Lace! Again!

We're getting into another busy part of the year for me. Which, naturally, means that I should start another complicated lace shawl. The last one wasn't that bad, was it? No, I must be misremembering, exaggerating even. Besides, I have some pretty green alpaca lace that I bought ages ago, and it's just begging to be knit!

I didn't have a good shawl pattern in mind for the yarn, so I went searching for one. What I came up with was Argyle by Anna Kotsolainen. I'm a big fan of classic angled patterns like argyles and plaids, so I was excited to start it! It didn't seem too difficult from the pictures, anyway.

I'll be honest with you, this pattern was a bit of a challenge. I'm fairly certain that it stems at least in part from translation issues; the pattern seems to have originally been written in Russian, and I think some key details got lost in translation. Specifically, the pattern notes that the lace chart shows only "half" of the pattern, without elaboration. Half? Which half?? How do I figure out the other half???

Only after staring intently at photos of other people's completed projects did I learn what was meant by "half." The pattern is otherwise quite nice, so if you want to try it for yourself, allow me to explain:

When the pattern tells you to begin to work from the chart, you'll notice that the first row has significantly fewer stitches charted than you have on your needle. This is okay. First, knit 3 stitches for your garter border. Then, knit the stitches on the chart, ending with a yarn over. Next, knit one stitch (this is the center stitch). Then, knit all the stitches on the same row of the chart again, and end with another 3 stitches of garter border This is what was meant by the chart only showing half of the pattern. For every subsequent row, follow the same pattern: border, first pass through chart, center stitch, second pass through chart, border. It should look something like this:

Once you get it going, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. That being said, some people made just the "half" shawl without repeating the chart, so you could go for that if you'd prefer. It would make the pattern look rather different, but you do you! I'm going to keep going as intended, and I'll be sure to fill you in. With my luck, this thing will get done just in time for it to be too warm to wear!