Where I prove that I really am crazy
I'm going to frog it.
Yep, that's right. I'm just not feeling the love with this project and it might have to do with the fiddlyness of the fronts or it might have to do with the fact that last night I figured out a much easier way to get basically the same design. Wanna hear my idea? (Disclaimer - this only works in my head. I haven't tried it in real life with yarn so if you give it a try you do so at your own risk.) OK, the pattern has you knit the front bands along with the fronts, which ordinarily would be a time saver right? Not in this case, because the single strand/double strand of the yarn and the small needle/big needle thing that's going on really slow you down. It would have been faster to just knit the fronts, then go back and add front bands. So, I figured out, I should have just knit the front sections, attached them to the back and then gone back and picked up for the collar band all the way around. I've already eliminated the Kitchenering part of the collar and if I work the collar band in doubled yarn with the bigger needles and pick up three stitches for every 4 along the fronts and one for one along the back neck, with the change in gauge, it should naturally add enough fullness for the collar to roll properly without any other shaping on my part. Did you get that? Do you see how simple this design could have been rather than being written as a feat of needle skill and yarn untangling that it is?
I have no clue what I'll knit with the yarn. I might knit up what I just described, just to prove that it can be done, or I might find something else to do with it, but as soon as I finish up on the computer this morning, I'm going to frog this silly thing. Anyone know a good pattern with a gauge of 4 stitches per inch?
Labels: Cardigans
posted by Melanie at 8:40 AM
13 Comments:
Good for you, Melanie! This is supposed to be fun for us, right?, and I've been feeling the heaviness in the project every time you write about it. I have a half-done pair of socks that make me feel heavy every time I pick them up. They're getting frogged too. Thanks for your example!
Good for you. If you were to finish it you'd think of all the trouble it caused you every time you looked at it. Turn it back to yarn and knit something that you enjoy.
I fully support this plan. And I do not blame you one bit. Knit on, and make something fun!
At last! Every time you've written about the project it's made me wince. Too, too fiddly for my taste for sure. Frog that baby and knit something soothing and fun with the rescued yarn.
Woohoo! For a pattern? Um, go look at Ravelry. But bring a lunch, cuz you'll be there awhile. :D
Oh my goodness. All that work and it's going to hit the frog pond?
... and yet, if you're not happy with it, why not salvage the yarn? I made the mistake of not salvaging yarn from something I disliked when it was finished, instead giving the thing away (to charity, I think) and regretting it a few months later.
Let's hear it for the frog pond! I just frogged a project I wasn't enjoying knitting, and after spending five minutes bemoaning all that wasted time, I thought about all the unpleasant time ahead of me if I continued -- and then the unloved finished project at the end. 'Tis better to frog now than to waste more time and regret later.
Not only less fiddly, but the double yarn part is longer then the side part, and looks messy and unprofessional. I'm with you...I don't like it.
But, double knitting the front sections at the same time as the frontside sections would be kind of cool, but since it would have to be the slip pass knit kind if dbl knitting, you'd never catch me doing it. To me it's only _intellectually_ cool ;-)
I've been reading about your trials with this design and I keep thinking that you really want to try a modular knitting technique ala Ginger Luters. You can knit the single strand stuff slipping the edge stitches, pick up the edge stitches and attach the doubled stuff by knitting two together with the picked up edge stitches. I know it isn't a clear description, but trust me if you check out her book it should work and be a lot more pleasant.
You GO, Girl! I have done the same thing with a modular knit sweater that just wouldn't work out and I grew to loathe it with the fury of a woman scorned. Life is too short and yarn is too wonderful to spend it making yourself crazy.
Think of it as standing up for mental health!
I had never heard of "frogging" - I just call it "rip out and start over" but I will start calling ALL my projects frogs (and there are many!).
Good luck with your new project - it IS a lovely yarn!
I'm starting mittens for grandkids and am afraid I am making the first one too large - perhaps frogging for this one, too!
Good for you for listening to your 'inner frogging voice'.
When I want a pattern for a certain gauge I always go to my Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns (or Handy Book of Sweaters) and start from the generic pattern for the size and gauge I want.
I agree with you...when not in love, frog, frog, frog....
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