To be, or not to be, my dear Beatrice….

I cast on today for the Beatrice shawl that I plan to knit for my mom.  I’ve only done the first (small) pattern repeat and I’m already wondering if I really want to go through with it.  I love the look of the shawl, but after examining the pattern, I realized there is an area of the pattern that requires picking up masses of stitches… and I hate picking up stitches… especially along the side of garter stitch, which this will be.  The shawl also uses a provisional cast on, which I have only done once with limited success.  What if I finish the whole damn thing and then I am unable to undo my provisional cast on?  That would be a tragedy.  On the other hand… it already looks so lovely and I have only done 18 rows.  Here is a picture:

Pretty, huh?  I guess I’ll work on it a little more before I make any permanent decisions about the fate of the shawl.

p.s. I did the provisional cast on by knitting into the “butts” of a chain of crochet stitches.  This isn’t the method I used last time, and this was a lot easier.  I’m just worried about what is going to happen when it’s time to release the stitches.