Shawl That Counting

So, I’ve cast on for Shawl That Jazz. The yarn I’m using is finer, as I believe I’ve mentioned, and I ordered heaps & piles more.

(Me, preening with the newly delivered yarn.)

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I got all mathematical about the difference in gauge – I knit a swatch I liked the hand of, then I reverse engineered the amount of stitches to cast on. I also reverse engineered the row instructions. I cast on on the way back from BC last weekend, & it’s going quite splendidly, actually. The first ball zoomed by, as has the second.

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(The colorway is call "Tulip Fields". I know the above are geraniums, but I think you'll get the vibe.)

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Thus far, my only complaint would be the fact that the balls are a little prone to yarn puke, as you might notice, off to the left. Happens when there's about a third of a ball left. And I'm afraid to stop using them as a center-pull, because what if there's a noticeable change in the color variation?

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(Or would it be noticeable? Please leave me a comment & an opinion. If you don't I'll have to ask the man - I actually can't help myself - I always ask him knitting questions* - and I know that's not fair to him.)

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The cast-on was a little perplexing - I didn't know that the e-loop cast-on was what I've always done, using my thumb, for mitten & armpit gussets. Thankfully, Gate-Gamba has the internet, so I got that sorted. I was a little leery, but it's proved lovely & not too fiddly. (It was fiddly, true, but not enough that I gave it up or put it down. I was trapped in a car, true, but I did have alternate projects.) (The secret - I think - is to wrap them right snug next to each other. Don't leave the usual space you might when casting on.)

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Today, on the train, this niggling thought finally worked ti's way to the forefront of my brain: "Do I have enough yarn?" And instead of thinking "Suuuuuuure", for some reason I started figuring out how to figure that out. I got a little uneasy, because I realized that I would end up with a stitch count for the entire shawl, & I didn't know if that was something I really needed to think about. (Kind of like contemplating contractions in your 4th month. You know you're committed, let's just not dwell on it, please.)

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I figured work would be busy enough to knock the idea clean out of my head, but no. It was slow. So I took a break, and an excel spreadsheet, & calculated as much of the shawl as I could remember the pattern for. I flinched a little when I figured out how many thousand stitches I get to a ball.

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I flinched a little more when I got home to the pattern, & finished my calculations. I'm going to try & forget that number, but, like a woman carrying her second child, thinking about dilation - it may fade a little, but I can't make that number go away.

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Oh well. Even my most wildly optimistic estimates think I have enough yarn, so I should be okay. And that (and new babies) are the happy ending, right?

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* And crossword puzzle questions too. It was so nice at Mom's this weekend, we finished a couple crosswords together.