River Rock scarf - done!

I do believe that this is the most beautiful thing I've ever knit. I may have to figure out how to attach an idiot string so that I don't lose it! Don't know if the photos do it justice, but here's a stab at it:

1. Aphrodite and her new scarf!


2. Detail: Peridot Colourway



3. Detail: Pewter Colourway

4. Where the colourways meet

5. The whole scarf again!


Specs

Pattern: River Rock Scarf by Sivia Harding (No Sheep For You)
Started: 23 September 2007
Finished: 29 September 2007
Made for: Moi (who else, really?!?)
Yarn: Handmaiden Silken - 1 skein Peridot and 1 skein Pewter
Needles: 4.0 mm Addi Turbo Lace
Beads: Dark Gold 6/0 by Earthfaire
Length: 55"

Notes:
- I started this project in part as my challenge for the Do Something New KAL. This month's challenge = knitting with beads
- in this regard, I picked a doozy. There is something like 1530 beads in this scarf!
- Do not knit this scarf if you don't want to end up with a habit for Silken that will bankrupt you!!
- the scarf was a relatively quick knit, aside from working with the beads, which were strung at the beginning and had to be pushed down all the way through. I got accustomed to this eventually but it is a bit of a hassle up front. Worth the bother though, don't you think?

Modifications

I went with the pattern as written (nothing wrong with it! ) except for the following:
- I used 4.0mm needles instead of the 4.5mm needles called for, because I liked the tension I got with the smaller needles better
- the pattern calls for 2 skeins of the same colourway of Silken. I had initially wanted to go with the Pewter only, but couldn't locate 2 skeins of Pewter - so I bought the Peridot as well. Initially I planned to combine them both throughout as the pattern calls for. However, when I started to knit with the Pewter the colours were so lovely that I decided I wanted to show each colourway separately in the scarf. I was partly influence in this by a co-worker/friend saying that the yarns reminded her of sunlight falling onto the lake (when she saw my photo of the yarn). So - I combined the two yarns only for 40 rows right in the middle of the scarf... the greyer Pewter is meant to be just before the sunrise, the Peridot just after! ;)

Now, back to my next UFO - the Back To School Vest from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel:



I started this last evening. This will be my "entry" in Pieheart's vest KAL on Knittyboard.

The yarn used is Colinette Lasso (polyamide). Love the colours, hate having to wind the skeins by hand, but hey. The vest will be either for me or for my mother depending upon which size it turns out (I didn't do a tension sample). I'm making the second smallest size (35.5", it says in the book) but think it is coming out a bit smaller.