the journey - just like life! I don't live my life just to hurry up and die!"


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Malinda


> I, and I think most other knitters/crocheters, like to knit/crochet for the art of the craft, not necessarily the finished product. It's the journey, not the destination, right? When I knit in public, non-knitters always say, "I could never do that. You must have so much patience". I want to say back, "It's the journey - just like life! I don't live my life just to hurry up and die!"
> Reply With Quote


That is exactly the way I feel about all fibery stuff, including spinning. The yarn I spun may not be perfect or the super-fine, but if I enjoy it, then I'm happy. I have some yarn that I love so much that I won't knit it up into anything---just in a basket to look at. And, yes, I frog now---didn't used to when I started knitting, but now I do cause I knit faster than I used to.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Exactly!


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Actually, frogging an article that has caused me too much grief is VERY therapeutic! I can cuss it allll I want while ripping it apart! Life is too short to keep messing with a project that does not make you happy.....


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

Falls-Acre - thank you- my edges have straightened up except for one little area where a row bulged out a bit. I guess I double chained. I'm ignoring it for the moment.
Anyway thanks again.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I can remember ripping out a full 8 hrs of solid work because when I got the project into natural light (had been working under fluorescents, sitting all night with a patient), I could see that the dye lots were different. I was really bummed. I learned to check yarn colors in the sunshine before committing to them.


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## TJN66 (Aug 29, 2004)

Tommyice said:


> Ripping out stitches. Frogs go Rip-it Rip-it.


Hahaha..that made me giggle out loud. Great explanation.


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