Thanks to everyone for all the kind compliments. The necklace is already smoothing out quite a bit. Considering that this is only the second necklace I have restrung, I think it came out pretty well, although certainly someone more experienced could have done it much better. One thing I was not sure about was how much pressure to apply while pulling the thread to knot the pearls. I used the method with tweezers in which the thread is pulled through the tweezers and the knot brought close the pearl in the last stage of the knot formation. I noticed if I pulled very firmly, the knotted pearl strand became crinkly. On the other hand, if I did not pull very firmly, a little play remained around the knotted pearl. I guess there is a sweet spot in which there is no play but the knotted pearls still lie straight. I wasn't able to find this spot, especially with the little pearls on the ends. It might also be that the thread I chose was a little too thick. I chose the thickest thread so that the knots would be bigger and the strand would not come out too short. But maybe it would have been better to have used a little thinner thread and added a few more gold beads. I will try that next time!