Stole progress report

Here's a peek at the new lace pattern I have in the works. This picture is a rough pin block so you can get an idea of the design. I've completed 4 repeats of the chart. I'm knitting it with some merino handspun from my stash. I'll keep knitting until I have just enough to do the final edging. I'm very pleased with how the design is turning out.

I'm calling it Promenade for the motifs that stroll along the length of the stole as well as the meandering zigzags formed between them. (Though I could just as easily call it Meandering Paths.)

After combing through every book I have for lace edging patterns (and everything I could find on the web), I ended up designing my own from scratch. It's a nice wide border that will only be on the ends of the stole. The edging repeats the heart that appears inside each motif and adds a fern leaf point. It's all in garter stitch and knits up quickly.

The stole starts by knitting the edging and then picking up the body stitches in the slipped stitches on the edging. The body is knit in stockinette, purling the WS rows . Knit the body as long as you like (or as long as my yarn allows LOL!). Then cast on for the edging and bind off (cast off) 1 body stitch with every other row of edging you knit.

This pattern I'll rate as intermediate because of the edging and the fact that some of the wrong side body rows have pattern stitches to knit. They're not all straight purling. It's those extra stitches that give the motifs those elongated points.

I got the idea for this stole from the Janus stitch pattern in the Barbara Walker books. I deconstructed it and played with the resulting motifs.

I'm considering offering this as a charted only design. I don't knit lace from line-by-line instructions and it's not easy to write them up. Alternately, I may offer two versions with the charted one costing less than the one with both charted and line-by-line directions.

I'd be curious to know what you think of this idea. Reactions? Comments?