Ok, so I have a confession......a really really secret confession- I (used to!), abhor, detest, avoid like the plague, frogging (also known as ripping, tinking, unknitting). Truly. I'd do anything to avoid it, to include leaving a project in the WIP basket (and to be honest, they are most likely still there!), I'd change up a design just to avoid it, I'd decide that I was knitting the piece for someone other than it's intended at cast on recipient, I'd even just abandon it, and forget about tit......until lately!
I was working on what I thought was a "just for fun" mermaid-isn project (because apparently I haven't had enough MERMAIDS, haha, and I'm a huge sucker for anything that is Disney-themed, so Patchwork Peach Yarn's are a tremendous temptation and weakness of mine....seriously, go check her out....I'll be here waiting......ok, you can thank me now, lol!) and I was loving it. The yarn (I'm using her Ariel color in case you couldn't guess ;: ) is just amazing, and the design was turning out beautiful, so I was thinking that it definitely needed to go into my production schedule, although that joining round.....I'm not sure that neck circumference is actually big enough for an adult. Ok, what evs, I'll just keep knitting, it will stretch.....and then I knit a bit, and stopped. My gut knew it, I knew it, my brain knew it. This was just not going to work, and the only thing to fix it was to rip back to the join (which was now at least 10 rows back, to include the entire shell stitch pattern which is, well, not exactly for the faint of heart.
So, I did it. I was brave and I just ripped back to that join, put the stitches back on the needle, and fixed it And by the time it was time for bed, I'd just made it to the point where I was knitting with "new yarn". But, I was satisfied, and happy. I felt accomplished and loved my knitting and couldn't wait to greet it this morning. Frogging, the wise choice.
Although, talk to me later when I frog a 3/4 of the way done shawl design because, well, reasons.....and in wisdom, I know that frogging it entirely and starting over is going to make it the shawl that it wants to be. The shawl that Fairy Gardens deserve, a shawl that will sing in ALL its glory., because, yeah, wisdom (and perhaps one too many cups of coffee?)
So, that's my advice to you today, dear knitting friends, don't be afraid of the frog pond, because sometimes that is just what you have to do to find a true gem!
Happy Knitting (and occasionally frogging!)
~Jessica