Deciding to Rip Out Three Days of Shawl Knitting

Remember that shawl I showed you last week? It was half done at that point. 

Now it's a completely different shawl. 

Before that happened, I was done with the stockinette section and half a repeat into the lace. Then something happened. I don't know if I knit the wrong row from the chart or just miscounted, but something went very very wrong and I couldn't make it right again.  I spent a couple of rows trying to adjust my mistakes, then unravelled the whole thing.

A safety line after the stockinette portion would have saved me from that, but I don't use the technique as often as I probably should, especially not on patterns that have been described as "perfect to memorize and knit while you're watching Netflix." The pattern was fine. Nothing about it was challenging. I just had a very off night.

There was no way I was going to knit my way through all of that stockinette again, hoping I didn't make the same mistake twice.  I found another pattern I liked and cast on for that one. A few rows in, I changed my mind and decided to do my own thing, alternating bands of very simple lace with bands of garter stitch and seed stitch.

I liked the first attempt, before things went wrong. I seriously love this second attempt! Doesn't the texture on the right look better?

This is the second time in the past month that I've ripped out a project after spending several days on it.  A few years back, I never would've done that. The failed project would have sat in my knitting bag until the end of time.