The frog pond experience

The frog, who had been stretched out on his lily pad enjoying the sunshine and a dirty martini raised himself up on one green elbow as Jorth materialised in front of him, and looked about her with an expression of complete and utter befuddlement. "Hellllooooo!", he waved as Jorth gave a start.

"A talking frog reclining on a lily pad? Where on earth am I?" she wondered aloud.

"Fear not!", said the frog, hopping on over to her. "Welcome to the frog pond!"

"The frog pond?" said Jorth, wondering if she was going crazy.

"Did you rip out some knitting lately?" probed the frog, with the air of one who has asked these questions before.

"Yes, actually, I did" admitted Jorth.

"Well, then, when you rip it, rip it, you end up in the frog pond!" the frog concluded with a grin.

"Ohhhh!" said Jorth. "Rip it, ribbit. Bad knitting humour. Well, I should feel right at home. Except I don't. How do I leave this place, nice as it is?"

The frog smiled at her, and said "There are many ways and paths out of the frog pond, but each journey is unique. Some find they need to spend time on the Lily Pad of Frustration before they can move on. Others get marooned in the Pond Of Repeated Mistakes. Still others get lost in the Swamps of Too Many WIPs. It can be a complicated thing, this finding your way out business. The first question to ask yourself is how did it feel to be ripping out your project?

"Well", said Jorth, "I made an active decision to rip out my knitting. I'd made a couple of obvious errors, and had miscounted my decreases, and knew that if I continued I would always reproach myself for not going back and fixing my mistakes. Plus I had an inkling that the cardigan I was knitting was going to be far too warm for summer, and would be best put on the back burner as an autumn project." Warming to her theme, under the forgiving eye of the frog, she added in a burst of honesty "And to tell the truth, I was rather pleased with the prospect of starting on a new project."

"Hooray!" said the frog. "You have found the Exit Of No Regrets! It truly is the best way to leave the frog pond. So I suppose I must say now thanks for dropping by, and happy knitting!"

"Er, thanks", said Jorth, her mind already focused on her new project (a cardigan for Tyger) as the frog and his surroundings faded rapidly from her thoughts.