I've put the first round of beads on the second iteration of Ice Queen--I keep trying and failing to come up with a clever name for it involving the word "fire" or something--and I'm liking the effect. The gold beads are very bright, which goes well with the shine of the yarn and also makes the red a little more vibrant; on its own it's very brick.
When this is done, I should really get back to that pair of socks from the Essential the Autumn Rose woman sent me. The almost-done toe of one has been sitting in my bag for a couple of weeks now. I think those are going to have some nice simple patterning on them, because there's only so much stockinette one person can take...