Notes on Frogging

Frogging. Ripping back. Unpulling, even. I didn't even realise frogging was the term for undoing knitting before I joined insta. But I had already done a lot of it. It can be a bit heartbreaking (all that work!). But it also frees me, gives me permission to re-attempt something I had tried. Its just such a raw way of trying again, physically undoing the work just to re-knit the same stitches using the very same piece of yarn. With a lot of other activities in life, say sports, if you don't do it right the first time, that moment is gone, and you try again. But unpulling knitted stitches leaves you with evidence of exactly how far you'd gone wrong. 

The purple rainbow wool here had about 3 other lives as other scarves

My habits of frogging fall into two forms: the stitches I unpull as soon asI realise there's a mistake, and the finished pieces I unpick and undo months later when I realise they aren't fulfilling their original purpose quite how I had intended. 

The fit of this oaty-coloured top is terrible-as you can see its super baggy around the arms and rides up over the hips. It was my first raglan jumper, I didn't have long enough circular needles to see the size as I was doing the raglan increase, and then I decreased down the body so it's baggy around the shoulders and tight over the hips. My plan is to rip back to the beginning of those decreases, knit it straight and end up with a cropped top that drapes much better.

These bluey-green socks above are something I absolutely love, but as I've worn them weekly during the past 3 months the cuffs have stretched so much, they fall down and dirt can jump straight in - not ideal for working on farm or hiking. In the meantime, my sock knitting skills have vastly improved and I want to make a different style. This way I get to use the stunning yarn again, solve the problem of the cuffs and end up with something I love again.

This poor purple yarn is waiting for the perfect project to come along-if you've knit anything on 6mm needles that you think is amazing, please let me know! In the past 12 months I've made 2 jumpers and ripped them back. I probably need to swatch it and actually put a bit of thought into the process. 

As well, I have received a lot of outdated or unworn jumpers made by Grandma which just aren't wearable anymore, and I unpull those to recycle the wool. This is almost just a special as a jumper made by Grandma, because it gives a new, loved life to something she had intentions for. 

Both the yarns in this jumper came from unworn knits that were styles of a particular era!

It helps a lot with my yarn budget when I can make something new from something re-used. My new favourite jumper is the olive green one with colourwork that I designed, and all I had to do was wash and ball the olive wool. This meant I only purchased one skein of new wool to co-ordinate with my main colour. I have enough of the contrast yarn left over I've made a matching cowl, and the I'm working on a shawl as well. 3 projects from one!

These skeins have been turned into a jumper I love, but only the speckled was bought new.

None of this would be possible without the willingness to pull apart minutes or hours of knitting. It hurts a bit at the time, but when something has lost its use and there's another one in mind for it, I think it's easier.