Frog-it Friday

For as many days of the week, there are yarncraft terms that provide a catchy alliteration. And more, as demonstrated by my title - usually this would be Finished Object (FO) Friday and Bernice can provide that for you lovely folks later on, but for me, it's froggin' time.

I've been showing a few shots of a new design I've been working on for a while: it's an orange sweater with grey trim, and the orange is my own hand-dyed worsted. I was pretty sure I had the whole thing on lock and went full steam ahead over the month of December. At long last, last week I'd finished the front and I seamed the shoulders, all ready to try it on and do the sleeves.
But.
I looked like a dumpy pumpkin with leaf mold when I stood in front of the mirror.
I hated the grey at the top. I hated the pattern. I hated the shape, most of all. Why hadn't I done a split hem? Why didn't I do the pattern in the style of a gansey - where the embellishments are mostly just on the yoke and not in the body?
It's possible blocking would've eased out some of the poofiness of the body. But why keep going on it when I already don't like it at all?

So it's back to the drawing board for me, but I'm not actually as mad as I should maybe be. Perhaps I'm mellowing out after frogging so much lately. Or just encouraged to come up with something better after such a short time? Who knows. Either way, I'm spending the next few hours sketching hem lines, thinking about shoulders, and finally, casting on to give it all another go. And in the meantime (because why have one WIP when you can have like, eight?), I'm also going to put together a pattern for these fellows, which I made ages ago but never wrote down. I'm planning a knit one to match the original crochet, and once I get it right, I'll dye some yarn and whip up a few to hang out on my couch...or better yet, hang out somewhere high out of the reach of my greedy cats :P

Enjoy your weekend!