Doing the Math
A tiny bit of calculation has revealed that the current pair of socks will, when finished, be made up of about 14,400 stitches. A further bit of calculation has revealed that I’ve got about 1,550 stitches left to go before I finish the second sock. This means I am about 89% done. Really, it’s three inches and a toe. It’s three hours of knitting. So why in the world is it taking me so long to do? And does anyone else figure out how many stitches are in a project and obsessively track how much you’ve finished?
I find myself calculating pages on some books. It’s an indication of how miserable I am reading that particular book (I love to read).
I’d say this pair of socks is not making you happy.
Hah, a fellow grad student by any chance? I do the page count thing in the middle of boring books too!
And no, I actually really like these socks and am very pleased with them. I think the slow progress is just a sign that I’ve got too many other things going on that are keeping me from actually sitting down and knitting…No matter how hard I try I cannot knit in my sleep, and that’s about the only ‘free’ time I have this week!
With luck, I’ll finish them Friday. I’ve got that day blocked off as a non-work day!
Halfway through a World of Warcraft blanket for my husband, I created a spreadsheet. 🙂
Seriously? I don’t know which part of that sentence is the more amazing…
I usually try to figure out the stitch count on a project. I am not so obsessive (yet), however, to include sections that had to be ripped out and reworked. (So, it’s not literally every stitch worked – just those that stayed.) Ha, ha, ha
When gifting knitted projects, I’ll include the total stitch count as “I thought of you [enter stitch count] times!” (Substituting hugs, kisses, etc for the word thought, depending on the recipient.)
Nope, I actually *never* calculate stitches. I think if I knew how many stitches it takes to do one sock, I’d never even start.
(I do, however, keep track with books. I think that’s because it’s unavoidable to see the page numbers.
Well, that *was* true in the days when I actually read books. Someday my kids will be older, I’ll be getting more sleep, and I’ll get to read again!)
Funny, this should come up at a time like this. I just finished knitting a hat and was wondering what size to knit with the remaining yarn. So, I figured out how many stitches were in the first hat and divided that number by grams of yarn used to get stitches per gram. Stitches per gram was multiplied by grams of remaining yarn to get the maximum amount of stitches available. Then, I tallied the amount of stitches in the other sizes and compared it to the available stitches to pick which size to knit.
I’m not even going to bring up all the other spreadsheets I’ve made for larger projects.
And this is why people look at me strangely at knit night.
April, you are a girl after my own heart. That’s exactly the sort of knitting math that makes my day!
And Julie…I’m speechless. I’m sure it was stunning!
43,584 (give or take a couple) stitches in the Queen Silvia shawl I knit for my daughters wedding. Yup, for some reason I just have to know how many stitches I’ve knit. Glad to know I’m not alone!
If I’d been a knitter of any level while in school learning math, I’m certain that I’d have taken to it better – I need an application to go with the math and that was rarely given. Now, having been out of proper school for so long, I’m none too bothered to revisit it on my own. Maybe I’ll meet a local mathematician knitter who can guide me. Of course, I’m happy in my state of stitch ignorance.
I’ve just gotten interested in this question, as people are always asking me how long it takes to knit a pair of socks. Hmm. My guess is somewhere around 60-100 hours (which is really quite a wide range, come to think of it). And number of stitches? Whew!
It could be fun to figure this all out 😉
I did that for a triangular shawl that worked from tip to top (Landscape Shawl by Evelyn Clark). It was over 40,000 stitches. I thought I was over half done (true by row number) but nowhere near 50% by number of stitches. That was depressing.
It is easy to get stuck after the gusset decreases are done and before the toe starts. Sometimes I wish feet were shaped so that there was more to do than just plow on after the gussets are done.
I have a spreadsheet I use for shawls. How else am I supposed to know if I can add another repeat?