Frog it!

Rip it, Rip it, Rip it!  That is the sound my crochet makes as I frog back, or rip out, all the lovely work done on my Esmee Cardigan!  In fact, the phrase 'frog it', as used extensivley by knitters and crocheters, has come from rip it sounding so much like ribbit, the noise associated with those lovely green amphibians, frogs!

I have decided to stretch my crocheting skills to the next level and make a full blown cardigan.  I have been admiring this paticular one, Esmee by Sarah Francis, in the issue 13 of Inside Crochet magazine for some time.  What has been putting me off was the ADVANCED difficulty rating: EEEEK!  Am I ready for an advanced difficulty rated pattern?  Can I do it after only 6 months on the hook?  I am never one to turn down a challenge and, after coming across some gorgeous teal King Cole yarn with a pretty sparkly thread running through it in a craft store, I knew that it had to be done.

See how pretty it is?  I just couldn't resist!

Now then, was it not enough for me to be attempting an advanced diffculty pattern?  Did I not feel that this was challenge enough?  Of course not!  I had to choose a yarn that is considerably thicker than the one used in the pattern.  Now then, some people would do a guage swatch.  Ha!  Not me, of course I do not need to waste my time on something so silly as a guage swatch - how silly I was! 

So far I have started and frogged the cardigan 4 times!  Given that it is a foundation chain of 233 stitches that is an awful lot of crochet to frog.  I am now beginning to understand the need for a guage swatch, if not to get my crochet right first time, but to preserve my own (and my husbands) sanity.

There is a happy ending to this story though!  I have learnt 3 things from my frogging experiences:

1.   After all of the attempts, the pattern is pretty much ingrained in my brain and could probably be completed from memory.
2.  I have learnt that guage swatching is not a waste of time and is suggested for a reason. 
3.  When substituting yarns, pick one the same weight.

I will not, however, be defeated by this cardigan and, if it takes me until Christmas, it will be done!