Tuesday 15th November 2022 - knitting thoughts and calculations

 Skip this post if you are not interested in knitting - although the design and maths side might be interesting - or maybe even more off-putting?

Here is the Advent cowl from the mystery knit-a-long I followed last December;

 It was knitted as a long thin strip, 33-35 stitches wide and around - where's my calculator gone - 24 days and about 9 rows per day is about 216 rows. Each day I received an email with the instructions for the 9 or so rows. 

The finished size of this cowl is 74 cm around and 16 cm deep, and weighing about 45 g. I think the yarn was thicker than double knitting, probably aran weight, and acrylic. The gauge is 25 rows and 20 stitches to make a 10 cm square.

I don't want to knit a strip again, because I would like to have a fair-isle/scandinavian pattern this time, and the best way to do colour knitting is to avoid purl like the plague. I shall use a circular needle and knit it in the round.

I have ordered three balls of Drops Alaska from woolwarehouse, which is ridiculously cheap on their website. The specifications are;

Yarn Weight	Aran
Ball Weight	50g
Length	70 metres
Needle Size	5mm
Blend	100% Wool
Tension	17 stitches and 22 rows for a 10x10cm tension square using 5mm needles

I've got two in a darkish blue for the background and one in off-white for the pattern

So far, so good. Now the maths begins;

Number of stitches to end up  with a 74cm neck (assuming I get something close to the gauge) is 

hmmm. 1.7 stitches  would be 1 cm, so 1.7 times 74 is 125.8 stitches. Let's call that 128, which divides nicely by 4, 2, 8, 16 (This has implications for the pattern repeat)

Number of rows to end up with a depth from chin to neck of 16 cm is 2.2 times 16 which is 35.2 rows. I'll call that 36 rows. (This has implications for how many rounds have to be completed between 1st and 24th December)

I need to do some rib at the top and the bottom; say three rows each, leaving me 30 rows for the main part of the cowl

So, day 1 could be cast on and a row of ribbing

day 2 two rows of ribbing

days 3 - 22 the patterns, and plain rows in between different patterns (20 days, 30 rows)

day 23 two rows of ribbing

day 24 a row of ribbing and the casting off.  

I loathe doing ribbing - I think I'll cast on and knit a row, then do a 'mock' rib of one row single rib (right side) next row knit, and do these two rows again before starting the pattern. I'll do the same again at the neck. Anyway, I've got some leftover aran somewhere so I can start swatching while I wait for the yarn to arrive.

I'll post my progress...