Evenstar Mystery Shawl (1st post)

I've mentioned before that I'm signed up to knit Susan Pandorf's Evenstar Mystery shawl, a laceweight shawl based on The Lord of the Rings' Evenstar (the necklace the elves wear). Here are my details:

Yarn: Knit Picks Shadow
Colorway: Midnight Heather (black, navy blue, trace amounts of emerald green)
Yardage: approx. 1800 yards
Stash yardage: 2200 yards
Needles: US 4 (dpns, then Knit Picks Options interchangable circulars)
Beads: Crystal 8/0 seed beads
Bead count: 2900
Beads purchased: 3360 from beadwrangler.com
Gauge recommended: swatch = 6" x 4"
Gauge as knit: slightly less

The gauge swatch was a piece of the pattern. I knit it up, soaked it and blocked it. I had to block it pretty aggressively to get it close to the 6" x 4" recommended, and as you'll see in a moment I still didn't quite get there. I've already gone up a needle size from the recommended US 3, so I think I'm going to leave it where it is, and if it's a tiny bit smaller than the pattern says, who will ever know but me? Most of the knitters signed up are using light colored, silvery yarns, but I opted to go dark because it is what was in my stash. I like it:
And a close up of the stitch pattern:


I got the first clue tonight and have finished half of it. I will do the rest of it tomorrow, and then wait on tenterhooks until the next clue comes out (which I believe is in two weeks?). Until then, happy knitting!