Fabulous Fiber Fear Fighting Formulas!
It’s waiting for me, lurking at the end of this lovely project. That skill I’ve not yet been able to conquer: the picot bind-off.
I’ve botched more picots that I care to admit. I have a few shawls which don’t display the pretty edging the picot is meant to be; they look as if they’ve developed some sort of rash in their final rows. Another looks more like a saw blade than a delicate trim—nothing you’d want anywhere near your neck. I fear for the finale of this piece.
Still, there’s a more immediate hurdle than my picot-deficiency. It’s the looming threat of not having enough yarn. Picot takes a lot of stitches—three to every existing stitch. And there are a lot of existing stitches here—309 to be exact. The ball of yarn I have left isn’t looking hefty enough to go the distance.
Math to the rescue! No, really—stick with me and I’ll show you how.
First, I need to calculate the number of stitches I have left to make. Here’s what I listed:
- 2 garter stitch rows = 309 x 2 = 618
- One Picot row - 309 existing stitches x 3 picot stitches per existing stitch = 927
- Add those two together 618 + 927 = 1,545. I have 1,545 stitches yet to make.
Now, I have to figure out how many inches I’m using per stitch.
It’s not hard to do. Since each stitch makes a trip around my needles, if I wrap the yarn 10 times around my needle and measure the length I used, I’ll get the distance of 10 stitches. In this case, 10 stitches used 6.75 inches. It’s important not to round out the numbers here, because we’re dealing with such a high volume.
Take the data you have and do the math:
- If we’re dealing in units of 10 stitches, then I must divide my 1,545 total stitches needed by 10, or 154.5. This tells me I have to knit 154.5 units of 10 stitches before I am done.
- If I know each 10-stitch unit needs 6.75 inches, then I just multiply 6.75 x 154.5 = 1,042 inches, or more practically, a hair under 87 feet (1,042÷12)
How do I know if I have 87 feet left in my ball? The fastest way is to wrap my yarn around a ruler 87 times.
Turns out I have more than enough yarn. Panic obliterated! Well, at least the yarn panic. Stay tuned to see if my skill-based panic is warranted.
I’ve botched more picots that I care to admit. I have a few shawls which don’t display the pretty edging the picot is meant to be; they look as if they’ve developed some sort of rash in their final rows. Another looks more like a saw blade than a delicate trim—nothing you’d want anywhere near your neck. I fear for the finale of this piece.
Still, there’s a more immediate hurdle than my picot-deficiency. It’s the looming threat of not having enough yarn. Picot takes a lot of stitches—three to every existing stitch. And there are a lot of existing stitches here—309 to be exact. The ball of yarn I have left isn’t looking hefty enough to go the distance.
Math to the rescue! No, really—stick with me and I’ll show you how.
First, I need to calculate the number of stitches I have left to make. Here’s what I listed:
- 2 garter stitch rows = 309 x 2 = 618
- One Picot row - 309 existing stitches x 3 picot stitches per existing stitch = 927
- Add those two together 618 + 927 = 1,545. I have 1,545 stitches yet to make.
Now, I have to figure out how many inches I’m using per stitch.
It’s not hard to do. Since each stitch makes a trip around my needles, if I wrap the yarn 10 times around my needle and measure the length I used, I’ll get the distance of 10 stitches. In this case, 10 stitches used 6.75 inches. It’s important not to round out the numbers here, because we’re dealing with such a high volume.
- If we’re dealing in units of 10 stitches, then I must divide my 1,545 total stitches needed by 10, or 154.5. This tells me I have to knit 154.5 units of 10 stitches before I am done.
- If I know each 10-stitch unit needs 6.75 inches, then I just multiply 6.75 x 154.5 = 1,042 inches, or more practically, a hair under 87 feet (1,042÷12)
How do I know if I have 87 feet left in my ball? The fastest way is to wrap my yarn around a ruler 87 times.
Turns out I have more than enough yarn. Panic obliterated! Well, at least the yarn panic. Stay tuned to see if my skill-based panic is warranted.
