I finally finished. I have to say I really love this shawl. I had intended to make it a bit smaller but misunderstood that pattern directions (by a lot) and thought I was finishing early, but no. It was probably just as well, since thinking I had much further to go, probably spurred me past my normal malaise. In the end I love it.
Random Notes:
I found these garden kneeling pads in the dollar section at Target and they worked great for blocking. They are rubber foam so fine with being wet and jabbed with pins. Great find.
The pattern kind goes like this \ then this / then this \ again. The second \ moves over a bit creating a staggered effect. The pattern says to go to 19 tiles I was counting one whole succession as a tile so thought I had only made it to ten. However I think, what it meant was you have 19 bobbles per side - which I do. I did notice I didn't have as much yarn as one might think if I still had all this more to go. And I misplaced a partial skein so freaked out and bound off three quarters of the way through the lotus edging.
I am happy with the final look, so it's all fine. All in all, it's a great pattern, but I would suggest this is better suited for someone's second or third lace shawl, rather than their first. Or something they do in a class.