I, Vanessa, though deathly afraid of circular needles, have bought an interchangeable set for the sole purpose of knitting this project. Good God I hope it works.

About 5000 beads?! Are you kidding me?! I have maybe 2000ish, so well see how that goes. Hopefully it’ll look like a fishing net with pretty stuff caught in it. :)

I had to modify the second half of the Madeira pattern to get it to look mostly right. It seems to be a common problem. Beading the yarn is tedious and hard on my yarn. I should be good to knit with the beads soon. I changed the name of my project because, as I put my pretty beads on, it reminded me of the treasure Gripus pulled out of the sea in Terence’s Rudens:

> This have I found in the sea to-day;
> whatever’s in it, it’s something heavy
> that’s in it; I think it’s gold that’s
> in it. And not a single person is
> there my confidante in the matter.
> Now, Gripus, this opportunity has
> befallen you, that the Prætor might
> make you a free man from among the
> multitude. Now, thus shall I do, this
> is my determination; I’ll come to my
> master cleverly and cunningly, little
> by little I’ll promise money for my
> freedom, that I may be free. Now, when
> I shall be free, then, in fine, I’ll
> provide me land and houses and slaves:
> I’ll carry on merchandize with large
> ships: among the grandees I shall be
> considered a grandee. Afterwards, for
> the sake of pleasing myself, I’ll
> build me a ship and I’ll imitate
> Stratonicus, and I’ll be carried about
> from town to town. When my greatness
> is far-spread, I shall fortify some
> great city: to that city I shall give
> the name of “Gripus,” a memorial of my
> fame and exploits, and there I’ll
> establish a mighty kingdom. I am
> resolving here in my mind to prepare
> for mighty matters. At present I’ll
> hide this booty. But this grandee
> pointing to himself is about to
> breakfast upon vinegar and salt,
> without any good substantial meat.
> (IV.2)

Turns out I probably do have about 5000 beads. I’ll have to string some more soon. Oh man…I remember how much I LOOOOOVED that…. :P It’ll be over soon.

I should probably pick this up again…someday.

So I’ve picked it back up after about 5-6 months. I hate it, but I’m sooooo close! I hate Noro with a fiery, fiery passion. Unfortunately, I may need one more skein to finish the remaining 15 rows. :P I’m sure I would have had this done a year ago, if I hadn’t had to deal with the Noro.

Son of a flippin’ banshee! I finally got the umph I needed to finish this sucker, the beads were absolutely compliant, then I go to join the final ball of Silk Garden and realize I didn’t get Sock when I bought this last skein. I got the regular Silk Garden!!! It might still work, but without nylon, I’m afraid it won’t hold the weight of all the beads. Right now the shawl weighs a ton. I can’t wait for this stupid thing to be done. :P

IT’S DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!! :D :D :D