Frogging lace May 21, 2008
If you’ve knit for any length of time you know how it feels to frog back any number of rows to fix a mistake—by “frog” I mean to remove the needles from the knitting, grab the end of the yarn, and pull. It’s at once freeing and intensely frustrating. Multiply that by about a thousand times when the work that needs frogging is lace. All those yarn overs and knit-two-togethers can be tricky to get back on the needles. It’s a tiny bit easier—maybe I should say less difficult—when the purl rows are simple purls with no additional lace work.
Lucky I am that that’s the case with this pattern.
Though the sun isn’t actually out this morning, it’s brighter than it was yesterday. I gathered the knitting to be frogged, my tools and my moral support, turned on some nice soothing music (Sting: Fields of Gold), grabbed the camera, and began. 
For whatever reason, I always do this kind of complicated thing when I’m sitting on the floor. I got myself organized, then pulled out the slim piece of yarn I’d inserted as a lifeline at the top of the knitting. I repositioned it just beyond the spot that needs to be frogged. I ran the yarn between the yarn overs, not so much as a lifeline, but more as a guide to 
ensure that I don’t rip it back too far.
I removed the end caps from the holding cable, and pulled. 
The stitches are free.
I took a deep breath. Took a picture of my helper. Okay. I’m ready to continue.
Next up: actually ripping back the knitting. When doing this with lace, I find it helpful to hold the work down on the floor with one hand while I pull the yarn with the other. I’ve tried other things in the past, such as holding the knitting up in the air or on my lap, giving it to Dave to hold. The floor method works best for me. For lace, anyway. I find I have more control.
It certainly simplified things having a cone to wrap the yarn around as it came off the knitting. When I don’t have a cone, which is most of the time, I simply re-wrap the yarn around the ball. I do this in bits, every few rows, so that I never have so much yarn out there loose that it tangles. Only one disaster at a time, please.
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Every so often it’s also time to take another deep breath, gather moral support from Coco the Bear and Miss Ricki. Ricki found this process quite fascinating. 
I kept alternating pulling and winding until all the offending rows were out. I always make sure here that the next row remaining is a purl row.
Now it’s time to pick up those live stitches and get them back on the needle. Being right handed, I always start from the right. I ever so carefully tease those stitches back on the needle. Now and then I stop and use the crochet hook to pick up a stitch that dropped one too far.
If you happen to be a cat, this is the part that’s most boring. Ho hum. 
The stitches are finally back on the needle.
But we’re not done yet.
The next thing that I always do is to tink back—un-knit, one stitch at a 
time—one more row. This does two things for me: it ensures that I have all the stitches that I’m supposed to, and that all the stitches are facing the correct way. I don’t know about you, but half the time that I pick up stitches they’re facing the wrong way, and must be turned so they don’t 
end up twisted. This step helps fix that.
Second to the last step: run a lifeline!
The final thing: figure out what row I’m on, then resume knitting. Whew.
Jessi May 21
Oh, the pain of lace knitting! My first successful lace shawl that I knit a couple of months ago had lifelines almost superstitiously placed every 8-row pattern repeat. I did end up using them a couple of times.
Miss Ricki is so CUTE when she’s fascinated! Love how her paws are so primly together.
Jocelyn May 21
Double whew! I’m glad you’ve made it back onto the needles safe and sound - thank goodness for your helpers! (Me, I maybe would have gone with the finger of single malt to help me along…
)
~Kristie May 21
What a great post for anyone who hasn’t had to frog lace before. You’ve captured the process brilliantly.
Your helpers are adorable!! Miss Ricki must be loving the cooler temperatures. Did she never try to “paw” at the yarn you’d just frogged before winding it back on the skein?
Angela May 21
oh my word. The agony!!!!!
britt May 22
more power to you. i don’t know that i could frog lace. frogging sweaters and socks are bad enough! without all the pressure of making sure yarn overs and the like are done correctly. kind of curious though. how long did this process take? i know it takes me forever on a sweater.
Karen B. May 22
What fortitude! Even with a valiant helper, it couldn’t have been an easy task.
Kelli May 22
Sunday morning when I was probably the sickest, I noticed that I dropped a stitch that ran down about 6 rows in a 14 row repeat in my alpaca lace shawl. I sucked it up, pulled out the rows that needed to be ripped, jiggered everything around, and reknit to where I was. At that point I discovered that I had knit the wrong half of the repeat. So I did it all again. So frustrating. It probably wouldn’t have happened had I not been sick.
I blocked the shawl last night. Seriously glad it’s finished.
Robin May 22
Sheesh, I give you credit. I always frog one stitch at a time, one row at a time, or I end up taking out the whole thing and starting over. I can never get it right doing it how you do. Miss Ricki is so cute.
Erica May 22
Oh the lace frogging! I figured out how to drop down stitches and reknit just pieces of the pattern (like you do for cables) on my last project just to avoid the frogging bit! It actually worked better than I’d hoped, but then, it was a simple lace…
Earin May 26
You’ve picked up some fantastic books. I’ve had my book for many years and it’s held together with tape and love. I use it much more than any of the fancier ones now on the market. I’ve yet to find anything that even comes close.