At A Stand Still

The lace...it's not going so well this week.

 

 Problem #1:

 

I made the decision to do an Estonian shawl following the traditional methods - which means that the edging is knit separately and then sewn onto the center.  Now, if you know me at all you know that I'm someone who ordinarily goes to great lengths to avoid seams - especially on lace.  (A valuable lesson I learned very early on from my friends in the Columbia Weavers and Spinners Guild!) 

 

BUT....TRADITION!!!

 

Yeah, so now that I'm faced with the reality of that, I'm really darn tempted to forget the edging and leave it as is.  While I know full well that I'm capable of sewing that type of edging on, the idea of actually having to do it fills my knitting heart with a dread bordering on a phobia.

 

What to do...what to do....

Problem #2:

 

This one is less of a problem, but it still has tripped me up.

 

In short, I decided to knit my latest on a US 3 needle, and I really like the way that it looks.

 

The BUT, though, is that the piece is turning out to be a lot smaller than I want it to be. 

 

There are things I can do to make it bigger - repeating the last pattern, changing up the way it's finished off (which I'm totally planning on doing anyway) - but at the end of the day it probably should be redone on a US 4 needle.  I would like it to be bigger both so that I get a better "fit" on the finished shawl and so that I can use up more of the yarn, which is scrumptious.

 

 

No, I have no problems ripping it out and starting over.  I've done it before, and I've done it on projects that were much closer to finished than this one.  The thing that's tripping me up is that - again - I truly like how the lace is looking with the current needle.

 

Hmmm.....