South Bay Shawlette, two ways

I've been working these two shawls at the same time. It was by accident as I'd run out of yarn for one and just started a second one and the replacement yarn came faster than anticipated. They're both shades of blue, one more suede blue to navy the other royals to black.

The pattern is free via Lion brand and has a written pattern and a diagram. The pattern has a repeat of 7 Double crochet shells. In one shawl I've done this and the other shawl I've made them 5DC shells in order to conserve yarn. I got three extra rows by cutting back the amount of DC and didn't compromise on the overall design. When working with expensive yarn (Zauberball is $24 per 100g) it's good to find ways to make savings even if it's only a centimetre at a time. You'd be amazed how much yarn you save by removing extra chains or stitches. It won't work for all pattern, but on patterns like this it works well.

Here's the diagram:

I'm wanting to add beads to the last few rows. I've never added beads before and I'm hoping it'll be easy enough. I also hope I've not gotten my beads too small. I've watched a few video tutorials on youtube and think it will come out ok. I liked this video because she shows us how to add beads for slip stitch, single and double crochet stitches. I also liked this one which is in Japanese and English. It gives lots of inspiration. Don't worry, the cheesy music goes away and we're left watching the video in silence.

Here's a few pictures of the shawls so far. I hope they'll be stunning once they've been blocked. Just click any picture to see them in more detail.

I'll share the final product once they're done. I'm making these for my Aunt back in New England who I'll be staying with next month. Very exciting time! Looking forward to lots of fun with family and eating my weight in lobster!!

I'll try and get cracking on Monday's cryptic by LR and then I've got some planning to do for our Girl Guides meeting tomorrow. Hope you're Monday is kind.