That is a fantastic, especially for a first knife!

I've always wanted to try a technique I saw on an old forum for this kind of thing. A guy made the most beautiful micarta handles I've ever seen. He just cut lots of layers of old denim into strips. Different colors and fades. Then he dipped them all in some kind of glue, layered them all on top of each other, and squished them together in a vice. When it dries you have a solid block. Then he would take the block and file and sand it down into a handle.

When it's done you have a really nice shiny swirl pattern handle.

Something like this: