When I first began knitting, I didn't know much of anything, but I was pretty fearless. And if I made a mistake, I'd just unknit back to where I messed up, fix it, and move forward.
I met another knitter online who didn't knit lace. She knew how to do it, but chose not to. I didn't quite get it. Lace knitting looks beautiful. It's light, airy, delicate. Why wouldn't you knit it if you knew how to do it?
But she picked patterns that didn't involve lace. This was a very advanced knitter. She was knitting way beyond where I'm at now and this is years after the fact, so it has nothing to do with skill. It was personal choice.
Now I've been knitting about six years. I have this shawl pattern I've been working on forever. I'd start something new except that pretty much all my needles have projects on them (in the needle sizes I'd need), so I have to finish something and this shawl is the farthest along.
I was in a striped section. Small, delicate stripes which meant a lot of color changes. Lots of the same basic stitch. Boring. At last I hit the lace section. This should be more interesting, I thought.
And I realized why that other knitter hated knitting lace. It's a PITA, and if when I make a mistake, it isn't the easiest thing to fix with all the yarn overs and slip-slip-knits and knit two togethers and other things like this. I plan on adopting her policy of not knitting any more lace patterns. It's too stressful and I'm knitting to relax.
This shawl? The lace section is a hot mess with a lot of mistakes. I'm not fixing them. At this point, I just want this thing finished.
Here's an example of lace knitting. This is from a small scarf I knit in a beginner's class I took:
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