Photo by Toula Karayannis
A woman on a crochet forum showcased an intricate Afghan blanket. The work was precise. The blanket was beautiful. She came to the group with a dilemma. She prefaced it by saying she was self diagnosed OCD sufferer (her words). Despite the meticulous work she noticed a flaw in the stitches only after she had finished the piece.
Her dilemma was should she frog or not frog it.
Frogging for the uninitiated (as I was until recently) is the act of undoing knitted or crochet work to rectify a flaw or start a new project. The word frogging something comes from the sound a frog makes ‘rip it, rip it’. Get it? Could be a bad dad joke but it isn’t. I still find it funny.
So the comments came. They came and they came and came and …. Needless to say there were two froggy camps: The Frog It Crowd and The Don’t Frog It Brigade. I fell in on the side of the latter.
My response:
I feel you but leave it be. It’s supremely human. Many artists have often left something human in their work. This includes Da Vinci who often hid his thumbprint in his work. It’s the maker’s mark. To be able to see the hand of the maker in their work is the part that excites me. If I want something perfect (I don’t) I’ll get a machine to make it. Your work is beautiful! 🙏🌺
What would you have advised her?
