How many stitches are in a shawl anyway?
I thought it’d be interesting to calculating the number of stitches in the last shawl FO I posted about (dang it’s been awhile since I posted a shawly FO.)
Lapidarius was a basic rectangular shawl with:
67 stitches per row
48 rows per repeat
12 repeats in the shawl
1 set up row
and 6 border rows on either end.
So:
(6 border rows) + (6 border rows) + (1 set up row) = 13 border rows
(48 rows per repeat) x (12 repeats in the shawl) = 576 patterned rows
(576 rows in the patterned section) + (13 border rows) = 589 rows total
(589 rows total) x (67 stitches per row) = 39,463 stitches total (damn!)
I was expecting a lot of stitches, but certainly not that many! I was expecting maybe a couple thousand, but not almost 40,000 stitches for a (relatively) small shawl!
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go pick my jaw off the ground.
(Have I done my math wrong? Is it actually 40,000?)
balanced unbalance
I’m always working on some project or another, and most weeks I talk about what I’m working on Wednesdays as part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. You can see past WIP Wednesdays … right this way.
I often have lots of projects on the needles, but four shawls, a coat, and a series of swatches is a little much, even for me.
It presents a bit of a dilemma.
Do you work a little bit on all of them, but not really see a huge amount of progress?
Do you focus on one of them, and neglect the others?
Do you come up with a “knitting schedule”?
I’ve been trying to give a little bit of attention to each project, but some have ended up neglected.
The oldest work in progress on the needles still hasn’t come out of it’s project bag, and the swatches haven’t been touched.
The coat got an evening of attention, and I attached the last ball of yarn for this piece, but it still looks like a big grey blob.
The golden shawl has spent the week perched on my desk receiving bits and pieces of attention, while the purple shawl has seen lots of attention, but is at the point where you can only measure progress by the diminishing ball of yarn. I did a quick review of the yarn I’m using in the gold shawl Monday.
The blue shawl on the other hand has seen the most progress. Between the loads of attention, and the fact that it’s three strands of lace weight held together on a US 7 (4.5mm) needle it’ll be done in no time. (Which is usually what I say right before projects stall.)
Maybe the best balance for projects is a sort of balanced unbalance?
This was part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. If you’d like more WIP Wednesday posts, from other bloggers, visit Tami’s blog.
Review: Cascade Yarns “Forest Hills”
I picked up a new lace weight yarn at my LYS the other day, started knitting with it, and thought it would be fun to do a quick little review.
The yarn is Cascade Yarns “Forest Hills,” a 51/49 silk/merino, lace weight yarn.
With 785 yards (717.5 meters) to a 100 gram (3.5 oz) ball, the yardage isn’t bad, and you can definitely get a shawl from one ball. My LYS had it for $21 a ball, so it’s not a bad price either.
It’s 51% silk 49% merino, (not sure why they didn’t just do a 50/50 blend) so it’s very soft, and drapey with pretty good stitch definition.
It’s a two ply yarn and despite the silk has a very nice body for a lace weight yarn. Unlike some lace weights it doesn’t feel like you’re holding nothing, which is really nice when you’re knitting with it.
The silk creates a very slight halo, which gives the yarn depth, but it’s not so much of a halo that you loose your stitches, and couldn’t do lace work with it.
I’m using this yarn for a very simple stockinette shawl with some eyelet detailing, knit on a US 5 (3.75mm) needle with the yarn held double, in colorway #9 “Nugget Gold.”
If I were to hold the yarn single I would probably use a US 1 (2.25mm) or a US 2 (2.75mm) needle. The ball band recommends a US 1-3 (2.25mm-3.25mm) needle.
I’ll be interested to see how this yarn holds up over time. I wonder if that silk halo means it’ll end up pilling. I’m not super hard on most of my shawls so I don’t see it being an issue, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re hard on your shawls or are using it for something else.
An Anti Disclaimer:
Cascade did not send me this yarn to review, and they did not ask me for my opinion about it.
It was new at my LYS, I thought it was interesting, I bought a ball, started knitting with it, and thought I’d do a quick review.
