I have the same delima. I want to grow Lucy out, but she looks like such a little ragamuffin 98% of the time (WAY worse than Pnut!) that I've been soooo tempted to just cut her down. So I'll tell you the same thing my boyfriend told me:
Patience, Kat! Lol, and he's right! I really would like to try to have her in full coat at least for a little while, and I've come this far with it (she's been growing out for about a year, and it's still only to about her knees!) that I might as well keep going! There's plenty of time later to cut her down.
So I say, go with your gut... But, since you've come this far, why not take it all the way? Just to say you could, lol