If a sample is a *sample*, rather than a sample-which-I-can-also-use-as-a-bookmark, then mistakes and changes of mind left in are more useful than mistakes corrected. So unless there is a mistake which is stopping you going forward, leave them in place. Even errors such as leaving two pairs out at the same place, so you are a pair short several pinholes on might be useful to a beginner as a reminder of what it looks like if you do that particular thing, as they can easily see that the pairs enter the next unit at the wrong angle. So long as you can correct yourself reasonably quickly, leave it there. Once the sample is completed, mount it in the centre of a page and use arrows and speech bubbles to point to and comment on all the errors, tensioning defects, and of course all the good points. For example, for larger spiders, the number of twists used for the different length legs can be recorded, but the experimental ones can be left in so you can see why you decided on that final option. When you are actually working the piece the sample refers to, you have a visual record of the 'variations' (surely a better description than mistakes) you have made at particular places, and the cure and a correct version to compare it to. If you undo it to get a perfect sample, you may not realise that you are repeating things you decided you didn't much like. Add the thread that was used to make it and you have a permanent useful lace record rather than a scrap to throw away because it was awful. Jacquie in Lincolnshire.
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