After careful swatching, I decided to cast on with size 10 needles, do Row 1 with size 8s, and the rest with size 6s as per the pattern. This gives my bottom edge great elasticity for blocking. (The extreme increase is due to the fact that I have a bad habit of casting on very tightly and my usual habit of using a needle two sizes up (in this case the 8s) was still not yielding enough elasticity.)

As for the beading, I determined that the beads (except for the interior point beads) would have to be strung before cast on, with my copper point beads placed after the 2nd and 8th CO for each rep of twelve. Additional copper point beads are placed on the slip stitch of rows 6, 12, 18, etc.. using a crochet hook.

The aqua scale beads are also strung on the yarn before knitting and slipped into place on each YO closest to the Closed YO Right (for a clockwise spiral effect). When knitting the Closed YO Right on the next row, I made sure the bead is on the opposite bar of the one being knit--so on the back of the stitch, once it has been turned.