Okay, that was a terrible pun. For some reason knitters seem unable to resist puns (books, shop names, yarn names, knitting classes). All the purl/pearl bits, the “yarns” (as in “tales”), the infinite use of the word “needle.” Sheep, wool – and then we get into stitch names!

But I really meant to write about lace knitting and lacy knitting – which, savvy knitters will tell you, means knitting an openwork pattern that has a plain knit or purl row between the complicated yarn-overing and knitting-2-togethering, etc. rows. True lace knitting has pattern stitches on all rows. I do not know what it is called if there is only an occasional plain row – in knitting there always seem to be some exceptions to the rules since knitters tend to be maniacally creative.

There is “Always slip stitches purl-wise — unless the instructions say other-wise – except in SSK when you slip knit-wise,” for example.

But back to lace(y) knitting. I seem easily distracted today! Which means I should probably avoid lace(y) knitting. There is no forgiveness in lace(y) knitting. It is either right or it isn’t. Now, the degree of isn’tness the knitter can live with is purely a matter of personal choice and individual degree of maniacal correctness. I felt a particular lightness of heart the day I noticed an error in an extraordinarily gorgeous book of lace knitting (it was an extra row which made one line of the pink floating lozenges in the all-over pattern a teensy bit taller – and I am well aware that the fact that I remember these details demonstrates my personal degree of maniacal correctness).

So, when I find an error in my own lace(y) knitting, do I:
A) Stomp my foot and tear up a little
B) Stomp my foot and tear back a little
C) Stomp my foot, but decide I can live with the tares among the wheat, as it were
D) Stomp my foot and speak in puns

It depends. If the error detracts noticeably from the beauty of the piece (highly subjective criterion!), I will – but only if I think I can put things to rights without doing serious damage ( to the piece, my brain, my family life, etc.) and if I can do so without undoing 2 weeks of work. If not, I won’t. Imperfections are a hallmark of handwork – and artisans in several cultures intentionally include them in their work for spiritual reasons (taking maniacal correctness to a whole new level – go team!).

Which all goes to show that knitting helps me keep my perspective. (My family is probably laughing hysterically – maniacally, even, to the point of tears…)