The pattern is gorgeous, and beautifully written and charted. It’s also intricate enough to keep your interest alive and the beads add a certain elegance.

Nothing wrong there. But let me tell you why I don’t like my working of it.

I think the yarn is too fine for the hook size I used. Thus, once blocked and opened up, I find the holes are too big.

While working on this project (and a few others I have going simultaneously), I’ve had a minor epiphany (can an epiphany be minor? Sort of like a minor prophet, but not) about what and how I craft.

a. What on earth possessed me to buy such tiny beads (these ones are small, but looking through my bead stash I found I’d bought some even smaller ones) that require a 0.6 mm hook to bead? I must have been off my rocker. In my defence, I did buy some larger ones, but colours in those were limited to 1 or 2.

b. Am I losing sight of the whole point of this stuff being a hobby? I found myself battling too many deadlines the past month or so both at work and in craft. Perhaps I need a rethink on why I jump into so many projects with deadlines. I know the knitting and crochet patterns are gorgeous, but with so much quantity in my churning out, I think the quality is losing out.

Witness this. Too thin yarn, too small beads and the effect is diluted. Perhaps it would have looked better unblocked.

So much for my morose meandering.

Please don’t ask for better modelled pictures. For that I have it on authority that the best portraits are taken with not just an expert technique, but also a loving eye. There isn’t either within my reach.

On the yarn: It’s very fine (thin), and soft, and wonder of wonders, for an acrylic it does not squeak. I appreciate that very much. For my next project using it, however, even for crochet, I might just double it and use. No point in slaving over an intricate design if you can’t see the pattern in the end. I love that it has so much yardage, though.