Half Precision

In my single gal days, I dated a rocket scientist in training.  Literally.  He was getting his Ph.D in engineering, something to do with intercepting rockets, I think.  There were times when he drove me bat-crap crazy, months spent searching for a drop of something that would resemble a human emotion, but that is a story for a different day on a different blog. 

My nonchalant relationship with math would drive HIM crazy.  My approximations and "close enough" mentality would drive him to exasperation.  "Put your hands up, and step away from the math!"

Intellectually, I understand that math needs to be precise, but usually I don't.  Worrying about the possible yarn shortage of Fuchsia Wave has me upping my math, at least my sense of precision.  I will be cutting the yarn close to the edge.  Am I halfway through the ball now, or was I a few inches of edge ago?  Do I really have a half ball left from knitting the body?  Or is it a bit more or less than half.  A few percentage points may mean the difference between a finished shawl and me sobbing at the end of the yarn with a few inches yet to go.  Every foot of mohair counts!

I am sure there is a complicated formula that would tell me now if I will have enough yarn.  Weigh the existing balls;  measure precise yarn requirements per edge repeat; calculate the remaining repeats. . . .Ugh, just typing it give me flashbacks to Sister Anna Marie and her ruler.

I guess I am just a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants knitter, even when it leads me to disaster.  17 inches completed on long edge #1.  145 inches to success (or slightly less to failure). 

Today, it is all about the edginess.   

   

Full Speed Ahead

Test completed.  The edge curls in a tiny bit, but no more than the usual nature of knitting.  The corner is fine.  The designer is vindicated.

I am proceeding with confidence and determination on the edge. 

Except that now I am concerned about running out of yarn. I bought this yarn years ago in Poland.  Even with the magic of the Internet and Ravelry, finding another randon skein is next to impossible.  Running out is NOT an option. 

 I had 5 skeins to begin with, 1250 meters in total.  The body took about 2 1/2 skeins.  Except that I have learned my lesson (though apparently not well) about yardage sucking edges.   

22 inches down the first short side.  13 inches down the first long side.  I have used up approximately half a skein of yarn.  There is remaining: another 57 inches to long side #1, 22 inches to short side #2, and 70 inches of long side #1.  I have completed 19 percent of the edge, and used 20 percent of the available yarn.  (Assuming my math is correct. . . . Always a dangerous assumption.)

This is going to be close. 

Today, it is all about dangling over the edge. 

Testing 1 - 2 - 3

Testing.  Testing.  1 - 2 - 3.  Testing. 

I thought it a good idea to test this whole perpendicular edging concept before I did the real thing.  Well, after the first aborted effort, I thought it was a good idea, as the frequent readers of my blog (all three of them) may remember. 

It is nice to have a purpose for the tiny leftover balls of yarn sometimes.  Canary Yellow and Heather Rose is not a color combination I would usually favor, but it does the job as a test piece.  

After an inch, I think I got the hang of it, and was ready to try the real thing.  

 

My sweetie was kind enough to watch the children for me last Monday, so I could go to Knitter-vention  (actually, he came home mean as a wounded bear, yelled at everyone for no apparent reason, then yelled at me to "get the F*** out" when I was displaying reluctance to abandon my children into his care; but we won't quibble over details). 

After the greater than usual husband bashing, I was calm enough to give the edge another try.  Four rows later, I felt that I had an adequate start, and should quit while I was ahead. 

The past few days, I was able to pick it up again, and work a repeat or two.  The design elements are starting to show, and I feel reassured that I am not working the wrong side or twisting.  Two inches and 25 rows down, 190 inches and 960 rows to go. . . .(Weak groan.)  I really should learn my lesson about doing the math. 

We had a garage sale this past weekend, which is usually prime knitting time.  Every year, I spend two days sitting in the garage, happily knitting, and stopping to collect money.  Except this time, I spent half the time curled up in a chair , feeling a little queasy, semi-conscious, and being teased by my husband that I was pregnant again.  (I am not, thank you.)  The closest I got to knitting was to bring it out into the garage, sitting on the chair next to me.  Sigh.  At least we made decent money with the sale.  Next year. 

Today, it is all about the new technique. 
 

And, it's official,

I am totally screwed. In spite of diligent efforts, knitting monogomy (not even tempted on this project, I swear, totally faithful to the shawl), carrying it around with me EVERYWHERE in case I will have an unexpected few minutes, staying up entirely too late some evenings (especially considering that my littlest guy is STILL not consistently sleeping all the way through the night), and measuring entirely too often, I am officially behind schedule.


According to the schedule, I was supposed to have reached the center spine by now, and started the decreasing rows.


A digression to explain the shawl's construction. It is worked side to side. So I start on the right side with only a few stitches, then increase one stitch every fourth row. When I reach the midpoint, I start decreasing every fourth row, until I am back down to the original few stitches. Then I add the suicide ruffle.


Right now, it is hard (Ok, impossible) to stick to the schedule, because the rows keeping getting wider, so it takes longer to complete them. The decrease rows will have the opposite effect, so I will start accelerating my progress.


Right now, each row takes about 6 minutes to complete. That may not sound like much, but the schedule calls for 24 rows per day. That is 2 1/2 hours per day. I am not knitting 2 1/2 hours per day, which means that I am falling ever further behind with each new day.


But all hope is not yet lost! There is the decreasing acceleration factor to consider on the later stages of the shawl. And I may have completely overestimated the time requirements of the suicide ruffle. (Really, I MAY have.)


So far, I am 16 3/4 wide. (The shawl, that is, not me personally.) The pattern calls for 20 to 24 inches wide. Kate is about half a foot taller than me, so I calculating that I am on the shorter end of the desired width. (I am at the shorter end of everything else, so it would be a cruel irony not to be short when I really need it.)


Plus, there is a round trip drive to Chicago this week (picking up my brother et al from O'Hare) and Mom will be doing most of the driving. Lots of knitting opportunity. I am primarily going for company and to serve as navigator.


And in the worst case scenario, failure to finish by September 15th only means that I will not be considered for the knit-along's judging. I will still have a lovely shawl, no matter when I finish it.


Today, it is all about the optimism. (Or delusion. I write, you decide.)

Better Left in Ignorance

While on hold the other day, I started doing some Duchess Shawl Math. Estimating that the ruffle is about 30% of the work, and each side of the body 35%, with a little more than three months left before the KAL deadline, I estimated that I needed to complete 1 1/3 pattern repeats per day. I smiled in confidence at my ability to meet this self-imposed deadline, and started feeling pretty optomisitic that I would finish the shawl in time.

The next day, I realized the flaw in my math. Each repeat increases by four stitches, to an end goal of 192 stitches. If I was meeting my goal at 42 stitches per row, it was only going to get harder as the stitches increased to 80, and 120, and 160. A little ball of dread landed in my stomach.

So yesterday, I thought maybe if I tried to exceed my goal now during the shorter rows, it would give me some cushion for the later longer rows. Ok, optimism returning. I can do this.

This morning, apparently NOT having learned a lesson with my math calculations, I remembered a little geometry to calculated the estimated stitches in my suicide ruffle. Using the Pythagorean theorum (which I can't believe I even remembered), I was able to estimate how long all my sides would be. At 8 stitches per inch, and an estimated 200 inches in circumference, that leaves . . . around 1600 stitches. Which I double in the next row.

I am half considering comparing the total estimated stitches in the ruffle vs. body of the shawl, to see if my original percentage estimate was even in the same universe as reality.

Someone, please save me from the math.

Today, it is all about the numbers.