9 Questions to Ask Before Frogging Your Knits

To frog or not to frog? Have you heard of the frog or ribbit stitch? Do you know what it means to frog your work? Do you wonder what knitters are talking about when they say they are going back to the frog pond?

What does our little green friend have to do with knitting? Okay, let me explain about the silly aquatic creatures. Frogs make a sound called “ribbit” (at least in the US). Ribbit sounds an awful lot like “rip it”. So when you rip it, rip it, rip out your stitches, y’all sound like a bunch of frogs croaking “ribbit”! Removing all those stitches has come to be known as frogging and ribbit stitches.

And where do frogs live? In a pond of course. Going back to the frog pond means that you’ll be frogging your project soon. Oh joy! I’m in the frog pond now! You might be frogging the whole thing or just one stitch. Pray for the one stitch.

Cute and noisy frogs are just a fun way to talk about the need to take our knitting apart due to a slipup. We’ve all had to do that. Some of us more than others. By the way, the more you ribbit, the more of a knitting expert you become!

Now that we know where frogging comes from, how do you know it’s time to frog your knitting? That’s a personal choice actually. But I know that we can all use some guidance at times.

Here are some things to consider that might help you with that dreaded yarny decision.

9 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Frog Your Knitting Project

1. Do you even want to frog your knitting? Honestly it all begins with that. If you really don’t want to frog and take out all that lovely work, then that’s your answer. What mistake? I don’t see a mistake. Just keep on knitting, keep on knitting.
   
2. Do you have to rip out most of your work or just a few stitches?
   
3. Can the error be easily fixed? Then go ahead and fix it, if you want to. See #1.
   
4. Is it a gift? I know, we all want to knit perfect gifts. Chances are the recipient can’t see the error at all. Unlike you, they can read knitting stitches! Remember how long it took you to tell the difference between a knit and a purl? It’s okay to leave smaller boo-boos in place. That’s called a beauty mark or a design feature.
   
5. Can you repeat the error? Repeat it on purpose a few more times.  A repeated “error” is a pattern! I’m not kidding. With all its holes, I’m convinced this is how lace knitting was invented.
   
6. Is the mistake time-consuming but easy to fix? If you’ve got extra time,  then you might want to consider making the correction.
   
7. Do you know how to fix the error? Now may be a great time to learn this skill.
   
8. Are you almost done knitting, but the mistake is at the very beginning of the knitting? Is it really going to be worth your time to fix it?
   
9. Is it glaringly obvious? Something like large holes, a cable that isn’t crossed correctly, or a mistake in the exact center of your knitting can be distracting. These you definitely want to frog and reknit.
   

Be honest with yourself. Really, really honest. Are you just being too picky? Lots of us are. Or perhaps it’s a lack of confidence in your knitting? Are you afraid someone else will spot the mistake and tell everyone about it? Listen, no one worth knowing is going to point out your error. Most likely other knitters aren’t even going to see your tiny knitting mistake anyway. If you said yes to the questions in this paragraph, then please be kind to yourself and don’t frog your knitting.

Whatever you decide, frog or not, make peace with your decision. There’s no need to point out your knitting errors to anyone. What error? All I see is beautiful knitting.

Next up in this series about the fuzzy yarny frogs in our lives I’ll tell you about some of the many methods for fix your knitting.

Do you frog your knitting, or forget about the mistake and keep going?