Garter Tab. I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On to make the garter tab, as suggested by dschuster. Kelly Hobart of Alpaca Direct does a wonderful job explaining how the cast-on can be used for this purpose.

False Start. I used yarn that was close to worsted weight and a size 10-1/2 needle, so I knew I would have to modify the pattern.
I estimated I could knit 27 repetitions of the garter stitch section and have enough yarn to knit the lace section. That left me with 121 stitches at the end of the first garter stitch section, which allowed me to follow the instructions for the lace section, as written.

However, I was only able to knit 13 of the 16 rows of the lace section with the yarn I had. It looked almost okay, but I decided to rip back to the end of the 25th repetition of the garter stitch section so I would have enough to complete the lace section. That worked.

New Strategy. Realizing I had knit 78% of the total rows required for section 1, I calculated 78% of the number of rows in sections 2 and 3, and subtracted 16 from each number to figure out how many repetitions of the garter stitch section I could do in each section and still have enough for the lace band.

I ended up knitting the following:

• Section 1: 26 repetitions of garter stitch pattern, ending with 145 stitches at end of lace band 1.
• Section 2: 7 repetitions of garter stitch section, ending with 205 stitches at end of lace band 2.
• Section 3: 4 repetitions of garter stitch pattern, ending with 249 stitches before binding off.

Adjustments. I had to adjust things slightly at the beginning and end of each lace section. At the beginning of row 5 of each lace band section, I took the total stitch count, and determined how many multiples of 14 would fit into that number.

I subtracted the nearest multiple of 14 (which was less than the stitch count) from the total number of stitches, and divided the result by 2 to see where to set the markers to start and end the lace pattern at the beginning and end of the row. There needed to be at least four stitches outside the markers at each end.

In Section 1, I ended the garter section with 113 stitches and had 121 stitches when I started row 5 of the lace section. I subtracted 112 from 121 and got 9, and placed a marker four stitches from the beginning and 5 stitches from the end. I was able to start the first lace pattern at the first marker, and to repeat that pattern 8 times.

I was able to repeat the 14-stitch lace pattern 12 times in Section 2 (without using the “work-around” at the beginning and end of rows 5 and 6). I had 173 stitches at the end of garter section 2, and 181 stitches at the start of row 5 of the lace band.

I was able to make 16 repetitions of the lace pattern in Section 3, though I DID need to use the “work-around” from section 2. It essentially gives you two more rows to fit in another 14-stitch lace repetition. I had 221 stitches at the end of the third garter stitch section, and 229 stitches at the start of row 5 of the lace section. I knit rows 5 and 6 of the Section 2 lace band.

I should add that I didn’t need to add any extra increases, which would have altered the shape of the shawl. It’s also true that the number of repetitions of the lace pattern should either be all even (i.e. 8, 12 and 16) or all odd in order for the holes to line up in each of the sections.

Picot Bind-Off. I liked the look of the picot bind-off as written, with a picot opposite every hole and every boundary between the lace patterns. Since I had 12 and 13 stitches at the ends of the last row, I had to fudge the bind-off counts in those sections so that the picots would fall in the right spots. I needed to cast on two for each picot after placing the stitch remaining from the 9th bound-off stitch on the left needle, just ahead of the first stitch after the marker (I kept them in for that purpose). I cast on two stitches in the middle of the lace pattern when there were 8 stitches in the lace pattern on the left needle, including the last bound-off stitch which had been moved over.

The bind-off took more yarn than I’d estimated, but I was lucky enough to finish with 3 grams to spare.