To Frog or Not to Frog? Finding Something to Knit Even Better

This was my knitting dilemma for completing Shawl Number 9. I rarely ever frog because I spend so much time up front finding the perfect pattern to match the yarn I picked.

I had this particular yarn, Cascade Yarns Eco+ Merlot 7098, I purchased years ago for a particular shawl wrap pattern I had in my Ravelry project queue that I've never found the time to knit. I thought this would be perfect to knit for my 9th shawl to help me attain my 12Shawls2014 goal and to finally get this off my project queue.  

One of my very first yarn purchases few years back.
Cascade Yarns Eco+ Merlot 7098, 100% Wool
Photo: Knitted Candy Diva, August 2014

Well, as I was knitting this last month, I didn't like what I saw and was getting extremely bored at the same time.  This is not a good situation to be in when the pattern I was trying to knit requires over 450+ yards of bulky yarn and I was quickly losing motivation as I was knitting the first 50 yards! 

So back to Raverly Patterns tab and a very fortuitous thing happened last month. Kate Atherley was offering her half Pi-shaped Sick Day Shawl as a free pattern for a limited time only and suggested Cascade Yarns Eco as one of the yarns. I quickly frogged what I was knitting and started to knit Sick Day even though I wasn't sick or taking any meds – I love Kate's pattern name – and never looked back!

My Review

Shawl #9 of 2014:
My HUGE I'm Not Sick "Sick Day Shawl"
Size: 76 in (w) x 27 in (h)
Pattern: Sick Day Shawl by Kate Atherley
Photo and Hand Knitted: Knitted Candy Diva
October 2014

Knitting my Shawl #9:  I’m Not Sick “Sick Day Shawl" was a very quick, fun knit and definitely would knit this half Pi-shaped shawl again. I am so glad I frogged my other project for this because I also found another great gift knit project idea to keep in mind.  And to put the “icing on the cake,” finishing this shawl kicked off my Christmas gift knitting!

I pretty much followed the pattern instructions, except for the following:

My Modifications

1. Used a US11 (8.0 mm) needle, instead of US9 - 10 (5.55 - 6.0 mm) because I chose to knit bulky Cascade Eco+
2. Not part of my original plan - I ran out of the Eco+ as I finished knitting Row 6 before binding off.  So went digging through my leftover yarn stash and found this Lion Brand Thick & Quick, Charcoal Grey to bind off.
3. Used my favorite shawl bind-off because of its surprisingly stretchy bind off (no pun intended LOL) – Planet Purl’s Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off – with a US13 needle. Going up a needle size made the transition from knitting with bulky to super bulky yarn seamless.

I'm Not Sick "Sick Day Shawl," Front view
Photo and Hand Knitted: Knitted Candy Diva
October 2014

I'm Not Sick "Sick Day Shawl," Back view
Photo and Hand Knitted: Knitted Candy Diva
October 2014

I loved that you get a lot of 100% wool yarn in the Eco+ so I did not have very many ends to weave in, unlike my last shawl requiring two colors.

I'm Not Sick "Sick Day Shawl," Close-up
Photo and Hand Knitted: Knitted Candy Diva
October 2014

Future Knitting Ideas:  Sick Day Shawl #2, 3, etc.

How about knitting the last 6 rows with another color (CC) or knit the last 6 rows (Rows  1 -2: CC, Rows 3 – 4: MC, Rows  5-6: CC) to give the shawl’s border a little more pizzazz or pop?! Or about knitting this pattern using self-striping yarn or soft, squishy alpaca?! 

Wanna learn more about my details knitting this pattern, please visit my Ravelry project page.

Love to hear from you:  Do you frog a knitting project because you don’t like what you see? Or when you stop being motivated or inspired by what you’re knitting because you know the project will just sit and you know you’ll never finish it? Ultimately, are you happy that you frogged and the final, completed project is better than what you started with?