Curved Shawl Started

I've started on the "Curved Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today, using the Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb used in the book, but I'm knitting with US2 needles instead of US3 since I knit loosely and don't want to run out of yarn. Sheesh, it's like knitting with thread. In fact, I used quilting thread as lifelines. But the yarn is amazingly stretchy and elastic. I'm hoping that it will be the perfect complement for a cute little red-and-white silk dress I bought recently.

The first few rows were really hard for me - I wasn't used to working with such a super-fine yarn, and with the loop cast-on, it was pretty sloppy at first. And of course, I couldn't tell if I was making any mistakes since the pattern wasn't established yet. But once I had a few repeats done, and a couple of inches of fabric on the needles, it got much better. The lace pattern isn't too difficult once you get into it, and now I can at least read the lace enough to usually notice pretty quickly if I've made any mistakes.

It doesn't look like much "at rest", but when stretched out, you can really get a good idea of what the lace will look like when blocked.