Beaded Vernal Equinox shawl

Some knitting projects are addictive. Really, really addictive! This is the Vernal Equinox shawl, knit in light blue DROPS Lace and beaded with silver-lined 6/0 clear seed beads. It was supposed to be a just-in-case knitting project, that I could bring when I couldn't work on other things. Haha... Famous last words. Once I started it was difficult to put it down, and when I started beading it was simply impossible! "Just one more row before bed" is a common statement, but when the rows are close to 500 stitches the hours are quickly lost. ;)
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I've done a few triangular and rectangular shawls, but this is the first time doing a semi-circle. Not sure if this qualifies as a half-pi? It was a strain to block, believe me! Getting all the distances and angles right took a lot more work than simply stretching out straight edges. Lacking blocking wires, I strung a strong cotton crochet thread through the stitches along the diameter line and pulled it tight to make a straight line, and it worked really well! It took 280 pins to block out the scalloped edge - every last pin I had and I still had to resort to safety pins and sewing needles for the last points. Post-blocking radius is ca 92 cm.

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After a bit of internal debate, I decided to bead the shawl although it wasn't designed for beading. I was afraid the beads would weigh the delicate shawl down too much, but even though there are 320 beads I estimate their weight to be no more than 5 grams. In comparison, the total yarn weight is pretty exactly 100 grams. I wanted a subtle effect, and subtle is what I got! Almost too subtle maybe? I don't think it would have hurt to add even more. A girl loves her glitter, right?

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When looked at from the front, you can hardly see the beads. They are strategically placed along the two dominant vertical lines in the pattern in the three last clues.

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But when the light hits the beads just right, the whole thing sparkles! It's very tricky to capture on camera. I've yet to try out the effect in a party setting, so I don't know exactly how strong the effect will be in real life. We'll see!

Details are also on my Ravelry page.