Morticia: A Shawl of Many Firsts

I've been looking to try working with lace-weight yarn for a little while now. Why? Because I haven't done it before, and I'm curious to see just how bad it can be. (Does that really sound like the smartest challenge for one's self?!)  Having knit some other patterns by Boo Knits, and watching what's popular, it seemed like Morticia would be the way to go...  Even though I'm working on a few other projects right now, I couldn't fight the itch to take on something new, so here we go - a list of firsts that this project is providing:

1. First lace-weight yarn (Man, it is some seriously skinny yarn!)



2. First time working with yarn from DyeForYarn (nice, strong stuff considering how skinny it is!)
   
   
   
   
   
3. First time working with tussah silk (and 100% at that!).  I have to say, compared to the stuff I'm working on with merino wool, the tussah silk doesn't feel super soft yet.  Maybe just a smidge scratchy?  I'm not worried - that can easily change with blocking.
4. First time working with Miyuki beads (whoa!  People aren't kidding when they say they're higher quality than the Czech beads I get from the local hobby stores, or even online)

Anyhow, progress is going well.  Brett talked me down from mixing "whatever I had on hand that might go well with the yarn", where I was going to be mixing the lesser quality beads in with the high quality Miyukis, sooooo that means I'm waiting for a small package with more beads, which should be arriving later this week.  I thought "higher quality" HAD to mean "much higher price".  Nope - surprisingly not!  Yay!

Anyhow, I've made one complete pass through Chart A using the beads above as both bead color A and bead color B.  I know, not what was suggested, but these rules on these patterns were meant to be tweaked!  I've gotten a third of the way through a second pass of Chart A (three repeats are recommended), so that's where I need to stop until the second color of beads arrives to go with the suggested pattern.

The following picture is some of yesterday's work.  Doesn't look like much yet...but give it time (and yardage).  Oh, and the pictures above are more accurate for color than the one below.  This is definitely a dark burgundy yarn.

And if you want to follow this project on Ravelry, here's the link...