Scarf Style/Wrap Style Knit-Along

The inspirations for this knit-along are the Scarf Style and Wrap Style books (from Interweave Press); should you wish to share your creations from the book, this is a wonderful place to do it. Also welcome are helpful tips, corrections, ideas for variations, and suggestions for materials. This knit-along will last indefinitely, so join any time!

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

The Mathematics of Ruffles

I restarted Ruffles. (Pictures later) I am much happier with the yarn this time around. I'm using Lion Brand Microspun and it's working up really nice. But its still slow....

I pondered the slowness last night as I knitted and knitted AND knitted and seemingly got nowhere. So I decided to "do the math".

Assuming you are knitting to gauge (8.5 rows per inch) and are making it as long as the pattern specifies (86 inches) you will be knitting 731 short row sections. Yes. 731. Check the pattern. You knit one short row section for every stitch along the spine. Ouch.

You don't even want to know how long the edges are. Lets just say they are way longer than you can even imagine. Over 600 inches. Ouch again.

Now my gauge is 8 stitches to the inch so I "only" have to knit 688 short row sections to get to 86 inches.

Anne in Colorado
http://whitestarsams.blogspot.com

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5 Comments:

  • At 6:23 PM, Blogger Lesley said…

    Ouch...

    But despite these heinous numbers, I'm about to begin this scarf. I knitted a test swatch last night of the pattern and the 'spine' of the scarf is knitting up really loose. Is anyone else having this happen?

     
  • At 4:29 AM, Blogger Gilly said…

    My Ruffles spine is knitting up quite loose too. I'm gladly assuming that’s how it's supposed to be, as otherwise it'd grow in length much more slowly.

    I'm rather stuck at the moment as I tried to continue knitting while sitting on a train feeling ill and ended up dropping a load of stitches. I then proceeded to make a huge mess while trying to fix it and now I haven't touched it for two weeks and I thinking the best solution may be to rip it all out and start again. Has anyone else got into a pickle like this?

     
  • At 9:48 AM, Blogger Lesley said…

    I'm with you! I'm going to just keep on thinking that the spine is supposed to be loose too. *wink*

    I know if I make a mistake or drop a few stitches with this baby, it will be way to confusing to rip back and I will ultimately have to start all over. So I'm going to be putting in a 'life line' every once in awhile, so that if I do screw up, I won't lose all of my work, just the part between my life line and my mistake.

     
  • At 11:20 AM, Blogger theShizzKnit said…

    Lifeline? Sounds great! What is it?

     
  • At 3:04 PM, Blogger theShizzKnit said…

    Found it- Defn: A lifeline in knitting is a temporary thread inserted through a row of stitches.

     

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