How on Earth?

So here's something knitters don't exactly love to do-- showing everyone our mistakes. I was knitting along on Tree Jacket when I realized I'd made a mistake...or two...or three. I was definitely in denial about the back of this sweater. Keeping in mind that this was primarily football knitting, so it's possible that some of the mistakes came when an interception was thrown or an opposing team threw a touchdown. Yeah. That's where the mistakes came from...

So first, here is the front of the sweater (aka what it's supposed to look like):See how the rows all go straight back and the stitches between the lace portions all match? The front, minus the wrinkles from being stored in a Ziploc, is looking good.

Now, to show you the [misbehaving] side in question:Most of the problem has been contained to that middle column. I have no idea how, but I've slowly been losing stitches (which means I've added them somewhere else since my stitch count is still dead on).

It has gotten to the point where I can no longer deny that this is a problem. What's even worse is that I've started to strongly dislike working on this sweater because of the mistakes--I know I wouldn't wear it often either. As a result, I've decided to frog back to the start of the lace pattern. Do I have the support of the masses on this one? Am I making the correct choice to remove my Treebeardy from the needles to make it right again?

Regardless of my decision, I'm staying positive on this one. The lace pattern on this one knits up so quickly it won't really be a setback. I do hate ripping out afternoons of work though-- It's a good thing it's in my favorite color...