What Is Crochet Frogging? (How to Frog Crochet)

If you are a beginner to crochet, you may wonder what on earth people are talking about when they say they are crochet frogging their work. If you count other crafters among your friends, you will also hear this term from knitters, embroiderers, and cross-stitchers!

What is Crochet Frogging?

This crazy crochet term is used as a verb to describe pulling out stitches on which you have already worked. It came about from the sound that frogs make, usually written as “ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.” When pulling out stitches, you “rip it, rip it, rip it.” It sounds the same, so it is called “frogging your work”!

How to Frog in Crochet

This is usually a miserable activity because it means that after all your patient work, you have discovered a mistake, and now you have to pull out all that work until you reach a row just below the mistake.

1. To Frog, you need to remove the hook from the project to free the working loop.
2. Then, you must gently pull on the yarn so that the stitches come undone. As tempting as it may be, try not to yank on that yarn in a frenzied fury because then you will just cause snarlups, and it will take even longer!
3. You’ll notice that the yarn comes undone in a crinkled state. Ignore this and keep rolling the undone yarn into a ball, or wrap it around the ball you are working with so it doesn’t get tangled into knots.

Despite the name suggesting a frantic ripping out of stitches, it is wiser to pull slowly and steadily to avoid tangles in the yarn. If you are using bouclé types of yarn, a fuzzy yarn, or any type of textured yarn, you may have to frog even more slowly because these types catch on themselves and enmesh easily.

If you notice the mistake quickly and are only frogging a small part of your work, you can re-insert your hook once you have pulled out that mistake and resume your pattern. It can also help to use a stitch marker just at the mistake so you can see exactly how much you have to frog.

Why Frog My Crochet?

You may need to fix a mistake you made a few rows or rounds back. If you are a perfectionist, you will always frog any mistake you have made! If it is only a tiny mistake, sometimes you can “fudge it” and hope that it is not noticeable. This won’t work, however, if you want to sell the item or give it as a gift!

What Kind of Mistakes Make You Crochet Frog?

You will have to frog crochet projects when you:

1. Make your stitch incorrectly.
2. Using the wrong stitch.
3. Realize your item is not the right size.
4. Suddenly, you have too many or too few stitches. (Your crochet fabric is getting bigger or smaller.)
5. Having a knot in the yarn.

Frogging is the process of repurposing yarn. You may have an unfinished object (UFO) that you have put aside, and you can use that yarn for another purpose. I know that some people frog entire garments to make something new!

How to Frog from the Bottom

It can be so annoying when you only discover the mistake when you have nearly finished a whole piece, and that mistake is right at the bottom of your work! In this case, there is a way to frog from the bottom.

Note: You will lose the rows you pull out, resulting in a shorter or smaller crochet item. You can’t re-crochet those rows, as they will be upside down!

1. You need a yarn needle with a blunt tip, a contrasting yarn, and a pair of sharp scissors.
2. The contrast yarn scrap must be longer than the width of the crochet item.
3. You will use the contrast yarn to put in a “lifeline.” This prevents the stitches you want to keep from unraveling. Thread the contrast yarn through the bases of the stitches you want to keep. Be careful not to split the yarn!
4. Thread the lifeline all the way across the item, making sure you are working along the same row.
5. Now comes the scary part! Cut across your stitches along the row beneath the lifeline. Try to keep a little bit of length at the side to weave in later.
6. Pull out all those loose little bits of yarn.
7. All you have left now is the bottom of the stitches you have saved with the lifeline.
8. Save the ends of this row by weaving them in securely.
9. Now, using the same hook you used for the project, insert it into the bottom of the saved stitches and create a chain with new yarn. Insert the hook into the next stitch, yarn over, pull through both stitches.
10. Create chains all the way across, then pull out the lifeline.
11. Finish the yarn off and weave these ends in as well.

Done. The bottom rows have been removed!

How to Avoid Frogging in Crochet

Because frogging is never fun, let me give you a few strategies for avoiding having to frog due to a mistake in your work:

Always count your stitches at the end of each row or round. This will prevent you from mistakenly skipping or adding a stitch and messing up the project.
If your project is large, it is a good idea to lay it out periodically and simply check it.

Check that the edges are smooth, that there are no splits or knots in the yarn, and that your gauge remains consistent.

Make sure to check your gauge before beginning the work! Most people hate doing this, but it is really worth it! If you don’t, you could have to frog your garment since it came out in the wrong size and doesn’t fit. This is one of the worst ways to frog a project, and you should avoid it by checking your gauge!

Crochet Frogging FAQs

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Conclusion

Now you know that this term does not refer to crocheting an amigurumi frog! The word “frogging” refers to pulling out a crochet creation. While it may not be the most relaxing topic to discuss, it is really required for correcting mistakes or reusing old yarn. Ensure you wind your yarn as a frog to avoid a tangled mess. I hope you have learned a lot about this interesting topic! I also hope that you will not be needing this information anytime soon!