I have a friend that is getting married in May, and while Texas isn't what you'd call "cool" during that time, she is getting married near the lake. Which means that it is going to be breezy. To combat this, I wanted to knit something for my shoulders; something I could throw over a little black dress and feel comfortable. The silky lace I picked up at SAFF jumped out at me, so I wound 'er up and contemplated a pattern. 900 yards is a lot of lace yarn, but you'd be surprised at how many shawl patterns either call for 400 yards (generally a triangle, and I wanted a stole), or 1200 yards. Finding something that I liked for the yardage was a challenge.

Luckily, I remembered that I have a copy of Knitted Lace of Estonia. I pulled it out of the knitting library and I knew that Madli's Shawl was the one. It requires more yarn than I have, but it also has a wealth of The Dreaded Nupp, which I will just replace with beads to add a little more shimmer. Matter of fact, I've already completed one end of the shawl:

The construction requires you to knit an end and then the center, and then to knit the other end and kitchner it in. To get the most out of the yarn, I am instead knitting one end, leaving it on the cord (Knitpicks Options are perfect for this!), and then knitting the other end and the center. I am loving the beads instead of the nupps. I don't exactly love putting them on the stitches, but the effect is gorgeous and I think will be appropriate for a late afternoon wedding. Now to just make this project stretch out a while longer so that I don't run out of things to knit!