Frogging....and no, I'm NOT talking about Kermit

That TOTALLY looks like a sweater, doesn't it?  Click here.  This totally looks like the Daily Sweater doesn't it?

Ok, I agree, there isn't much sweater here.  But, how does this look?

It's defiantly not quite finished in this picture either, but it sure does look like a sweater right?  Like a giant sweater?  Like a sweater that's WAY too big for me!  And so, I will explain Frogging for you all today.   
I started this sweater back on Jan 1st.  My goal was one sweater buy March 1st.  It was my first 3-D project and I was determined to do it well.  The way you knit this is you start from the neck and knit your way around and around until you hit right under the armpits.  Then, you hold the stitches for the the arms on little holder things, and you knit around and around a million billion time until you hit the bottom hem line.  Then, you bind off and go back to do the arms.  One first, then the second and WAAAALAAA...you've got a sweater.  HAHAHAHAHA!!!  That is, unless its a million billion times too big for you. 

To give you a little perspective on just how big this sweater turned out to be, here are a few pictures for you.



Here is a picture of my Daily Sweater laying under a normal sized sweater for me. 




Just to give you some more perspective on the size of the body. 



Don't mind the weird pose.  Ryan wasn't home to help take pics, so I had to take this myself :O)  It's huge, really really huge. 


I was frustrated, and a little mad, so I put this project down and started on those beautiful Fiddlehead Mittens I blogged about here.  But, it's time to get back on the Daily Sweater saddle.  So, here you go, the process of Frogging (which, is just a nice term for calling it a day and starting all over!).

So...the process of Frogging.  I guess you've got to learn somehow right?

So, it's not hard really.  It's not rocket science.  You find an end of the string and start pulling.  Pull and pull and pull.  Wind and wind and wind and eventually you will be back to start. 

A close-up.  Look how nice the yarn is.  You can see the little loop holes towards the middle.  That part is usually being held by your needles.  Unless, of course, you are frogging. 

So, as you pull, you need a chair, or a husband I suppose to hold the yarn.  Then, once you've pulled a whole skein from the sweater and wrapped it around the chair, you go back and start rolling it into balls.  It took me 3 nights to get the full sweater pulled apart, but, now that part is done, and its time to "try, try again". 
Things I plan to do differently:
1.  Follow the pattern for 1 size smaller.  I knit this one using the size small, but I'm moving down a size to try and get a better fit.
2.  Use smaller needles.  The pattern calls for size 7 needles, but that obviously didn't work out well for me.  Part of my problem the first round was the size (S) and the other issue was my gauge.  I thought I checked it, but I must have been wrong.  So, down a needles size, and a pattern size, fingers crossed!! 

Stay tuned for more pics about how this whole sweater goes.  I'm determined to make it right, and make it something that I will want to wear.  Here goes nothing!!

P.S.  Did you know that some knitters will go to thrift stores and garage sales looking for clothes made out of yarn they want to recycle into something else?  It's a cheap way to get into knitting, and it's fun to think of all the places that yarn has been.  This yarn here isn't recycled.  In fact, it's from a cute little knitting store near my grandpa's cabin in Northern Wisconsin.  But, maybe my next project will be recycled!!

I'm off to cast on the sweater for the second time.  Wish me luck!