Concerns

I apologise for the absence. I’ve been knitting like a fiend when I haven’t been working, to try and get this shawl finished for the wedding, along with the gifty things. Plus, DB had to take the work laptop back to work for someone else to use it (the first person to ask for it in over a year, hence it was visiting us), so we are now sharing, and I have to say he gets priority seeing as he paid for it. The weather is still too cold for me to sit and blog upstairs on my PC, so I’ve taken advantage of the time away from surfing/purchasing etc (although a purchase has been made from Blue Moon Fibers for another gift for someone, so naturally I had to buy extra to justify postage). Good thing too. It is two weeks to Sue’s wedding and I haven’t finished the straight section of Sarcelle yet (all other projects have taken a major backseat, including said gifts till I know I’m almost home with it). And I have issues. Not with the pattern, I would like to stress. I’m so used to it I don’t need the printout anymore. And the yarn is just delicious to knit with. Doesn’t seem to get fuzzy while I knit or anything, and the silk element makes it look like it will block up a treat, the definition is wonderful when I stretch it out a little. And it is so warm too!
But I have yardage issues at the moment. I haven’t yet reached half way through the pattern and I have about 19g leftover (from 2 ounces, which is about 56-7g). Clearly this will not be a 60″ Sarcelle. But now I have to work out how much I can knit. If I’ve already used up 37g, I have no idea how much I will need for the last sections. My theory is, if I do a pattern repeat and weigh the yarn again, and divide the difference in g by the number of pattern steps in that repeat to get x, I can work out how much the last sections will need by multiplying x by the number of pattern steps over the last sections. Does that make sense? So say I use 3g for 10 pattern steps, and I have 6 steps to do in the last sections, I know I will need just under 2g to complete the wrap. I’m so glad I chose 3 for my example sum 😀 My maths before this has involved stressing a great deal because it appears that I used about 20g for the initial part, which is just rubbish when that part is smaller than the middle section I’ve just spent a week and a bit working on… I did A-level maths you know. But that was a long long time ago and I was also predicted an A but got a D. My maths involves flashes of great brilliance and dreaming the answer in my sleep and it working, but not being able to work out how I did it again once I write my working out down beautifully correct. Like when my friends say ‘but what about this bit, shouldn’t it be this answer instead’, thus wrecking my calculations, and my tutor saying ‘no, she’s correct’, and then me not understanding a) why it isn’t what my friends said, and b) my tutor’s explanation as to why I was right in the first place.
Did I ever tell you that, just like in the Simpsons where the men all develop great stupidity, the women in my family all degenerate into mad people and completely random unthinking beasts? I was so intelligent once. Now I can’t even remember to switch the oven on when I put the mains on and start the extractor fan. Or switch the bugger off when I’ve finished cooking… And so the degeneration begins.
This lace could be the last thing I ever calculate even half accurately. Although please do put me out of my misery if you think I can work this out in an easier way or that my pitiful maths above is horribly wrong! Being wrong is much worse than ending up with a too short wrap or not enough yarn and no lifeline 😉
What else? Oh yeah, last weekend we had a ton of snow that all melted, so the light was once again really crappy. I hope I can have some pics of pretty things up for you tomorrow. I have a couple of extra things to show you. And while knitting I’ve been thinking about where to start next week for Project Spectrum. I’m hoping I’ll finish the wrap next week anyway, which leaves room for me to work on the gifts and my long, long, hanging around projects. Plus I hope to get some inspiration and styling from nature and the colour schemes for each couple of months. It should be a lot of fun 🙂

2 thoughts on “Concerns”

  1. I am looking forward to seeing the pictures!
    Sorry, I can’t offer any help with the maths, not my strong point at all – although I need to improve.
    We had a tiny bit of snow, just enough to freeze for me to fall on 🙁

  2. Hi mama! Just wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten the Dec/Jan send- I was waiting for something to come in the mail. needless to say, something will be making it’s way to your doorstep shortly!!
    xo
    do you know who I really am yet?
    I think you do, so this is the last time i’ll use my fake-o name-o, unless you say otherwise-o 😛
    Gwen

Comments are closed.