Starting The Third Project

I am so excited. I went to my knitting group this morning and showed my finished designs to them. Everyone was very encouraging. I realize that if I want to keep this design to use for my own patterns, then I need to design them quickly. With two patterns already posted on Ravelry, it may work against me if others start borrowing my design.

So with that in mind, I began the design for a skirt using a very fine weight yarn. Because I live in Arizona I don't want a heavy knit skirt that I can't wear. So I have chosen a 2-ply washable yarn. It is 100 % acrylic, which is not usually my favorite, but I also have plenty of the yarn that was given to me and I don't want to begin using real expensive yarn for projects that I am just using for practice. However, this yarn will still wear well if it becomes the skirt I envision.

I couldn't find any yardage printed on the pattern so I researched the brand on-line. I found the yarn with all the details and discovered that each skein has 220 yards in it. I was given 11 skeins, which means I have 2,420 yards of yarn. I decided the measurements for the skirt to be 27-inches long with a 2-inch band for folding over and encasing elastic and 18.5-inches wide, which equates to 37-inches around. There will be no hem, because the ribbing will finish the edge.

Now I needed to figure the gauge. The skein indicated that the gauge was 7 sts x 8 rows per inch. But the on-line information was different for the same yarn. It indicated that the gauge was 24 sts per 4-inches, which means 6 sts per inch. So I calculated the following:

1. I need 37 inches for the circumference of the skirt. 7 stitches per inch times 37 = 259 stitches. 6 stitches per inch times 37 = 222 stitches.
2. My pattern design requires 2 stitches for the beginning, 8 stitches for the Cable Pattern, and 6 stitches to end the round.
3. Starting with the 7-stitches-gauge first, I subtracted the 2 stitches from the beginning and the 6 stitches from the end (8 stitches) from the 259 total cast on stitches required. That gave me 31.375, which does not divide evenly by 8. So I rounded-off the total to 32. [32 X 8 = 256 + 8] = 265 stitches for this cast on.
4. Using the 6-stitches-gauge next, I subtracted the 8 stitches from the 222 total cast on stitches required. That gave me 26.75. Rounding-off that total I had 27 stitches. [27 X 8 = 216 + 8] = 224 stitches for this cast on.
5. This means I will have 33 repeating patterns for the 7-sts gauge cast on. And 28 repeating patterns for the 6-sts gauge cast on.

I have a couple ideas of how I want the design to work in this pattern. I want there to be rows with long cables running the length. I want there to be rows with two-cables for each long one in the other row. Then I might choose to have four-cables that match those two. I will try to capture the design on paper and include it later.

I will need to configure the pattern repeats to see how they fit with the calculations from #5 above. I also need to go  knit a gauge so I can be absolutely sure of the stitches per inch. The yarn requirement for the needle is Size 4. So I will start there.

I finished the calculations for the design pattern on graph paper. It took a bit but I figured a 16-sts repeat that will flow nicely around the skirt, matching at the beginning of each round.

I played with several cable shapes on the left, but the placement of them on the graph to the right would only allow half of that design. But I am satisfied with that.

I finished the swatch and the gauge for me using a Size 4 needle is 7 sts x 8 rws per 1-inch.

Okay, that is it for tonight.