When knitting, there is a saying:  "As ye knit, so shall ye rip". 

Knitters have their own lingo -- "Frogging" refers to the act of ripping out your knitting... as in "rip it, rip it" (Knitters are also into bad puns!).  Some other phrases are SABLE -- Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy (we knitters are also addicted to hoarding yarn -- we are hoping for the day when the gold standard is replaced by the wool standard because then we will RULE the world!).  OTN = On The Needles ... or Off The Needles depending on the context. 

Then there are the UFOs -- Un-Finished Objects.  Many knitters are very creative people.  We can look at a bunch of string and envision a work of art.  Often we are so eager to transform the string into art that we can't wait to get started -- often at the expense of the seven or eight others "objects d'arts" that are usually stuffed in some equally gorgeous bag befitting of the artistic vision lurking within. 

The problem of UFOs (at least for me) is that they create a sense of guilt... that you have somehow sacrified the more mundane "what is..." in favor of the relative thrill of "what can be..." 

So last night, after finishing one project (which had sat unfinished for months despite only being one hour away from finishing it), I "frogged" another project.  It felt good.  It was cathartic.  It was one less project left languishing.  It was one more batch of yarn that could return to its full potential in all its glory.  It felt so good that I plan to frog another today.  Who knows where I will stop.

For some, the act of frogging is an admission of failure.  For me, it is an act of liberation.  It is the one thing in our lives where we can "do over" until we get it "right". 

I think it is human nature to enjoy the planning and anticipation sometimes more than the journey.  I think that is why, when you get engaged -- all your energy is spent planning the wedding with very little thought or word expressed about what happens AFTER you're married.  When you are pregnant, 9/10 of the time is spent to the act of child birth.  Once you have actually gotten home from the hospital and you have that little bundle of joy, the panic sets in the first time they start to cry:  "NOW What!?  They never talked about that."  You're on your own.  Even after landing that job that you thought would make life perfect, you arrive on your first day half excited but also half terrified that now, after all the talk and the anticipation, you'll have have to live up to the hype that you had almost convinced yourself was true.

You can't frog in real life ... at least not without significant emotional, financial, and social consequences (as in divorce and constant job hopping). Knitting (and Frogging) gives you the opportunity to keep trying until you get it right with minimal investment and disruption to your real life (though your husband will look at you as if you are completely and totally insane -- but we knitters have gotten used to that as well!)

No matter what happens in "real life", with knitting, as ye knit so can you rip... and for me, that is my therapy.