A Different Kind of Math

The final clue of the Summer Solstice Mystery KAL by Wendy Johnson was released on Tuesday.  In the directions, Wendy points out what rows can be repeated to make the shawl deeper.

At this point, I'm fairly certain it's a crescent shaped shawl.  It seems as if I have enough yarn to knit some extra rows.  In order to get a more accurate idea of what I can repeat, I did a little experiment.

I weighed the skein before I knit the next four rows to see how much yarn it consumed.

Based on the pattern, if I repeat the next four rows one extra time, that would mean I have a total of 26 rows to knit plus 3 stockinette stockinette and bind off.  Here's how that works:

38g before 4 repeatable rows
35g after working 4 rows

It took 3g to work 4 rows, or  3g/4 = .75g per row.

There are 26 rows left to knit = 26 x .75g = 19.5g

Are you with me so far?

Then I added in the 3 rows of stockinette and the bind off.  To be extra generous, I'm going to allow 6g of yarn (the knitting equivalent of 8 rows).

19.5g + 6g = 25.5g would be used if I knit the 4 extra rows and knit to completion of the pattern.  That leaves me 9.5g of yarn wiggle room.

There are two other places over the remaining 26 rows that are repeatable for more depth. I'll reassess when I get there.  I could conceivably get 12 extra rows in.

9.5g remaining after planned rows/.75g per row = 12.6666666 rows to play with.

This is what I call "knitting math". I put in a life line where I am now so if for some reason it doesn't play out the way the math indicates, I can safely go back to where I am now.  Safety first!

After all that math we need a page from Harry's book:

While knitting outside I watched as Harry found a wooden pole that had to be at least 5' long.  Where he found this pole, we have no idea.  He is the finder of things we never knew we had.  

After this photo was taken he managed to get the pole stuck under a fence and succeeded to lever it out from where it was trapped.  He moved too quickly for me to get a picture.

 He pranced off with the pole to the center of the yard where he wouldn't be impeded by nasty fences that try to steal his prize.  He has to prance to get the height to carry the pole.  That was a sight.

 If there was a thought bubble here it would be something like, "Don't even try it.  It's my pole and you can't have it."