I decided this would be a good time to start thinking about how long my "Elizabeth" shawl will need to be. Initially I was thinking about some sort of progress bar or current row count that I could use to motivate myself, and update regularly on the blog. Then I realized it would be useful not only to know that I have 128 rows knitted, but what percentage that is of X, or total rows.
So... I read Myrna's note that she likes her dressy shawls to hit about wrist length and that seemed like a good plan. I measured from my neck to my wrist (25"), and then draped the measuring tape over my back with a clothespin to mark that length, and think that hits me about right. I measured my handy-dandy washed and blocked swatch, and each 32-stitch repeat of the pattern measures 3.25". 25/3.25 gives me 7.7 repeats, or a choice between 7 and 8 repeats. Allowing for the addition of the edging, and just because I like odd numbers, I suspect I'll go for 7 repeats. Because this shawl is knitted top-down, I'll be able to change my mind on that when I get there, but it's a good estimate for now.
So X = 224 rows (7 * 32). And I'm over half-way there as far as rows go! Since each row gets a bit longer, this doesn't mean I have half the knitting done, but I don't think I care to calculate the number of stitches. That seems a little too geeky even for me!
So today's tally is 128/224 rows, or 57% of rows completed. Now, wasn't that fun?
Posted by Shelda at July 28, 2003 01:56 PM