Playing chicken while knitting

There may be some amongst my followers who pursue the gentle craft of knitting. If so, some of you may know that heart-stopping moment when you have a certain amount of wool left, and wonder whether it will be enough to knit to the end of that row, which is a preferred place to begin a new ball of wool. I used to call this “playing chicken”. Sometimes I won, often the wool did. Then, I was left with the choice of joining the wool in the middle of the row (ugh, it never looks neat), or ripping back and starting a new ball at the beginning of that row. Are you still with me, or have I cured your insomnia?

Oh, good grief, is there enough wool to get to the other end of the row?   

Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I no longer suffer from this demoralising problem, and I’m going to share this happy knitter’s tip with you.

Here’s what you must do, beloved reader/knitter. Simply measure the width of the garment you are ruefully gazing upon. Multiply this width by 4. Now, measure the length of yarn dangling there. If it is greater than the result you had obtained with the mathematical exercise, she’ll be right, mate! (I suppose if you’re into doing complex patterns you’d better add on a bit more, just to be on the safe side.) I can confirm that it worked for me. I’m in knitting heaven! And, I’m hoping I’ll wear the finished project in Italy one day.

I felt so smug

There, I’ve broken my blogging drought, and it’s nice to be back.