I’ve finished the knitting on the cream, beaded swallowtail shawl, and set up the blocking mats in preparation. Here she is, awaiting blocking:

Unblocked swallowtail

I have to go into town shortly, but hope to block her later this afternoon or this evening. The beading isn’t very visible in the shawl, but it does give a subtle light and texture which I like.

In the meantime, I started another swallowtail earlier this week, when I needed to work on something a little simpler than the beading pattern I was on in the cream one. This time I’m using Handmaiden Sea Silk, a beautiful gift from my friend Theresa. I’ll be making the standard version, rather than the one with extra pattern repeats. Here’s progress so far – aren’t the colours just gorgeous? They’re almost irridescent.

Blue swallowtail shawl beginnings

I ordered a stack of various different colour seed beads earlier in the week, and they arrived yesterday – including some blue ones which will, I hope, go beautifully on this shawl. Stay tuned… 🙂