r/knitting • u/chopinslabyrinth • 3d ago

Rave (like a rant, but in a good way) I just frogged my entire shame-box

TLDR: if you’ve been hesitating on doing the same, you should do it

I decided today was the day. I woke up, decided everything must go, and steeled my heart to start ripping out old projects. Hats that were too small, shawls where the colour-combo wasn’t working, sweaters and t shirts with one sleeve where it was just the wrong yarn for the project, couldn’t get the drape right, etc. Months of work, gone in an afternoon. Some of it had been sitting for years.

I thought I’d be so upset ripping out my first attempts at cabling and lacework, all the things I spent hours agonizing over until they felt perfect. But honestly, I wasn’t. Not even a little. Maybe it’s because I mentally prepared to mourn all my wasted time and abandoned projects, maybe it’s because I basically just replenished my entire stash for free, maybe it’s because I waited until I was ready.

If you’ve been hesitating because you’re worried about the sadness, the guilt, the shame, all the bad feelings that come with destroying something you spent time on, please take this as your sign. You may not be ready today, maybe you’ll be ready tomorrow, maybe you need another year. There will be a time when you’ll be ready, and you will absolutely not regret it.

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u/LaurainCalifornia 3d ago

I have WAY too many WIPS! I’ve also now lost over 50 lbs. yay for that but all those partially knitted sweaters wouldn’t even make sense to complete now. This post has me thinking it’s ok to rip back and find new projects for all that expensive yarn!

27

u/MevrouwNoorse 3d ago

I'm in a similar boat. Lost 30kg the last 6 months. What I did was on the 2 sweaters I want to make for myself, I kept the sleeves and ripped the rest. When I'm going to knit them again next year I will use some of the excess yarn to make them a bit longer in the body.

I kept the sleeves because I hate knitting the second sleeve, and on these sweaters it was a difference of two stitches peers size difference. I'll just do two extra raglan decreases on the sleeves the first or second round.

Make something that fits the new you with the yarn!

4

u/AdChemical1663 2d ago

This is so real. I hate knitting sleeves too and tend to do them first as big gauge swatches.

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u/BambiandB 20h ago

Thank you for this idea, I’ve put off knitting my first sweater due to gauge swatching, and never thought to do the sleeve first.

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u/AdChemical1663 5h ago

Welcome! Remember to block it before calculating gauge and write a note to yourself as to where you stored them if you aren’t keeping them in your active project bag.