Category Archives: frogging

This Isn’t Going To Work

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Okay, I have to admit defeat. This hat at this gauge and with this yarn….is not going to work. RIP first attempt at my Iris Hat.

I am flat going to run out of yarn on this project. My needles are too small and the stitch count is too high. Not to mention that I can’t get this brim over my head. It’s weirdly to dense and small. All around failure.

I ran over to my LYS, which is closing, and grabbed some US 10s on a 16 inch circular cord so I can frog this hat and restart. I will:

  • Use bigger needles
  • Modify the stitch count down
  • Reduce the height of the folded brim
  • Possibly consider a straight cast off and go for the cat ears look?

Good news, is that I haven’t wasted that much time and this should get up and going quickly again. Thank goodness for bulky yarn. I am not even going to rewind this. I am finding the other end of the yarn and knitting the new hat from the old hat, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Chevrons To The Frog Pond

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This is my Chromatic Yarns Zig Zag Blanket and it hasn’t been touched in MONTHS. I pulled it out and petted it for awhile and decided to rip it out.

It’s not as big as I would have hoped, knitting blankets takes FOREVER, and I think I want to change the color order. So this is getting frogged. I also have been doing some research on Ravelry to find a crochet alternative for this yarn. I still want it to be a blanket…..just not this one.

Happy Frogging!!

Thanks, I Hate It

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I should have listened to my gut. Turns out I HATED how my LSP hat was knitting up. The fabric was dense and not forgiving at all. It was so stiff that it was barely curling. So to the frog pond it went!

The yarn is back to it’s natural state. I was using US 8 needles and I think I would be better suited to go up to US 10s and then reduce down in stitch count. Rough math makes me think I could go down to 80 instead of 88. The hat is basically a swatch so I think I will start with that and see what happens. I can always rip out again!

Happy Knitting!!

Perpetual Hope Is Going To The Frog Pond

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I did some tossing of my WIPs and came across my Perpetual Hope from last Christmas started from my 2021 Queen City Yarn advent calendar. It is a beautiful pattern but it didn’t click with me.

I have a different idea for this yarn to make a longer wrap. The kiddos really like curling up under my shawls and wraps in the winter when do movie time. Of course I still have 1,000 other projects in my brain and about 10 more on the needles. So I am not sure when I will get this yarn back on the needles, but it felt good to let this one go!

Happy Knitting!!

Frog-tastic Summer

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I am on a bender….of frogging. I may have been rooting around in my WIP bag and found not one but two advent mini skein projects in hibernation. I spread them out and gave them a good look…..I didn’t want to finish either of them.

First up to frog is my Rainbow Fluff Habitation Throw made with my 2020 Teal Torch Knits advent set. Its a rainbow gradient and I was making a lap blanket with a little suri alpaca thrown in. It’s now back to a bunch of minis. Since I’m all about holding yarns double and marling…..this yarn is now going to be the All My Stitches wrap by Beata Jezek (Rav link). I ordered some plain white Opal Sock yarn to hold with the colors.

Next up in the frog pond…..my Wool and Waves Advent Scarf. This was my 2019 Advent of choice. I clearly made it SUPER far, hahaha. It’s now ripped out and I’m considering making it into the Zest by Josh Ryks-Robinsky (Rav link). I need to get on the interwebs or hit my LYS to find a second yarn to hold double with this set.

I definitely feel like I have a theme to my knitting this year, hats and holding sock yarn double. Both are really helping me use all the wonderful yarn I have stashed for year. Plus I’m getting a lot of cool FOs for next fall.

Happy Knitting!!

Well Shoot….

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Some days I sure am pretty….

I was minding my own business and hibernating in my craft room/guest room working on my memory blanket. I had added an ENTIRE square using scraps from Stranded Dyeworks BFL Sock in the Antagonist colorway when I saw it. I had added the square from the wrong dang side.

If you look carefully at the grey border you can see the purl bumps where I changed colors. And those should be on the other side of the blanket, sigh. So off to the frog pond that square went.

It might have been a useful accident as I think I have a different scrap/color that I want to place there instead of the dark grey. I have a dark red and light pink combo that would look better there anyway. But I am still mad at myself for making such a bonehead move and wasting all that prime knitting time.

Happy Knitting!!

Falling Out Of Love and Frogging

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I did some soul searching this past weekend and decided to frog my One Perfect Skein Shawl.

It’s been almost a year and I haven’t worked on this since I cast it on last Mother’s Day. It’s a lovely skein of yarn and a really cool pattern. I just wasn’t feeling it. No sense in taking up needles or a project bag for something I don’t want to finish.

So this lovely gradient yarn is going back in the stash to marinate some more. Perhaps it doesn’t want to be shawl….maybe a long rectangular wrap or scarf? I’ll let the yarn gods speak to me…

Happy Knitting!!

Frog It: Everyday Shawl

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It’s time for more violins. I am recognizing a pattern in my knitting luck here lately. The Everyday shawl I cast on this week is headed to the frog pond. But let me explain.

I’m still at that weird thong looking stage of this shawl but I did work through multiple sections before confirming my decision to frog. Let me preface with this by saying, this pattern is well written and explains everything you need to know. And I think it was handling the variegated nature of the yarn beautifully.I as the knitter just can’t get my shawl to do what its supposed to do.

Without giving away the secret sauce, I keep messing up the increases at the edges and I never end up with the right stitch counts. So I found myself not wanting to pick up this project and kinda hating it. Life is to short to knit things that make you unhappy. I still want to knit this pattern some day but right now my sleep deprived-mom of two kids-with a full time job brain just can’t handle this. This yarn deserves better.

Tomorrow I will cast on the third attempt to make this yarn a shawl! Stay tuned….

Dad’s Socks Go To The Frog Pond

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I need to start playing sad violin right about now. I was so excited to have finished the first sock of my dad’s Christmas present. My husband made a comment that the sock looked extra huge. So when my dad was helping with my floor I had him try it on.

You guys it sagged EVERYWHERE. It was loose on the leg, the heel and the foot! I had no choice but to resign it to the frog pond. I realistically need to take out eight stitches from the stitch count. And it’s my own fault. I was knitting DK weight yarn using a sport weight sock stitch count. (Read: too many stitches for that thick of yarn.)

So during a Netflix re-watch of a favorite episode of NCIS I turned the above sock int these….two balls of ramen. One sock ball and one heel ball because I cut in an afterthought heel. Sigh….

I still want these for his Christmas so I need to get back on them. But I may need a mourning period first…

Happy Knitting!!

Finish or Frog It Time

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Y’all….it is Stash Dash season. I won’t regurgitate the whole stash dash conversation, just go look it up at the KnitGirllls. I normally don’t participate because I really like to knit whatever feeds my mojo and not for arbitrary yardage goals. But I have been encouraged by all the recent projects flying off my needles that has really left me wanting to finish things. This led to digging around in the depths of my craft room I unearthed four long languishing WIPS. So lets play a round of finish it or frog it shall we?

Working clockwise from we have:

I was brutally honest with myself and frogged three of the four. Any guesses? Well I’ll keep this short and tell you I kept the MOA shawl in the variegated brown tones. This means I have new WIP to work on and I have freed up three sets of needles and three projects bags. I feel so much lighter and excited to find better projects for all that yarn.

Although….the Alpaca/Merino mix yarn just didn’t get my motor running anymore. I might be looking for it to find a good home somewhere else. Do you ever fall out of love with a skein of yarn?

Happy Knitting!!