Bandit Fiber Arts

I have to frog a project that is 99% done. It’s a handkerchief tank top that only needs one strap finished.  But I looked at it today and said out loud “I ruined this yarn.”.  Four skeins of hand dyed super wash dk wool and so many hours invested into a final project that I hated.

My heart sank.  Less than the time invested was the materials.  It is beautiful yarn that I chopped up to make pieces fit together into a product that gave no joy.

Usually when something like this happens, I throw it all away.  The project, the yarn remnants, everything goes in the trash.

I. Never. Frog.

But something stopped me today.  I don’t want to throw this yarn away.  I can salvage it and make something good from something that sucked.  I will probably hate taking it apart and frogging it, it will also not cause me joy.

The shirt was intended to be a gift for my mother, something she could wear to all the concerts and festivals she goes to.  It ended up looking like something Harley Quinn would wear, two blue and two red diamonds sewn together.  Totally not my mom’s country biker style.  She would have said all the right things, but she never would have worn it.  This way I can make something small that she’ll actually use.

Side tangent: one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda, wrote a poem about receiving hand knit socks. It’s lovely.

I am breaking my No Frogging rule because I guess I finally realized that frogging gives the yarn a second chance to be great. 

I’m not going to do it today though. I’ll do it when the thought of the whole thing stops pissing me off.