swallowtail shawl

Slowly but it is getting done. Here is how it looked about a month ago. I'm working on p5tpg's... sheesh that is hard. I slip the 5 stitches off the size 5 needles and onto size 1's and purl them all together there. It's really slow but it makes it possible to purl them.

trying my hand at lace

I've never knit anything on size 3 needles... but I do own them. So I started a leaf patterened lace from the Encyclopedia of Knitting. I wouldn't actually call it an encyclopedia but it is one of the fist knitting books I bought and it has some good stitch patterns. It's pretty easy to keep track of so far... not too complicated. But I do understand the importance of pointy needles for lace knitting. My addi turbos are really not very pointy. Any good lace needle suggestions?

The yarn is merino lace that I ordered from handpaintedyarn.com a few weeks back (and they appear to not be selling it anymore... which means we sould all see malabrigo lace merino on sale in stores for much more than the $7.90 that I spent on it). They have wool lace but not the merino. Well at least I ordered some before it disappeared. Here are the colors I ordered (before my yarn diet began):