Beginnings of a Mohair Stole

Here are the beginnings of my Mohair Stole that I am knitting along with the Holiday Kal-Cal. The elves in the HKC are my cheering squad when I start to moan about how much longer it is going to take me to finish the blasted thing.

First, I dug out my ball winder and swift to wind up the huge skein of brushed mohair into yarn cakes. The skein was too big for my swift. I managed to get about half of the mohair wrapped up before it started falling off the swift on every turn. Husband to the rescue! (Gosh, they can be nice to have around sometimes.) He held the remaining yarn so I could wind it up. Voila, pretty mohair cakes.

Onward to the swatching process I went. I was certain that I wanted a lace pattern to allow the mohair to breath. (It's cold in Maine, but most people don't stand outside when it falls below 20 degrees F). Yet, the pattern had to remain simple, since the fuzziness of the mohair would hide any intricate stitches.

Swatch #1 was a pattern from Barbara Walker's 1st Treasury: Dewdrops (p. 149).

Swatch #2 was another pattern from Barbara Walker's 1st Treasury: Herringbone Lace (p. 197). This pattern was altered by me to accommodate the mohair yarn (stitches were added, repeat was lengthened, and the decrease technique was made more pronounced).

Although I had planned to make 3 different swatches, I fell in love with one of the above swatches that I felt there was no reason to continue on.

Can you tell which one I cast on for?

Here I am at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire knitting the stole.