Dissecting a Frog

The Frog Prince, as you may remember, was sent to Time Out.  Like, two years ago.  The process of translating this design from a tailored boiled wool jacket into a sweater that regular people could just have fun knitting did not go as I had hoped.  Not even a little bit.  Rather than a sweater that looks like the original jacket, I ended up with Franken-Frog.  The sleeves didn't puff.  The hem didn't swing.  The underarms did this bizarre batwing/dolman thing (The cast of Dyanasty called; they want their sleeves back).  And in the meantime, they stopped making the tapestry ribbon I had trimmed the original in.

In spite of all these problems, I had forged on, hoping I would somehow come to love the Franken-Frog in the fullness of time.  This denial may have had something to do with the 5 skeins of size 2 stockinette I had invested.  I did all the finishing (sans the tapestry ribbon trim; the plan was to hunt down a replacement after I fell in love again).  I even edged the wee beastie in velvet, all the way around.  All I had left to do was recreate the deep, patterned cuffs, when something snapped, and I just couldn't go on.  I hung the Frog in a corner of the living room.  Which did nothing to make me love it, because people kept coming into my living room and asking why I didn't just finish that thing, already.  Time marched on.  Books got written.  Other designs that I love have been born.  I've continued to make promises and excuses to the dear knitters who still want to make Frog Princes of their own.  There formed a fine layer of dust on Franken-Frog's velvet trim.

And then one night a couple of months ago, I dreamed that I was frogging the Frog.  It wasn't sad, but cathartic.  Like finding the real sweater trapped inside the Franken-Frog.  And when I woke up, I determined that it was time to admit defeat.  It was time to Frog the Frog.

And so, today was the day:

It took all morning.  And it wasn't as cathartic as in my dream.  But it's done now, and I'm ready to wash and reskein the yarn.  And then I'll go back to the drawing board, in earnest.  For those of you who have not given up on me, I thank you.  For those who have no idea why anybody would want a sweater with frogs on it in the first place, I have to say that I kinda feel the same for now.  But I'm not giving up, and neither should you, my would-be Princesses.  Wish me luck: I'm gonna reincarnate the Frog Prince.