The problems with the scarf

So, the lace scarf I'm making is Trellis from last spring's Interweave Knits. It has a stitch where you knit 7 stitches together, do a yarn over, knit the same seven stitches again, yarn over and knit the 7 stitches one more time. Thus turning seven stitches into five. It looks like this:



Beautiful, right? Well, it's a pain-in-the-&¤# to do! It took me minutes each time to do it, I was cursing and generally just not enjoying myself. And when, once while trying to pull the yarn through, it broke (!!), I had had enough. If I was going to finish this scarf, I would have to find an alternative. So, how do I get seven stitches into one? Well, how about if I slip one stitch, knit four and then knit two together and then pass the slipped stitch over these?



No. Doesn't look that good does it? So how about I just knit two together knit three and knit two together again.



Simple, yes. But pretty? No. This pattern clearly needs the "pull-it-together" effect the original stitch type provided. So, I try one more thing, before giving up. Slip two stitches knitwise, knit five and pass both slipped stitches over them. Seven into five.



And it works! It looks (relatively) pretty and it has enough of that "pulling-together" power for the pattern as a whole to work. I'm so happy and so relieved. I can knit on this scarf without swearing, or being afraid of breaking the yarn :)

I'm the laziest knitter in the world. I rarely frog. And so it is with this scarf. All the mistakes, all the try-outs are still there (gasp!). Even the part where the yarn broke off and I tied the ends to a knot and several stitches dropped down (double gasp!). All of it. Maybe they'll be visible to others when it's done and I'm wearing it, maybe they won't. I don't care. It'll be mine and it'll be something I've conquered and remind me of the things I've learned :)