I made a gorgeous shawl thusly, and it only took a week. I used
Ironstone mohair (blue with sparks of green, purple & other highlights)
and La Gran alpaca/wool, just the shade of purple to pick up the glint
in the mohair. It looked spectacular, and it wasn't even obvious
that I had used two strands–looked like something Really Exotic.
(I used the same pattern recently on a single,
thicker strand, and it only took three days, but I was racing a deadline.
Never let your family knowyou are capable of producing miracles, or they
ill demand a shawl to wear to a fancy wedding, six days before the event.
Yes, I made it, but I wouldn't have done it for anyone less than my favorite
aunt.)
Using one strand of mohair and one strand of something smooth, with
good-sized needles
(circular--the shawl gets heavy fast,) cast on four stitches.
K 2 rows. Next and subsequent
rows: slip 1, K1, YO, K to end of row.
Do eight rows or so (four ridges) of garter stitch as above, or a few
more if necessary to make a
reasonably substantial point. Then start the garter lace:
Row 1 (of garter lace rows): sl 1, K1, YO, K 2 tog, continue across row, MAKING SURE YOU FINISH with a YO and not a K2 tog (gotta keep the increase going) and K the last 2 (or 3) stitches. A minimum amount of fudging here will never show.
Row 2 of garter lace: sl 1, K 1, YO, K to end of row.
Continue until you have eight rows of garter lace (four rows of holes,
that is, plus one of K that
counts as garter lace, not plain garter.)
Continue alternating eight rows of garter with eight rows of garter lace.
When your shawl is big enough, end with a few rows of garter stitch and bind off LOOSELY. I generally finish mine with a single crochet border (2 rows, alternating directions, working in back loop only on second row) across the long edge and either single crochet or scalloped crochet chains along the two lower edges, but it's not critical. Just don't do a garter border as it will encourage the shawl to continue stretching–you want to keep it in check a little bit.
I don't count too closely, personally–just get approximately equal numbers
of rows of garter and
garter lace. If you prefer a different proportion, by all
means vary it to suit yourself.
This is a minimum thinkage/maximum coverage pattern that is suitable
to a great variety of
needles and yarn weights. Use slightly larger needles than you ordinarily
would–that's one of
the advantages of lace, especially with mohair.
This is a rough approximation of the Shawl We Dance piece from Interweave
Knits a few issues
back, which itself was taken from the reissued Martha Waterman Shawls
book (Interweave Press, what a surprise.) Everyone needs a copy of this
book, BTW, right next to Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English
and Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.