Aeolian and the Faux Russian Stole

Alternative Title: Current Knitting, part 1 of many. (I have too many projects and I plan to start more soon. I apparently cannot resist the siren call of pretty things.)

My progress so far on Aeolian, a triangular shawl with beads and nupps. I'm using Alpaca with a Twist Fino (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk) and US 4 (3.5mm) needles. I only have one skein of yarn, so I've been using a spreadsheet and kitchen scale to make sure I'll have enough.

This is a better representation of the color of the yarn. It's a beautiful soft grey called Silver Belle. I'm using silver-lined grey beads that are a little darker than the yarn.

I've done 8 repeats of the Yucca motif.

I worked the Agave motif once after I finished the transition chart, doing 7-stitch nupps. The final Agave chart and the edging will be about 65% of the work. I have a lot left to do...

Of course, I had to start something with the Jojoland Harmony (color HC04) that I picked up last week. I decided to use the Faux Russian Stole pattern (Ravelry) from A Gathering of Lace. I really like the geometric motifs.

This is the bottom edging and garter frame for the center motif. I'm ready to start the center, but I have to decide if I'm going to put in a lifeline now or gamble a little.

I had a lot of trouble with the bottom edging. The yarn is very fine and the edging is narrow, so it was easy to accidentally pull the needles (US 0, 2mm) out of the stitches without noticing. Things have gone more smoothly now that I have all of the body stitches to add a little more weight to it.