World Cup Frog

I have had only one UFO. (That’s UnFinished Object.) I don’t cast on more than 3 projects at once as I like to keep things tidy and moving on. But there was this one nagging problem: the first lace project I attempted. I started it years ago, had to concentrate in a quiet room to knit it, and therefore often long stretches passed between knitting sessions. This spring I was inspired by the Stash and Burn concept of the “Finish or Frog” to have a look at it again.

What I saw: blunt, straight needles that felt awkward and heavy in my hands, a pattern I was no longer enamored of, a scarf with what looked like a big mistake in it.

It was time to admit that I wasn’t going to finish it and deal with it.

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While I was frogging it, I thought back to the time when I began the scarf. I smiled. How utterly silly and strange that it was during the last World Cup. I’d taken the project with me to Germany in 2006, planning to use it as a portable yet complex project to balance whatever mindless project I also had along. I can vividly remember sitting upstairs on the bed, sweltering in the heatwave, enjoying how much of my mind was needed to knit it – a deep, thoughtful silence in the midst of a houseful of in-laws and kids.

But seriously? This had hidden in a project bag for four years?  Nope.  Can’t bear it niggling at the back of my mind any longer.

Now it’s been washed and balled, reborn as my first project with beads.  I’m calling it my World Cup Wisp.  Even 4 years later with all the accumulated skill, I still can’t knit it while watching the World Cup,  as it needs an eye to get the needle through the yarn overs and soccer needs my attention too, but it needs to be done by the end of the tournament to be a gift that arrives on time.  We’ll see how I squeeze it all in.  After all, in a few days, the pace of games will slow as they start eliminating each other.

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