Math Is the Solution!

This weekend is an exercise in good old perserverence. I am pressing on to finish the Swallowtail Shawl, which is promised to a friend for a silent auction. Time is of the essence. It has to be finished and blocked by the end of next weekend. I think it is totally possible to accomplish. At least, I did think that until I realized that I might be a little short on yarn.

So, I've been watching this skein slowly collapse, but now it seems to be caving in at a much higher rate. I can tell you that I am nervous. All this work could be for naught! If I don't have enough yarn, I'll have to frogg the whole thing or just put it away for another season. UGH!

So I posted on the "Lace Knitters" group on Ravelry, asking for help in determining if I might have enough yarn to proceed with this pattern, or in the alternative, make some modifications to the remainder of the pattern for my shawl. I also contacted my LYS owner for her suggestions and, of course, to ask if she has more skeins of the TREKKING (XXL) yarn that I am using.

In true Ravelry fashion, I had several suggestions within minutes! Thanks again, Ravelers! I was pointed to http://www.rose-kim.com/rose-kimknits where Jennifer has linked to an Excel worksheet she created to determine the percentage of a shawl that has been knit. She calls her creation a Shawl Progress Calculator. After plugging in the total number of rows in the Swallowtail Shawl, I followed down one column to find the number of rows that I have completed and TA-DA! I'm 77% of the way finished with my shawl.

When I talked to the owner of my LYS, she suggested that I weigh my un-used yarn on a postal scale, which I do have, to see how much yarn I have left. Of the 3.5 oz originally in the skein, I have 1.2 oz remaining. So, 3.5 divided by 1.2 is 2.9. While math and I have never seemed to think through problems the same way, I think I am correct in saying that I have almost 1/3 of my yarn left. AND since I have knitted over 3/4th of my shawl, I should be safe! Yeah! Onward to completion!

till next time...

b