Test knit for the Large circle version of Fire Dance. Need up to 5034 8/0 beads for this one. Probably silver lined dark gold. Have them on hand. I actually have about 5100 beads, so may run out.

I have 149 grams of the Aurora Borealis. That is just over 1619 yards. That is enough for the large circle shawl, which I would want 1519 yards for at my stitch gauge. OK, switch to the large circle shawl.

Row 144

OUCH!!!

Going like crazy, and suddenly I notice that there are only 576 stitches per row when that far out in a circle there should be more like 1000. Bad error in my revision of this pattern. So, back to the pattern and fix the error. It is going to take a lot more yarn.

After fixing it, I see it will take 1787 yards. I don’t have enough of this yarn, so shall frog it and start over with some other yarn.

Perhaps I can save the knitting by changing to the small circle version. The yardage is fine, beads are fine, but the gradiance transitions are wrong, so it won’t be a sample for the pattern. I can rip back to row 138 and finish this sucker. 1171 yards and 3930 beads needed.

I’ve made some major changes to the pattern to reduce yardage in the center, which is already done in this one. So, this is not a sample of the final pattern, either. Finish or frog? It will be pretty. And…I need to work on the actual samples. Tough decision.

OK, I shall continue on. It tests the small flame edging, and then I can do the jacket and have all the components tested at least once. Then, on to the samples.

Row 157.

OK, I’ve made it to about 70% done. At this point, the center no longer matches the pattern to be published. My stitch gauge allows me to do this with 1561 yards. I have 1619 yards. I’d like to switch to the transparent chartreuse AB beads. Do I dare? Or am I too close on the yardage. If I run out, I can cast off a row or two sooner. That is the worst that will happen.

So…frog, switch to large circle, switch to chartreuse beads, and use the updated pattern. This means I don’t have to do another large circle later.

No, just finish this later. I’ll finish this row, save the pattern in the bag, and start the other Fire Dance shawls. Hopefully the final ones. I can use the chartreuse beads in Green Eyed Dragon projects, of which I have several.

??? Not sure which I’ll do.

This might or might not work for the large circle. I would like to have an Earthfaire exclusive color for the small circle, and I’m getting tired of reds. I think I should frog this and start it over with the chartreuse beads and the current properly swatched pattern.

Need 1238 yards and 3810 beads.

OK, the beads are from Whimbeads: T8-258, Trans Chartreuse AB.

Started again on November 26, 2012. The previous start date was October 28, 2012.

So far my sprint is on schedule. I’m trying to do 10% per day to get it done in 10 days. Lately I’ve gotten fast enough that I’m tempted to go for 15% and try for 8 or 9 days.

I did another 14% yesterday, then slept 10 hours and my hands required Advil this morning. I think I’ll take some time off today. Have other things I urgently need to do anyway. That was 10 hours of knitting.

I just added 2 more rows to this one. Nearly done in spite of myself, though.

Bound off December 6, 2012. 12 days, and 2 of those I did almost nothing. So, I can knit 7000 stitches a day consistently, with heavy beading.

Blocking and photos yet to go. I think I’ll wait until I have some others done and do them in a batch.

48 grams of yarn remaining. So I used 101 grams. 1098 yards, 66.25 stitches per yard.

On my body, this works better as a scarf than as a shawl. I am not huge, just normal sized. The large one works as a shawl. My wingspan is 66”, but I’m very long armed, more so than normal.

Photos finally done, so I can mark it done now.