Knitting ... Hell?

I'm working on a shawl for my mother-in-law, Zisan.

See? That sentence seems pretty harmelss, doesn't it? Oh, what trouble I've gotten myself into.

Not that the pattern isn't stunning, because it is ( http://knitpicks.com/Projects/Projects_Display_Yarn.aspx?itemid=50439220&yarnid=5420108 ). The yarn is gooorgeous - Karabella Lace Mohair (I saved for WEEKS to get the yarn for this specific project). But gosh darn it, true lace knitting is HARD! Everything's so teeny and delicate. I'm very determined with this project though - I don't care if it takes months to complete (and, it probably will).

As you can see, I took a couple creative liberties with the project. The pattern recommends a smooth lace weight alpaca, which I would have been happy to use, but my LYS didn't have any. All they had was the lace mohair, and once I saw it I couldn't picture using anything else. I've seen mohair used in lace patterns before, with very pretty results. Also, I went with larger beads at the cast-on and cast-off edges. My mother-in-law really likes crystal, so I thought it appropriate to get cracked crystal beads. I think it will all turn-out pretty nicely.