The other morning, I picked up my knitting (nothing unusual in that), muttered some words that aren’t repeatable here (not as rare as it should be), and frogged FOURTEEN THOUSAND stitches of stranded colourwork. (Youch.)
I tried to film the experience in a speeded-up, time-lapsy, sort of way, but technology was against me. So then I went off to do my tax return instead.
Sigh.
Could the day have got any more fun-filled? Well yes, actually, it probably could have done. But it didn’t.
I don’t know whether you’re familiar with the British tax system – now there’s a sentence to set pulses racing – but man, they don’t exactly make the process easy. The layers of security you need to get through just to prove it’s really you who’s trying to pay your own tax make me wonder whether there’s an epidemic of cybercriminals hacking into people’s accounts to pay their tax for them. Because if that’s a genuine danger, then PLEASE DO FEEL FREE TO GO RIGHT AHEAD. (I’d tell you my username and password, if only I could remember them. So that was a bit more time wasted, clicking the YES-I-REALLY-AM-TOO-STUPID-TO-KNOW-MY-OWN-IDENTITY button.)
Anyway.
I seem to recall that this is a knitting/crochet blog, so let’s get back to the yarnery. Yes, I ripped out 14 000 stitches of my underwater scene, right back to where the needle is inserted in this picture:-
It was a necessary pain. I’d almost reached the surface of the water and, well, the colour combinations didn’t work. At all. Yes they’d passed the photograph-in-black-and-white-to-check-that-one-shade-is-darker test, but, well, no. I’m endlessly fascinated by the ways in which colours (mis)behave when thrown together, and a green that had looked vibrant on its own turned into a murky sludge against its background.
So I took a deep breath, and frogged. And then, I went back to knitting:-
It was the right decision.
And then, wonder of wonders, the tax fairy showed up! Having noticed the tax-related woe-is-me post that I put on Facebook, a relative pointed out that since she’d been lecturing on tax at an American university for the past 20 years, it might be “fun” (!) to hop over the Atlantic and learn about the British equivalent. Not gonna lie: I genuinely wondered whether I could book her a transatlantic flight in time. (No, I couldn’t, but it was a lovely idea. Maybe next year. I reckon I’d have to knit her something pretty special as a ‘thank you’.)
But that’s quite enough tax for one blog post. There’s knitting to be finished…
Oh my… I do love your blog!
That kind of massive frogging can really hurt, but it’s hard to keep knitting when things aren’t looking the way you hoped. Here’s hoping the color change improves things! (And I also wonder about all the hoops we jump through to pay our taxes. Maybe they are just trying to make sure our financial info stays private?)
The way colours work together (or not!) is really quite interesting (?) frustrating (?). I am trying out some slip stitch included knitting with two colours before buying the yarn and found that it only looks the way it should with a really pale main colour and stronger background colour.
You inspired me to rip back my current hat project – I was hating the way it was turning out yet ripping seemed a waste of that time spent time knitting. However, I wasn’t enjoying it at all and kept finding other things to do instead (luckily no tax returns mind you!). Done it now and am feeling a lot better. I do know ripping is sometimes the best thing – counting this one as a practice run and I have binned the pattern which was free anyway.
I love your blog. You’re very brave, I almost finished knitting a sweater for my granddaughter and she grew! So I bought some more yarn and started one in the next size. I just couldn’t bring myself to take the first one apart and start again. If you can rip out 14000 stitches I guess I can rip out a 6month size sweater!! Love your pond!
Hurts my heart to hear this sad frogging tail, and taxes… how I HATE dealing with the tax man. I’ve long ago let go of perfection in my knitting or crochet… unless it’s less than four rows, I correct as best I can and keep going. Usually nobody but me sees the mistake.
I need to say this. I have been knitting crocheting since I was about 10 or so and I am now retired. Your blog and patterns are number one with me.
Frogging heck, that’s a lotta stitches! Good to know it was well justified and the proof of the… is in the… reknitting? You know what i mean.
Frogging heck! Ha!
Loved the crocus. Up to our knees in snow and bitterly cold here.. won’t see flowers until april
Y’know, just sometimes there are advantages to being a ‘wage slave’ for a big company that otherwise, in practise, really doesn’t care all that much for its employees!
That knitting is looking amazing. Well done with the 14,000 frogs!
I have a cardigan I knitted the body for a couple of years back when I was much heavier. That ought to visit the frog pond and get re-knitted (your spell check reckoned that was ‘reunited’) in a size which will fit me now. Good thing is it’s cotton yarn so I shan’t have to de-kink it first.
I think the tax department may wish to verify that you are Twisted the Knitter, because if Twisted the Frogger gets onto their site she may unravel it.
From reading the news during tax season last year, the security is so that thieves don’t file a return and take your refund. Yes, apparently, This Is A Thing. (Or at least it is in the US.)
I admire your fortitude in the knitting department , that was a ginormous frog. Well done on doing your tax return. I am so scared of doing it wrong I hand over good cash for someone else to do it for me. I love the frost on windscreen and snow on moss, I see a new project being hatched in the twisted yarn academy of knitting,
Thank you for the interesting read and photos. I love your chosen colours and your patience !
Why do they make the tax process so complicated I wonder ???? I was right there with you on not being able to prove my identity especially as I found out my passport expired last year! I’ve done some painful frogging in the past, but after the tears have stopped and you’ve reached the point again where you frogged from it does usually seem worth it ????
Oh nooo all your lovely hard work! Here’s hoping that the new version looks super awesome to make up for it
This made me smile. I think next year I may knit my tax return and post it to them the I won’t need to remember all of my log-in paraphernalia ????