Last night, over on Facebook, Wendy W. posted a picture of her knitting and asked a question that I’ve seen a few times over the years:

She asked:

Does this look as sloppy as I think it does? Or am I being nitpicky?

and I answered:

 It will block out nice and neat. It looks sort of loose and floppy right now, but your eyelets are readily identified and seem fairly uniform, and the rest of it appears uniformly loose and floppy. Focus on the fact it is uniform, rather than how loose or rigid it may seem at this stage. With a severe pinned-out blocking it will all conform itself into place and will look lovely. I can’t tell what size needle you are using, but it is definitely larger than a lace needle, so the resulting fabric looks quite appropriate for the needle.

She added that she’s using a size 8 needle.

and I wanted to expand just a bit, because others do wonder about their fabric:  Focus on the overall uniformity: if the eyelets are readily visible, and the rest of the fabric is consistent and uniform, it will be fine. After a swatch is pin-blocked, then you can decide if you want a more closely-knit fabric.  Lace, by its nature, will be open and airy, so the concern is only HOW open you wish it to be.

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