Lifeline

Every so often I decide that knitting something would be a good idea. I generally stick to wash cloths or kids' scarves, since they are small projects that don't make me too crazy when kiddos decide to pull out the needles or unravel the stitches. I started on a lace scarf a few days ago because I am hoping to turn it into a Christmas gift. The pattern, from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders, is pretty simple (only one stitch that I hadn't done before, and a two row repeat). The problem with lace is that if you make a mistake you just have to rip out until you get to a correct row - and the waviness  in lace makes that pretty much impossible for me. Having had to rip it out and start over several times I was about at the end of my patience and ready to scrap the project.
Then...I had an idea - I would run a row of contrasting thread through the purl row every few inches. That way if when I have to rip out the stitches will be saved and "stuck" in place, and I can slip the needle back in and move on. I figured it was cheating a bit but low and behold, that is an actual procedure in knitting lace (thank you facebook friends, for pointing it out to me). So now I am putting a lifeline in every couple of inches and have gotten about 1/6 of the way to my desired length. I just might get it done in time for Christmas after all.