How many skeins of STR does it take to…?

97 Responses to “How many skeins of STR does it take to…?”

On March 14th, 2008 at 5:01 am Christine Petterson said:

Tina - One sock?? Not 4 socks, correct?

On March 14th, 2008 at 7:17 am Mars said:

So, with a little reasearch, I’ve looked at creating a pair of fairly standardized socks for a female African Elephant. I would suggest a varigated yarn, and for a pair for the forefeet, 53,195 yards of it (or 152 skeins of BMFA Heavyweight, preferably in the Hard Rock colorway). With a good quality fingering weight yarn and 60″ circular kneedle, cast on 3621 stitches (or sufficient to meet guage of 7 sts/in). Join for circular knitting, being careful not to twist the stitches, and continue in a 2×2 rib for about 3 inches. Continue knitting in the round until about a meter has passed, and then proceed to decrease into a star-toe. There is no heel on an elephant’s sock, as standing the foot of a female African elephant is circular, and about 1.5 meters in circumference (and when raised is actually not circular at all, as most of it is made up by fat, and thus, it slides into a bit of a pointwhen the foot is up - a fact that assists elephants in walking through mud, since their feet lose circumference when they’re raised - not that any elephant should be trudging through the mud in her new spiffy socks).

On March 14th, 2008 at 7:22 am Mars said:

It occurs to me - should I include the various statistics and math and whatnot that created those numbers, and citations and whatnot?

On March 14th, 2008 at 9:29 am Meg said:

Ok- here goes…..

Last November Utahns were blessed to welcome a baby giraffe to Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo. At birth, the newborn weighed 110 pounds, and was about 6 feet tall. (That’s basically three feet of legs, and three feet of neck- And, in the first week of life, the new giraffe would grow about an inch a day!)

December is a cold month in Salt Lake for a baby giraffe. I immediately though of a little sock/neck gaiter set for the “little” guy.

For a set of four socks it seems imperative that a provisional cast on is use so that the socks can be lengthened as the baby grows. And of course, extra yarn, in the right dye lot, should be set aside.

My yarn choice would be the STR mediumweight-350 yards at 8 st/in. Now, if one were knitting for a giraffe living in the wild, the colorway “Banded Agate” would give the best camouflage effect, especially for a giraffe. But since this baby is not in the wild, I thought that the colorway “Philosopher’s Stone” was very complimentary to the lovely giraffe coloring yet boyish enough too.
(I did admire the Peru yarn; Alpaca/Merino/Silk, at 4-5 st/inch and a hefty 500 yard per skein. It would be lovely for any wee-tad knitting. I’m definitely putting that fiber on my wish list-but I digress.)

The front socks would be your basic leg warmer. A 2×2 Rib would do for the entire 6 foot leggin’. Knitting from the bottom up, a 7 inch cuff would suffice for that first week of super growth. An open toe is best for the little hoofs. I can’t imagine that my ankle is much larger than a baby giraffe’s, so I would start with about 72 stiches at the bottom and then increase up to about 96 stiches at the top of the front legs.
The back leggin’ would be sort of the same, except that, because the double “dog-legging” of the giraffe leg,(especially at the hock part of the leg) a demi-heel would give the back socks some give for all of the gallavanting around that baby giraffes are so prone to do. (Oi, I’m glad I’m not a giraffe mama)
Without a doubt, this is a “short-row” thing.
Starting at the top,(the muscular thigh, even for a baby) CO 120 sts, 2×2 Rib 6 inches (eternal ribbing for a lovely cuff- you know, for that inch a day growth for the first week), and then decrease down to 80 stitches for the hock area. At the hock, turn a short row heel for a reeeally obtuse heel, like 135 degrees. Decrease down to 72 stitches, and back to 2×2 ribbing down to the fetlock. Extra length would give a chic sloughed look that would surely be grown into.

Yarn Requirements; To knit 4 six-foot socks at 8st/in, one would need 15 skeins of STR midweight. Figuring 1 skein per 2 feet of sock, at 72 stitches around, the front socks would require 6 skeins. The back socks would require 4-5 skeins each. But, to accomodate growth, I think that it would be safe to say that a purchase of 20 skeins of one dye lot would be enough. Extra yarn (whose counting at this point?) could be knit into a sweet little scarf. (But you know, the set is not complete without a darling turtle neck gaiter-another 12 skeins).

Finally, if one didn’t want to go to the trouble of lenghthening the socks for the growing baby giraffe, one could find another baby giraffe to which to “hand-down” the hand knit giraffe hose. I think that the Philosopher’s Stone colorway wouldn’t be bad on a little girl giraffe, ifn’ you didn’t have a little boy.

I enjoyed this project. My model baby giraffe was Tsavo the West baby giraffe. The image link was way to long to include here. Information on the Hogle Zoo can be found at Hoglezoo.org.

Happy Spring!

On March 14th, 2008 at 10:17 am Diana Huss said:

How about a car cozy for your SUV? Here in MT, it gets awfully cold during those winter months, and the springtime weather can be so unpredictable. Knit this cozy to keep your engine warm and improve your gas mileage.

According the the Ford website, the 2008 Explorer measures 73.7″ across (with mirrors out) 72.8″ tall, and 193.4″ long. I think the easiest way to do it would be to make one long rectangle about 75×345″ to go across the top of the car. Then pick up along the edges for the sides. So here ya go, a very Zimmerman car cosy:

Cast on 450 stitches of BMFA STR Heavyweight yarn with size 3 needle. Knit st st until piece measures 345″ (28 feet, 9″ - 2415 rows- and 252 skeins)

pick up 2070 sts along one side. Mark sts at 450 sts in on each side, work back and forth between markers, decreasing at markers every other row until outside sts are used up. repeat for other side. (122 skeins per side)

For a grand total of 496 skeins of STR heavyweight.

This would just make a box. To adapt it to fit the contours of the car would require more math and my brain is now very fuzzy.

On March 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am kniftyred said:

Pattern: A Pair of Cozy Leg Warmers

Yarn: 6 skeins of Socks that Rock Medium Weight
(recommended: Pond Scum colorway for those early morning drinks by the rivers edge.)

Gauge: 8 sts per inch on US size 2 (60 inch circ)

Cast On: 440 Stitches

Connect and continue in K2, P2 rib in the round being careful not to twist cast-on stitches. This rib pattern will allow for plenty of stretch whether your feeling just perky or a little bloated.

Continue in this Rib pattern until you have hit your desired length. You can go for a short anklet warmer around 12 inches in height or go for the full 36 inches to achieve that sassy look.

Bind-off loosely and whether it’s short or long you’ll be the big hit at the watering hole.

On March 14th, 2008 at 12:32 pm Tina said:

Diana– what color??

On March 14th, 2008 at 12:49 pm Diana Huss said:

oh yeah, lol. I think it would have to be Atomic 6- because it looks like that rainbow film that floats on top of a gasoline spill.

On March 14th, 2008 at 2:21 pm Sue Corkill said:

Lace Hot Air Balloon Canopy Cover

This lovely lace canopy will fit a one person ‘Cloud Hopper’ hot air balloon (approx 35,000 ft³).

Supplies:
Yarn: BMFA lightweight, Lucy in the Sky; approx. 1100 skeins
Needles: Size 7 DPN’s and size 7 circular needles in a variety of lengths (or the size required to reach gauge). For length on the circular needles, I recommend borrowing all your friends interchangeable needle kits so that you can cobble together cable lengths from 3 feet to 12 feet.
Lots of stitch markers

Gauge: 4 stitches per inch, 6 rows per inch (in stockinette stitch)

The canopy is knit in twelve separate gores which are then joined together and knit in the round to form the crown.

Canopy gore: Cast on 552 stitches and knit in stockinette stitch for two feet. Don’t worry about the lower edge curling; this will be taken care of when it is attached to the canopy liner. Once you’ve reached the two foot mark, you’ll start the lace pattern. My personal favorite for this portion is the ‘Honeycomb’ stitch from Knitting Lace by Barbara Abbey, but any all-over lace pattern will work. Work in the established lace pattern of your choice for 153 feet, being sure to increase by 4 stitches every foot while maintaining the lace pattern. Once you’ve reached a total length of 155 feet, slip these 1164 stitches onto a piece of waste yarn. Make eleven more.

Once you have all twelve gores finished, it’s time to join them and make the crown of the canopy. First, sew the twelve gores together, being careful to keep the right sides all facing the same direction. Then slip all the saved stitches from the finished gores onto one very long circular needle (being careful not to twist the stitches). You should have 13968 stitches. Place a maker and knit one round even.

Crown: Begin the first decrease round. Knit *1162 stitches, K2 tog, repeat from *. Knit next round even. Continuing with a K2 tog every other round as established, repeat these two rows 56 times more. Next row: knit *1050, K2 tog, repeat from *.

With the next round begin the lace pattern. My favorite for this portion is ‘Wings of the Swan’ from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker, but any lace panel will work. First pattern round: K 18, work 44 repeats of Wings of the Swan, K 18. Continue with the lace pattern being sure to continue with the K2 tog decreases every other round.

Continue in this manner until you have 12 stitches left, break off about a foot of yarn and run it back through the 12 stitches, drawing them up tightly, fasten securely.

Find a swimming pool or small pond in which you can soak your lace canopy. Once it is thoroughly wet, gently squeeze out the excess water and carefully place over the inflated nylon balloon canopy (it helps to not have the balloon completely inflated at this point). Once the lace covering is securely in place, inflate the balloon completely and allow the lace to dry.

Voila! You now have a gorgeous lace covering for your hot air balloon.

(LOL! My brain went a bit wonky on the math, so the yarn required might vary by a skein or two).

On March 14th, 2008 at 3:11 pm Meg said:

For the fashionable elephant this season… A fake-isle trunk cozy, a pair of fingerless gloves for the front, er, paws?, and a pair of leg warmers for the rear legs. (Hey, it gets cold at night in a desert.) All would be made from Seduction, with merino for warmth, and tencel for that lovely sheen.

I’m thinking the fake-isle trunk could be Corvid, with Sherbet as the color contrast - just the thing to stand out among your herdmates. Guesstimates: 54 inches around at the top of the trunk, with gradual decreases for 48 inches down to 20 inches just above the nostrils (please don’t make it so long it gets in the way of *those*). So at 7 st/in, times 5-ish rows, cast on 378… let’s see… that’s 6, carry the 2… add 1 extra for a full moon… subtract 2 for being a tight knitter… That would be right around 12 skeins of Corvid and 16 of Sherbet.

For the fingerless gloves, Fetching would be fetching in Corvid (to match the trunk cozy - the elephant equivalent of matching your purse with your shoes), while the leg warmers would, of course, be Undertoe.

Fetching has lots of cables, and everyone knows how much yarn cables use up, so to be on the safe side, grab an extra skein or two - You’d probably need 6 per, um, paw, so 12 total.

I would suggest that the leg warmers reflect the elephant’s Celtic ancestry and be made with Norah Gaughan’s Cabled Knee-High pattern (heavily modified, of course, since elephant legs don’t have the unsightly calf bulge that we humans have). The rear legs are slightly larger than the front, er, paws, and there is much more cabling involved, so you’re lookin’ at close to 20, maybe even 21, to get those made.

Oh, and you’d need stitch markers. Lots and lots of stitch markers.

-Megpie

On March 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm Meg said:

Actually, I’m thinking my mailbox looks fairly dull, and our mail carrier, Bob (no relation to Jess & Casey’s Bob), probably gets tired of looking into hundreds of dull black boxes every day. A nice mailbox cozy could probably be made using … hm… less than one skein of Twisted in Jade (since the hills around here are only green for 2 months of the year, this could be his only green sighting for months…).

On March 14th, 2008 at 4:14 pm Tanya said:

Meg: My mom is a mailcarrier and has someone on her route that does knit cozies for their mailbox!

I would love to knit some seat covers for my daughters new (to her) VW Bug! I would knit it in a bright soft blue with a big peace sign in the center of each. The back seat would also need a cover as well. Maybe blue and black stripes on the seat base and a matching blue back with a big clouds on the back. Could we add a frill across the top of each seat? in a black and silver blend. (this metallic yarn would also match the peace sign) My daughter would love this design to sport in her first car!

On March 14th, 2008 at 4:24 pm Meg said:

Tanya: Perfect! I’m sure that there are some regulations about what can and can’t be placed on ‘em, but I’m just as certain that your mom and the other carriers appreciate looking at something other than weather-pounded black metal boxes!

On March 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm Tinker Tots said:

My three-year-old daughter and I were discussing just what ‘fun’ things we could knit and she looked up at me and smiled while announcing, “We could make a hat for the moon, mommy!”

And I thought, “Well, goodness. It is Blue MOON Fiber Arts ….”

Then I got to looking through the yarns, considering just what sort of hat I’d make for the moon, and lo-and-behold, I found the perfect color for this craziness–Lunasea!

In such a beautiful yarn, I’d hardly want to detract from the colorway. We opted for a stockinette-stitch hat that would cover half of the moon’s ‘head’, sitting high across the brow and down low across the back, with a brim that curls up happily on its own.

I present to you, a hat for the moon, knit in Leticia weight yarn in the Lunasea colorway…

Yarn needed:
Leticia - LUNASEA colorway
Content: 100% Handspun Merino Wool from Uruguay
Weight: 3.5 oz.
Length: 80 yards = 73.152 meters
Gauge: 2 sts per in. on US 10 (6mm)

2 Size 10 circular needles with a REALLY LONG cable (or needles required to obtain proper gauge)

Numbers are obtained from:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Moon&Display=Facts&System=Metric

The diameter of the moon is about 2,161 miles or (3,476 kilometers). This makes the circumference about 6,790 miles.

1 mile = 5,280 feet

6,790 mi x 5,280 feet/mi = 35,851,200 feet
35,851,200 feet x 12in/foot = 430,214,400 inches
430,214,400 inches x 2sts/in = 860,428,800 stitches

Let’s knit with 15% Negative ease, which means we only need to cast on 85% of the circumference —
860,428,800 stitches x 85% = 731,364,480 stitches to cast on, join in a circle. I suggest a crochet cast-on to give a nice, looped edge with plenty of elasticity, and because a backwards-loop cast on would be hopelessly twisted.

I want this to be a pretty form-fitting, curve hugging, round, round hat. Just like the moon. It needs to fit over half the ‘head’, so let’s figure out that distance…

5,771.5 widest circumference
2885.75 half-circ. - brim to crown
1442.875 quarter-circ - half brim to crown
721.4375 eighth-circ - quarter distance to crown

Knit in the round until piece measures approximately 1600 miles from cast on (a little more than half the total distance from brim to crown).
Divide stitches into eight equal sections and place markers (91,420,560 between markers).
To decrease:
Row 1: Knit to 2 sts before marker, k2tog
Row 2: Knit

Decrease until 8 sts left. Break yarn. Thread through stitches twice and pull tight.

Now, there may be many methods to calculate total yardage, but I figure the easiest will be to figure out how much total cloth to make. I need the surface area of the moon, adjusted for our negative ease–which I figured on the circumference. So forgive me a moment, but I need to work backwards in math to get our adjusted radius.

Circumference = 2 Pi r
6,790 mi x 85% = 5,771.5 miles of cloth around the cast-on edge in our negative-ease hat…
5,771.5 = 2 Pi r
r = 918.6 miles

Surface area = 4 x Pi x r^2
Adjusted surface area = 4 x Pi x (918.6)^2 = 10,617,525.2

A hat covers half the head so, 5,308,762.6 square miles

If you knit 2 sts/inch and 4 rows/inch I estimate (from a swatch I have in hand)
80 yards = 12in wide and 16in long (1.33 ft)
1 foot x 1.33 foot = 1.33 square foot

Now I know I use 80 yards of Leticia in 1.33 square foot and I need to cover 5,308,762.6 square miles!

5,308,762.6 sq mi x 5280 ft/mi x 5280 ft/mi = 147,999,807,267,840 square feet
147,999,807,267,840 square feet x ( 80 yards / 1.33 square foot ) = 8,902,244,046,185,864.66 yards

Hey, Tina…. time to get dying!! *wink*

On March 14th, 2008 at 4:45 pm Sue Corkill said:

Tinker Tots, your math skills are leaving me…green… with envy! Where were you when I was calculating for my itty, bitty parachute canopy!

On March 14th, 2008 at 6:12 pm Meg said:

A mailbox cozy seems so…. pathetic… in comparison! Brava, TinkerTots! I bow to your fabulous math ability!

On March 14th, 2008 at 7:10 pm Trish T said:

Is it just me or do the heads on Mount Rushmore look a little cold?? I think that it might be nice for someone (with a smidge more time than me) to knit them a nice set of hats (or Calorimetry) to keep their big stone heads warm.

Given that Wikipedia says that the entire monument covers 5.17km across, and that each head appears to be roughly a quarter of that distance across (give or take right?) which works out to about 1.3 km (radius) and since we know that STR gives approx. 7-8 st/inch, you can take the approx. diamter of the heads (1.3*2 = 2.6 km = 102 362.205 inches) and multiply it by the number of stitches per inch and that will give you a cast on of oh, say, 818896 stitches. Worked in your basic 2×2 ribbed hat pattern for say, 0.25 km and then begin decreases. Decrease evenly, every other round until you have 300 stitches left and then cut yarn leaving a 200 foot tail and run throught the left over stitches on the needles. Voila, hats for cold heads. I think, if my math is correct, you would need about 6000 skeins of STR. That works out to a bunch for the heads and a lot more for all of us. Yay. Oh, and one more thing - I think it would attract a lot more visitors if we went with Fire on the Mountain - get it… on the Mountain. Heh.

On March 15th, 2008 at 1:27 am IrishgirlieKnits said:

WORLD NEWS PRESS RELEASE, January 1, 2010, Wiltshire, UK- NOTORIOUS SOCK KNITTERS CELEBRATE BLUE MOON AT STONEHENGE

Not only was it New Year’s Eve last night, but it also was a blue moon (Dec.31, 2009, http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/BlueMoon.html), which was cause for celebration for a group of notorious sock knitters whose mission seems to be to share the passion and joy of sock knitting to the world. Well, they brought it here to Stonehenge last night. Did they ever.

The world awoke today to find Stonehenge nice and cozy. The trilithons of the Sarsen Cicle were decorated with their “cozies,” handknit with Socks that Rock, the addicting sock yarn produced by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The “Heel Stone” (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehenge.html) displays the perfect short row heel and of course, a star toe, which seems to be the appropriate choice for this special site. Each cozy featured a different pattern, but Rockin’ Sock Club knitters who participated in the event chose to knit either the Solstice Slip pattern (perfect for when the Summer Solstice comes around!) or a cable or Celtic design(an homage to the Celtic culture that is associated with Stonehenge). See Pattern Notes below for specific information.

One cannot help but note the colorways that were chosen also. Mesmerizing, eye-popping, brilliant, saturated, vivid, art before your eyes. Initially, when this project was created back in March 2008 as part of “The World is Your Knit Canvas” contest, colorways suggested included Midsummer’s Night, Stonewash, Blue Moonstone, Philosopher’s Stone, and Mist, to name a few. However, Blue Moon’s depraved dyer, Tina, was inspired to create an entire “World is Your Canvas” series of colorways and released 10 additional colorways (e.g., “Friar’s Heel,” “Boudicca” (the Celtic Warrior queen some credit with building Stonehenge as her monument), “The Spirit of Stonehenge”) for Rockin’ Sock Club knitters to use for their first stop on their worlwide campaign (additional colorways are planned for the 11 other worldwide events that are planned for the year, however the club is keeping most of the sites hush-hush. There is some speculation that the Eiffel Tower is up next on their tour, but Tina is known for dropping hints that are meant to deliberately mislead her flock! I wouldn’t be surprised to see them show up in San Francisco to decorate the Golden Gate Bridge in a flashy scarf or skirt, especially since its Irishgirlie’s hometown and she initiated the Stonehenge campaign. Just my two cents).

Locals and tourists are flocking to Stonehenge today to witness this art. “What a brilliant idea,” one onlooker commented. “It really brightens up this place and celebrates its beauty. It also makes me want to learn to knit too!” Thousands of small “emergency sock yarn” skeins were also left at the site, in addition to stickers and swag that let everyone know that “NSK” (Notorious Sock Knitters) were here. The locals are already giving Stonehenge a new name….

ROCKS THAT ROCK!

……………

Pattern Notes below (These were sent out worldwide to all rockin’ sock club members in March 2008 and modifications were made throughout the process. This is a rough sketch. More specific pattern notes will be detailed in next year’s book, “Notorious Sock Knitters Decorate the World” (title tentative)).

Yarn: Either STR mediumweight or heavyweight (in regards to number of skeins, we are anticipating A LOT)

Pattern: Select your own, however, it is strongly suggested to use something with a cable or celtic inspired pattern or the Solstice Slip pattern.

Depending on what stone you will be knitting for (e.g., the stand alone stones (trilithons) the cozies can be knit in the round for and slipped on, or the stones with something on top where the cozy will need to wrap around and then be seamed on to the actual stone, or the heel stone which will be easy to slip on), the measurements will vary. For example, the trilitons average 6.5 feet wide, 3 feet thick and tapers towards the top (so will need to put appropriate increases in, if knitting from the top down)(http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehenge.html). Oh, and they stand 13 feet above ground, so you will probably want to knit at least 12 feet. Potentially, you are then knitting 19 feet around (give or take some ease), and 12 feet long. If using STR mediumweight with a gauge of 8 stitches/inch, depending on if you are going to knit top up, top down (for decreases/increases), your cast on may have

19 feet x 12 inches = 228 inches x 8 stitches per inch = 1824 stitches

(don’t forget to check gauge…we don’t want slouchy cozies!, oh and don’t worry, we’ll have a pattern editor check my math).

This is just a bit to get you all started. Our UK RSC members are headed out to Stonehenge as we speak to get exact measurements and they will be dispersed soon. Some groups are talking about working together/doing a KAL cozy….keep reading the blog for details.

Remember…

ROCKS THAT ROCK!

On March 15th, 2008 at 8:34 am Blog Mom Alice said:

To all contestants. Sometimes WordPress may shoot your entry into moderation if it has web links in it. I will try to stay on top of these so no entry is left unpublished. If you don’t see your comment/entry right after you’ve posted it, that’s probably what happened to it. If it’s been over 24 hours since you’ve submitted your comment you might want to send an e-mail to the “blogmoms” via the contact link at the top of the page. Happy Inventing and guessimateing, Alice

On March 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am Blog Mom Alice said:

Hey Tina have you thought about all the yarn you’d have to dye for some of these ideas? The mind boggles. Alice

On March 15th, 2008 at 10:51 am Tina said:

NSK’s, I am not worthy and speechless…

Stonehenge here we come, by hot air balloon to put a hat on the moon.

On March 15th, 2008 at 12:42 pm Patty said:

I’m very impressed with the ideas so far. Mine is less grandiose. The beautiful and graceful Flamingos at our Denver zoo have had a hard time keeping warm in our up and down weather so I thought a nice neck warmer would be just what they need. I would use Pink Granite in the Peru weight, alpaca,merino and silk, so they would have something soft and light feeling next to their feathers. you need 1 skein per bird, and size 7 or 8 needles. Please check gague as we wouldn’t want this to slip all the way down, keeping them from moving their 3 foot necks! Cast on 51 stitches, and begin with a lace bells pattern from Nicky epsteins book. make the ruffle 3 inches long. Change to a lace pattern, Nicky’s feather lace seems appropriate, and continue until your piece measures 36 inches. Finish with 4 rows of a simple rib and bind off loosely! Sew the edges together to form a tube, block and carefully fit over the head and down the neck of your favorite flamingo. Embellishing with beads is not recommended as the other birds may get jealous and try to pull them off, resulting in a chicking hazard and requiring a recall. this is sure to be a hit at the zoo. Orders will probably be pouring in from the monkeys for an adaptation for a tail cover! Have fun.

On March 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm Meg said:

Great press release, IrishGirlie!! My next project doesn’t have a PR budget…

It occurred to me that the Burning Man is also left alone in the cold desert night (why am I always thinking about cold desert nights??) and could probably use a matching hat/sweater/mitten set. STR Heavyweight; colorway would have to be Fire On the Mountain. Since the Man’s size varies each year, just as the ‘feel’ of each festival does, the set would have to be knit each year to the Man’s dimensions. He’s big, though, so better lay in a good 200 skeins each year to at least get started.

Oh, and the set would have to be removed before the burning because the wool won’t burn! The set could then be unravelled, with someone starting by pulling a strand and dancing/winding through the crowd, as others joined in, like a yarn conga line.

I’ll stop thinking about this now…

On March 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pm Sid said:

Well I decided that since this is a theoretical challenge, I’d pick something a bit theoretical itself. First I thought a Troll tail warmer, but then I have no idea how I’d get measurements without having something terrible befall me. So then I came up with Sleipnir, Odin’s eight legged grey stallion, also the son of Loki (it’s a long sordid story…) These measurements were far easier to guess at, since he’s probably roughly the size of a draft horse. I chose to design him leg warmers, since I’m sure it gets pretty chilly flying to and fro between the land of the living and the dead on those frigid Nordic nights. Also maybe we could borrow him to get that hat put on the moon. Though let it be said now, I’m not going to be the one trying to put the leg warmers on an eight legged horse who I suspect wouldn’t have the nicest of temperaments.

So then let’s say his front legs are 16″ in circumference and 15″ long, that worked out to be 84 sts after accounting for negative ease, cast those on with 3.25mm needles and work in the round for 15″ in a 2×2 rib. You’ll of course need to do this four times. Moving on to his hind legs, 18.5″ in circumference and 18″ in length, so 96 sts need to be cast on after accounting for negative ease and knit for 18″. Same as for his front legs, and times four remember.

Now after some number crunching which I’m not going to bother to bore everyone with, because it certainly bores me. I came out to needing about 6 (5.332) skeins of Socks that Rock Heavyweight, in what other colour than Valkyrie. It’s really quite a bargain if you have an eight legged horse with chilly ankles in your life.

On March 15th, 2008 at 6:16 pm NewJerseyLaura said:

How many skeins pf STR to knit warm, jaunty caps for the four presidents on Mount Rushmore? It gets cold outside in the wind. Bonus question: yardage for matching scarves.

On March 16th, 2008 at 6:51 am Frieda Z said:

I think the Statue of Liberty is in need of a lace shawl knit in STR lightweight Knitty Rocks. Her dimensions are:
heel to top of heel is 111′ 6″
waist fullness is 35′
head from chin to cranium is 17′ 3″
length of right arm is 42′
Using these numbers I figured out I wanted to make the shawl
42 + 18 + 42 = 102 ft long (arm length, across back arm length)
I will make it 25 ft wide based on a ratio of width to length of .244444(this was done off a shawl I have and like)
My swatch using 8 yds of STR was
1.5″ * 4″ unblocked 6 sq in
2.5″ * 6″ blocked 15 sq in
15/6 = 2.5 ratio of blocked to unblocked
I need to knit 102′ * 25′ =2550 sq ft = (*144) 367,200 sq in
That is the number for a blocked shawl so I need to divide that number by 2.5 which was the ratio of blocked to unblocked
for a total of 146,880 sq in to knit. I need 8 yards for 6 sq in so 146,880 divided by 6 = 24480. Now I multiply 24480 by 8 to come up with total yards needed of 195,840 yards. Divide 195840 by 360 ( yards per skein in lightweight) and I will need 544 skeins of KnittyRocks in lightweight STR. I am using size 4mm needles and would need to cast on 1500 stitches(25′ *12″= 300″ * 5(st in) =1500)
I can’t wait to start. Tina, you really have a lot of dyeing coming up,

On March 16th, 2008 at 10:41 am Alison said:

I also have been in consultation with Lady Liberty and while her sandaled feet with chains by them symbolize her oppression she says the harbor gets quite cold many times of the year. As Frieda Z has indicated, the Statue of Liberty measuring at 111′6″, is a robust and “statuesque” woman (sorry I couldn’t help it). Lady and I both agreed that a pair of socks would improve her quality of life but not really dilute the whole oppression v. freedom message.

Her sandals are 25 feet long and since her toes go right up to the edge I am using this for her foot length measurement. In shoe sizes she is a size 879 which not even Nordstrom will carry. So she is stuck with the sandals provided to her but would love some socks in a colorway to bring out her skin’s “patina”.

We both agreed that Ms. LaRock in Socks That Rock Lightweight would be perfect, working well with her more than slightly green complexion and yet would be dignified enough for her job–you know, important symbol of the nation day in and day out. Not that she is belly aching. She says she considers herself Ms. LaRock sometimes since she has been standing on her granite pedestal for centuries it seems.

I showed her my January Club socks and she liked how the lace pattern in Serendipity looked like flames and ties in nicely with that whole torch bearing thing she does– holding up that 42′ arm is nothing to take “lightly.” (I will stop soon). This task is no small “feat” and the dimensions are daunting so here goes:

Gauge is 8 stitches to the inch on US size 1. Her foot is 33 times the size of an average ladies foot–300 inches in length for the foot, and 115 inches wide. This will not be as quick as we like for normal sock knitting–I would anticipate at least 70 weeks of steady knitting. We will make this cuff down as in Adrienne Fong’s pattern and will need to cast on 2112 stitches for each sock. We will need 66 repeats of the lace pattern on the leg and another 66 repeats of the lace pattern on the instep on those 2112 stitches. This provides for some negative ease. That is 3696 rounds not counting the heel. We will need roughly 11,880 yards of yarn or 33 skeins (that’s 9 1/4 pounds of STR Lightweight)!

I can picture her now with toasty warm toes and the renewed strength to carry on in the name of freedom for centuries to come (with a handwashing here and there.)

On March 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pm Christine Petterson said:

I had a message on my answering machine from Lady Liberty yesterday; I figured I would post what I would make her, but looks like she’s already getting socks and a shawl. I’ll just have to call her back that I’m too busy to make her the Chevron Scarf. I need to go through the other messages on my machine and report back what my project is going to be!

On March 16th, 2008 at 8:44 pm Mary Willard said:

Have you ever been in St. Louis in January? BRRRRRRR - it’s cold! So I decided that I should make leg-warmers for the St. Louis Arch.

I would use BMFA Leticia yarn in Brick colorway — it’s as close as I could find to Cardinal Red — and size 10 circular needles, with a very long cable in between! The legs are 54 feet in diameter at the bottom, but decrease in size as they rise. I think the leg-warmers should be 550 feet long. I definitely think the pattern should be a simple rib to acomodate the size change.

Starting at the top, cast on 652 stitches! Work 825 rows in k2p2 rib. Increase in each knit section (163 stitches increased on each increase row), so that it is now k3p2 rib, knit for 825 more rows. Increase in each purl section, so that it is now k3p3 rib, for 825 rows. Increase in each knit section, so that it is now k4p3, for 825 rows. (Final) Increase in each purl section, so that it is now k4p4 rib, for 825 rows (you are now knitting 1304 stitches per row). 3300 total rows knitted.

To figure out the amount of yarn needed, I figured stitch count - a total of 4,034,250 stitches knitted. I figured out that at 2 stitches per inch, you would get 5,760 stitches per skein, so you would need 701 skeins for each leg-warmer — 1402 skeins total! That’s a lot of yarn!!

Please, nobody check my math!! It’s kind of late and I have Mom Brain!!

On March 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm Rachel Griffin said:

WARNING: Could be consider a mite bit dirty . . .

I was just thinking about how phallic some of our national landmarks are. Perhaps the Washington Monument is in need of a pecker cover. After all, it does attract many families on vacation, and we can’t have small children viewing that thing. Not to mention their fathers – just think of the penis envy! Even the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln has been caught blushing with jealousy!

With national security (or rather, national “in”-security) at stake, a knitted condom is the only solution! Some math:

Height of monument: 555 feet, 5 1/4 inches
555 x 12 = 6,660 inches
6,660 inches + 5 1/4 inches = 6,665.25 inches tall

Width at base of monument: 55 ft
55 ft x 12 = 660 inches
Width at top of monument: 34 ft
34 ft x 12 = 408 inches

Area of one side of monument = 29,370 square inches
* Please note that significant math went into finding this figure. This includes dividing the shape into two triangles and a rectangle, using the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse (was apparently unnecessary), and multiplying really big numbers. My head hurts now.

Area of all sides = 29,370 x 4 = 117,480 square inches

As for yarn, I would suggest STR heavyweight. I suggest knitting in plain old stockinette (or perhaps 2 x2 rib – give it a minute, you’ll get it). Using US 3 needles, cast on 1,320 stitches and join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist your stitches. Decrease four stitches after you have knit twelve inches. Spread decreases evenly around garment and place marker just after each decrease. Continue knitting in stockinette, decreasing four stitches every 12 inches. Decreases should occur just before each marker. Once garment measures 554 feet in length, decrease four stitches every round. When four stitches remain, draw yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight. This should result in a long rectangular (though narrower at the closed end) prism that can be easily slipped over the monument.

As for skeins required . . . I’m figuring an average of 350 square inches per skein based on guesstimates of yarn required for a pair of socks plus leftovers. That leaves us with 336 skeins for the entire project. Better buy 340 just to be on the safe side. What color, you ask? Why, Cockamamie, of course. Rooster Rock would be a bit more subtle, but there’s really nothing subtle about this monument.

On March 17th, 2008 at 6:06 am Meg said:

This is the “most fun” post thread. I’m happy to start helping with Ms. Liberty’s shawl. How about, for the sock knitter in Provo, we could do a scarf for Delicate Arch down here in Moab? Or how about a robe for the Ute up there at the capitol? You let me know and we can plot.

Tee hee!

On March 17th, 2008 at 6:24 am NewJerseyLaura said:

P.S. to above post: How many skeins pf STR to knit warm, jaunty caps for the four presidents on Mount Rushmore? It gets cold outside in the wind. Bonus question: yardage for matching scarves

Heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincold are 60 ft. tall. My rule of thumb for hats is circ of had is about twice that measurement, give or take and using ribbing, so 120 ft. For inches 120 X 12 = 1440 in. Use STR heavyweight, 6 st/in on size 3 needle. Assume about 12 rows per inch, one skein is 350 feet, so a little less than 3 rows per skein, and 4 skeins per inch, 48 skeins per foot plus 2 for that little bit and to make math easier, 50. For a 40 foot hat, with brim, you would need 40X50=2000 skeins per hat. Patriotic themed color recommended, feel free to go camo with Teddy.

So order 2000 X 4 = 8000 skeins heavyweight STR (apply 10% sock club coupon). Order 120 ft size 3 custom circ. needle from Addi.

Cast on 1440 X 6 = 4320 stitches. K1P1 for 20 feet. Change to stockinette, or if you prefer continue in K1Pi for traditional ribbed cap. Knit for 30 ft. Then decrease every 20 sticthes all round (4104 st), knit 10 rounds, dec every 5 st. all around including last two stitches (3283). Knit ten rounds. Knit 2 together all around, draw yarn through remaining stitches, pull tight. Admire. Make 4. Use any leftover yarn for pompom. For scarf: Incomplete necks. Trick question.

On March 17th, 2008 at 8:56 am Carina said:

OK, everyone’s doing monuments, so let’s ask, how many skeins of STR would it take to cover the CN Tower? I’m thinking in Heavyweight and in Lucy in the Sky (since it’s the colours of the Leafs). And while we’re at it, let’s make a new roof for the Skydome/Rogers Centre and one for the Stade Olympique in Montreal (doesn’t actually have to work).

I’ll figure out the math later.

On March 17th, 2008 at 9:55 am Barbara said:

World Peace…Piece by Piece through Knitting.

I loved the idea of a hat for the moon – and then my idea hit. What is the only man made object you can see from the moon? The Great Wall of China! As I researched for my project I discovered that this is a myth – it can not be seen. Even so, I present to you a wall hanging for the Great Wall.

What wall doesn’t need a lovely wall hanging? Wouldn’t you think a wall as large as the Great Wall could use a little knitting love? What better colorway than the new Dragon Dance, with an unveiling of the hanging on Chinese New Year?

Size
To fit a wall 4, 160 or so miles long x 21 feet high (The wall is from 16 -26 feet in height, so for these purposes we will use the average- though as individuals knit their section it is advised that they determine the actual height of their section of wall)

Materials
Size US 2 (2.75mm) circs in the longest length available
Socks that Rock medium in the Dragon Dance colorway

Gauge
8 st/in

To determine the cast on we take 21 feet and multiply by 12 inches per foot for a desired measurement of 252 inches. At a gauge of 8 st/in that would result in casting on 2,016 stitches.

Knit for 4, 160 miles in the pattern of your choice. This is going to be a group effort – so one person starts knitting and goes for a bout a mile in their favorite stitch pattern, then they send the wall hanging on to someone in another country and they continue knitting for a mile. The wall hanging could go around to knitters all over the world to symbolize World Peace…Piece by Piece through Knitting.

1 skein of Socks that Rock medium is 380 yards long and knits 1 pair of socks – which measures about 12” long x 8” in circumference or 2/3 of a square foot each, which means 1 skein of yarn covers about 1 1/3 square feet.

A wall hanging 21 feet x 4160 miles (21, 964, 800 feet) = 461, 260, 800 sq ft.

461, 260, 800 divided by 1 1/3 sq feet per skein = 345, 945,600 skeins of yarn.

Divide that result by the mileage and we find that each knitter will need 83, 160 skeins for their mile of knitting. Due to the large quantity of yarn to be knit, it is advised that each knitter enlist the help of their knitting group. The mile of knitting can be done as above, or in smaller squares by individual knitters and sewn together to accomplish their section.

On March 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am Alice in the Heartland said:

I’m not entering yet but have some thoughts on some of these absolutely wonderful entries. Can’t you see the Great Wall entry done as photo-mosaics? And hasn’t anyone thought about the Space Needle or Mt Fuji (or any other mountain) and then there’s the worry about glacier melting so they are using special covers for various glaciers in Europe so why couldn’t we knit one? Or why can’t we go the other way and knit the teeny-tiniest blanket for a microbe or maybe the particles in a particle accelerator. I mean flying around that loop at close to the speed of light has to be cold place in need of something comfy when they collide and fly apart. Oh and then there’s the space station. We all know it’s really really cold in space. But we’d have to leave holes for the solar collectors so maybe a vest. Oh the possibilities! Enjoy everyone. Maybe I’ll take the time to figure out yardage for all those ideas but nah too much math. Alice

On March 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am Tina said:

Well Miss Alice I am thinking you need to get busy on the math here, honey!

On March 17th, 2008 at 12:42 pm Angela Aragon-Henslee said:

How about a scarf for the Eiffel Tower? And not just any scarf will work except the Clapotis. I wanted the Clapotis to be wrapped just above the second platform which is about 380 feet above the ground. It took me awhile to find the width of the platform but one site had it at 128 feet wide.

So after doing an extensive amount of math, I came up with a Clapotis that would be about 1272 feet long but I upped it to 1300 feet long with a width of 496 feet. The Eiffel Tower’s Clapotis would be about 283.6 times larger than the original and would need about 232,552 yards of STR Heavyweight or 664 skeins. But I would get 670 just to be on the safe side. And there might be enough to make a matching Clapotis Cap to perch on the top of the tower.

My color choice for the Clapotis would be “Love in Idleness”.

On March 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pm jusknittin@aol.com said:

Tina, I only need one beautiful, precious skein…let the elephant knit its own socks!!

On March 17th, 2008 at 10:55 pm Jana said:

Wow… lots of wonderful ideas. I’m going to have to come up with something really original to even compete. But I have to say… so far, I really love the idea of making a hat for the moon. Being a mom to two small girls (ages 5 & 3) We loved the idea! So.. Tinker Tots, if I don’t win.. I certainly hope you do!!! Simply a wonderful and lovely idea and kudos to you for all the math!

On March 18th, 2008 at 6:16 am Alice in the Heartland said:

Tina- brrraaaaaap!(how does one spell a Bronx cheer?) Maybe my brain will start to function later this week. Right now it’s declared itself on vacation due to college age son at home on spring break. Alice

On March 18th, 2008 at 7:32 am Tina said:

This post is from a 2007 member who could not sign up for this year. She sent me this and I think it is really quite lovely and thought you would like to see it.
thanks Donna!

I got to thinking about the problems of global warming and the seriousness
of the melting ice caps. I’m thinking we need to knit a blanket for the
Antarctic Polar Ice Sheet. It needs to be warm, so STR Heavyweight is the
yarn of choice. Since it might get a bit cumbersome to knit in one piece,
I’m suggesting that it be done in squares, one meter on each side. This
should be a global effort, with knitters from around the world contributing
squares of their choice, but certainly the Great American Afghan can be used
for inspiration. The more colorful the better, so every effort should be
made to include all 109 of Blue Moon’s colors. Mason-Dixon’s Kay Gardiner
has considerable experience with piecing together blanket squares, so I’d
suggest enlisting her to head up the project. If anyone can figure out how
to organize 12 billion one meter squares into pleasing color combinations,
she’s the one! Maybe we could get Franklin Habit to document the project.
Once he’s finished with his 1000 Knitters project he should have time on his
hands and the necessary experience to capture the spirit of each knitter and
his or her contribution to saving the planet.

Here’s the math:

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is about 12 million square kilometers (Wikipedia).
There are 1000 square meters in a square kilometer. Multiply 12M square km
by 1000 sq. meters, gives us 12 billion square meters needing to be covered.

Using the math here:
http://www.thing4string.blogspot.com/2007/01/unraveling-truth.html, which
determined it takes about 12.32 meters of worsted to knit 10 square
centimeters in garter stitch, and adding 15% because STR Heavyweight isn’t a
true worsted, we get that it takes approximately 1417 meters to knit a
square that’s one meter per side. (12.32 meters of worsted weight to knit
100 sq cm X 1.15 [converting to STR] X 100 [one sq meter is 100 times bigger
than 10 centimeters squared]. Using the amount of yarn needed for garter
stitch will probably account for cables and other dense stitching as well.

Converting meters to yards, we know that there are about 320 meters per
skein. Dividing 1417 by 320, we find that it takes just over 4.4 skeins to
knit each square.

Therefore it will take 53,713,122,600 skeins of STR Heavyweight (4.4 X 12
billion) to knit a blanket for the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This would be
487,364,245 skeins of each color, assuming the colors are distributed evenly
throughout.

Thanks for such a fun project!

Donna

On March 18th, 2008 at 7:33 am Tina said:

I have two on Spring break Alice and I am thinking it should be outlawed!

On March 18th, 2008 at 10:56 am Melisa Berry said:

My first thought was something that would be fairly unique to florida… I have many different ideas and even began to run the math on several… for instance, the manatee bolero - no sock yarn can protect these wonderful creatures from red tide or the propellers of boats but for those rehabbed after injury and not to be rereleased, a nifty bolero would make the perfect coverup for those unsightly gashes, so these mermaids can feel pretty again. These ’sea cows’ are much more like sea elephants - with a large prehensile lip that can function like a mini trunk. They weigh 900-1200 pounds and are 9-10 feet long on average with a very round shape. The colors? Lagoon, Neptunite, and Pirate Booty of course.

But then I got to thinking about other things around town… what about a mission to knit cozies for the Thomas Edison Banyan tree? I live right near it, and if trees are getting decorated elsewhere in the world with knitting then no tree deserves it more than this banyan, planted by Edison himself after he received it as a gift from Harvey Firestone in 1925 who brought it back from India. Its the first Banyan in the US and was 4 feet tall in 1925. It now covers about 400 feet and would require a cast on of at least 33,600!

However, I could not be satisfied with any idea I worked out. Something was gnawing at me. If I was to color my world with beautiful knitting I asked myself seriously, what would I really do? I wasn’t sure. It bugged me off and on all night. Then this morning I knew what it was I would really do. It was so simple - so simple I probably wouldn’t stand much chance of winning a yarn contest, but I decided to be true and submit what I would really do if I had such wild and outrageous amounts of Socks That Rock and superhuman knitting skills. I would need 240,000 skeins of STR Mediumweight in order to make 160,000 pairs of JGS, one for each and every man and woman soldier serving deployed in Iraq right now. JGS stands for Jolly Green Socks. Its the nickname the charity organization I am a member of, Socks For Soldiers, gives to the military regulation green socks that are currently being knit for our troops in Iraq. The color would have to be Beryl, which is almost olive drab. We are also knitting our fingers off in desert tan colors, camoflague, and pure white and black. Green are the most needed right now though, given the shifting colors of the military uniform lately.

Each sock requires at least a 72 cast on and a ribbed leg stretchy enough to fit over a 2 liter bottle - the only real way to ensure it fits our manly mens calves, and requires a 12 inch leg to fit military regulation boot heights. This is some serious sock knitting! Each pair would require 1.5 skeins of STR Mediumweight, with a little piece to include for darning. In addition to handknit socks, the bulging care packages also include handknit washclothes with homemade soap, beanie hats to use as helmet liners, toiletries of every kind, coffee, hot chocolate, snacks of all kinds, letters from classrooms and cards for the troops, lip balm, suncreens, and the simple assurance that they have not been forgotten about by the people at home and that the a complete stranger cares enough to put that kind of work into something for them. And we all know that handknit socks our of excellent yarn are much more comfortable! If I were to be able to color the world with knitting, this is where I would start, in the dirty sand filled boots of our troops.

However, in order for the yarn to be able to be sent to Iraq, it would have to undergo rigourous testing by the group to see if it could withstand military laundering (hot hot water and hot hot dryers) and the long hours in boots without sagging or getting holes and there can be absolutely no acrylic which would melt into an injured troops wounds in combat if he were exposed to heat or fire. I have confidence STR would stand up to the challenge. And if it didn’t, I’d go to plan B. Plan B entails over 1000 skeins of STR lightweight in Valkyrie — a pair for each and every knitter who uses her yarn and her sock knitting time knitting for the troops. Valkyrie is only appropriate for these shieldmaidens of the battlefield.

On March 18th, 2008 at 12:01 pm Teri said:

I live in Canada and we love our polar bears. The polar bears however are in tough with the whole global warming issue. My concern is for the baby polar bears. They are born in caves between November and January. The caves are actually quite warm, but in March (and getting earlier) they need to emerge from their cave to live out in the arctic. I think the problem is they are having to emerge earlier, and with the whole global warming, they are less aclimatized to the weather (I may be making this up…but it is a possibility).

So I propose to knit Baby Surprise Jackets for Baby Polar Bears for when they emerge from the cave. Usually they are only 10-15kg (22-33 lbs) at this time, so I figure if I make a “toddler” sized BSJ, this should work. Also, there are usually 2 babies/litter so you can’t just make 1 baby a jacket and not the other.

I have it figured that to get a nice toddler size you need a gauge of about 4 st/ inch. The STR Twisted fits the bill. And really, the bears aren’t that big when they emerge, so probably one ball (560 yd)/bear would do. Also, we need to be cognisant of the bears still fitting into the environment. The Bluemoonstone colorway would be perfect for this, and also gender neutral.

On March 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm Teri said:

Addendum - about 120 polar bear babies are born each year, so to be fair, we should really supply ALL the babies with a BSJ. So that would require 120 skeins of STR Twisted in Bluemoonstone.

On March 18th, 2008 at 2:12 pm Barbara said:

Interesting that people are thinking of global warming. That was my second idea - a Polar Cap for the Polar Cap. I am glad to see that someone else came up with the blanket for the Antarctic Ice Sheet. We are thinking along the same lines.

I had another idea - and am even more thrilled to see this one - someone knitting for the soldiers. I think, since we are being creative, and as a true hearts desire that we triple or even quadruple Melissa’s idea and knit 3 or 4 pairs of socks for each of the soldiers. Whether or not we support the war, it is important to suppport our young men and women soldiers!

I say we need 240,000 x 4 = 960,000 skeins so each person can actually change their socks a couple times and have a reserve pair in case one gets a hole. It may be a “simple” idea, but what is in ones own true heart is the best idea of all.

On March 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm Mars said:

I admit to being a complete and total economics geek. Given the fact that the market caught a bit of a chill yesterday, I was thinking that the charging bull outside the NYSE might need a sweater. I’m thinking something nice in Beryl, Falcon’s Eye, or Jade, in BMFA Peru (since, let’s face it, the NYSE bull is all for a little luxury). I’m kind of guesstimating everything of of photos and whatnot, since I can find that the bull weights 3 1/2 tons, but can’t seem to find out how tall it actually is. (I will mention that while doing the research on this, i discovered that the NYSE bull could also use one of those monumental phallus cozies referenced above, though it would need one with the attached, ahem, um…snood.

Now, the bull’s torso is about 5-feet at it’s longest, and I think about an equal distance at the shoulders. Eyeballing the distance toward the haunches, I’d give it about 8 feet before I’d cut the sweater off (as I only want to cover the front two legs, and not be a full doggie-sweater covering the back end as well).

Cast on 1178 stitches (calculated circumference is 19 feet and change, and going with a gauge of 5 stitches per inch), and join for knitting in the round. Use a 4×4 rib for 6″ and then switch into the following pattern, starting each row with a p1, and then repeating the money rib (107 repeats, pattern below) until the garment measures 4 1/2 feet long. Bind off for raglan sleeves and knit front and back up additional 2 1/2 feet to shaping for neck. Incude a boat neck to make sure the sweater can be pulled on over the horns. Cast on 120 stitches for sleeves, increasing 10 a half dozen times to get up the shoulder and bind off as raglan. Seam together.

Money Rib:(11stitches+1)
Row 1:p4,k1,p1,k1,p4
Row 2:p1,k8,p2
Row 3:k2,p2,k1,p1,k1,p2,k1,p1
Row 4,5,6: p4,k1,p1,k1,p3,k1
Row 7: p4,k1,p1,k1,p2,k1,p1
Row 8: p2,k7,p2
Row 9: p1,k1,p2,k1,p1,k1,p4
Row 10,11,12:k1,p2,k1,p1,k1,p4
Row 13:p1,k1,p2,k1,p1,k1,p2,k2
Row 14:p2,k8,p1
Row 15,16,17: repeat Row 1.

The bull’s sweater is about 27 and a quarter times that of a normal human being. Thus, I’m guessing that the yardage required for this project is 12,267 yards, which would be 25 skeins of BMFA Peru.

On March 19th, 2008 at 9:26 am Sandra Watkins said:

STR Club Contest #1
How many Skeins of STR does it take to……..

Make a winter blanket and Antler Cozy for a Rocky Mountain Elk (Wapiti) Buck?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23446235@N07/2345548638/in/photostream/

It was interesting that this contest got posted just as I got back from our annual family trek to Jackson Hole, Wyo. We go every year to see the winter herds of elk at the National Elk Refuge. They have a sleigh ride that goes out among the elk herd as a way to raise money to continue augmenting their winter feed on the refuge. One thing that I learned from the guide this year was that sometimes the male elk, weaker after rutting season, contract a form of scabies. A normal healthy elk can withstand the scabies and fight it off, but the weaker males, just out of rutting season (and underweight going into winter – not good) will often scratch so much that they loose a significant amount of their winter coat and then die of hypothermia. So This blankie and cozy are dedicated to them – the blankie to keep them warm and the antler cozy to help keep them from scratching off their coats.

Blanket –
I took a basic look at a Lopi Horse Blanket pattern and compared it to an average 5 pt Buck Elk measurement. The horse blanket was 136cm wide and 130cm long, which was too short for the elk – it would have to be closer to 2m in length and more in width to adequately cover the sides. After doing some math and converting – it came to about 15 skeins of STR in the Icelandic wool (after all….it’s very cold in Wyoming in winter). And I thought it should be in the colorways metamorphic or terrafirma to help the elk continue to be somewhat camouflaged with the common terrain (lot of snow but winter vegetation too).

Antler Cozy –
This was a little more difficult to compute – the average 5 point antler will run about 74” total in length (including the main “beam” (32” avg) and the 5 “points (6-8” avg)), but the antler can be anywhere from 1.5-2” to .5” in circumference. So I tried to take an average of that too. So I looked up walking stick cozies and tried to compare lengths and circumferences (thank you Ravelry) and came up with a requirement of 2 skeins of STR for each antler cozy, for a total of 4 skeins.

So for about 19 skeins of icelandic STR in the colorway “metamorphic” or “terrafirma” we could have one happy elk that would survive scabies and winter. What could be cooler, um, I mean, warmer than that?

References:

http://www.bowhunts.com/elk.html (no I’m not a hunter, but they had the specs I needed)
http://www.yellowstoneantlers.com
http://www.boone-crockett.org
http://www.ravelry.com (cozies)
Lopi book #26

On March 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm Cyd said:

Avast, mateys!

With the hard winter one can usually expect in some of the more northerly climes, Jack Sparrow seems to have discovered that his sword gets cold awfully easily, and there is nothing more painful than sticking your tongue to a cold sword and having it stick there!

So, seeing as you’d want something warm and cozy to stick your sword in, but not something with too much weight or bulk, methinks ye’d be wanting yer Sword Cozy to be made in the STR lightweight (me own preference bein’ that thar “Pirates Booty” colorway)… Since a pair of socks wouldn’t be enough to cover your sword normally, one would require approximately 1.5 -2 skeins to do it up proper-like!

Of course, there’s this “Shadow Pirates” sock I’ve been working on in just that color with this terror-inspiring skull and crossbones motif on it… If you cast on 64 stitches in the round on size 1 dpns, and started with a good 2×2 ribbing for about six inches (because after all, you don’t want this bad boy to fall down on you in the middle of a fight!), and then knit two rounds, ye could start on the skull and crossbones pattern that would strike fear into the heart of any landlubber! Make sure you get gauge at 8 stitches per inch, or you may wind up with something that fits a blunderbuss rather than your sword!

If ye did it right, every twenty rows would decrease by a stitch on either side, until ye came down to about 8 stitches left on either side, and kitchnered the tip… Be careful kitchnering that tip, don’t want to hurt yerself, matey!

Every stylish piratical type should have one, YARRRR!!!

On March 19th, 2008 at 2:00 pm happystasher said:

All these wonderful projects got me thinking … what about the Moai of Easter Island? They deserve hand knits too after all they are pretty old … in fact, they are ancient and in need of protection and preservation so they can be around for thousands of more years! Though the weather can be mild on Easter Island, it does rain a lot at times and I’m sure their heads get stone cold.

So hand knit Skull Caps to the rescue! Just imagine all those once bare heads now covered in Blue Moon style! Knit in Moss stitch would be totally appropriate, but that could get pretty boring after a while in the size the Moai would require. Then I got to thinking about Geodesic Domes and how cool it would be to mimic that design feature in a skull cap so … Entrelac came to mind!

Here we go, for one Moai Entrelac Skull Cap:

Yarn: 16 skeins (5,600 yds) of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock That Rock Heavyweight in any one or a combination of 4 the following colors – Metamorphic, Jasper, Philosopher’s Stone, Pink Granite, Downpour, Banded Agate, Froggin’, Lemongrass, Pond Scum, or Moss Agate (all of these would look superb and complement the natural colors of Easter Island)

Gauge: 6 sts = 1”
Needles: US 3 circular needles with a VERY LARGE cable.

CO 2,826 sts, join in the round, being careful not to twist any stitches, and K3, P3 for 12” then start Entrelac pattern and continue until you’ve knit 2.5 feet. (The largest head of Moai is 12.5 feet in diameter so the circumference is 39.25 feet around and would need to be about 2-3 feet before decreasing for the crown.) For the Multiple Color version – use color A for ribbing, then use Color B for the base triangles, then use Color C for the next row of squares, and Color D for the next row of squares, then go back to Color B, and so on. After reaching 3.5 feet, begin decreasing evenly in the round until hat has a lovely dome shape. Weave in ends.

Now, we can’t just cover the head of one and not the others, right? There are about 876 Moai left on the island (not sure how many are fully in tact and 11 have been relocated to museums, etc. and don’t suffer from having a stone cold head) so I’m thinking 14,016 skeins of STR Heavyweight should sufficiently cover all the Moai heads on Easter Island in Entrelac Skull Caps, a la Blue Moon.

On March 19th, 2008 at 2:49 pm Barb said:

I think my house needs a cozy. I live in a very drafty old house that needs insulation and new windows. The house is 3000 square feet. I love the colors in Farmhouse so that would be my choice. I could get a gauge of 6 sts/inch with STR heavyweight with size 6 needles. I am math challenged at the moment. But I think will take a lot of STR to cover my house, but it would be so pretty. I guess it would be the most colorful house on the street.

On March 19th, 2008 at 6:49 pm Barbara said:

Hi Barb,

My house is old and drafty, too. A house cozy would be just the thing. Bravo on your wonderful idea. Be sure to post the amount of yarn when you become less math challenged…I need to know so make mine.

On March 20th, 2008 at 11:51 am Milly said:

Since Breast Cancer is such a scary and prevalent disease, each year I join thousands of other like minded people and walk 60 miles over the course of three days in an effort to raise funds to find a cure (86 million in 2006 alone!). It’s an amazing event that benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

It’s a cause especially close to my heart since the disease runs rampant in my family and I currently have an Aunt fighting for her life, and I myself had to have a pre-cancerous lump removed last year, heck! even my little dog had Breast Cancer! It does not discriminate! I for one will keep on walking until there’s a cure!

SO…

If I had unlimited funds and superhuman knitting ability my dream project would be to knit a pair of socks in the Pink Ribbons pattern

( http://www.lloydknitting.com/pink_ribbons_sock.htm )

for each individual that walks in this year’s (heck! EVERY year’s) Breast Cancer 3 Day! After walking 60 miles what could feel better than a slipping on a pair of lovingly hand knit socks?

The past two years the Seattle walk consisted of approximately 3,000 walkers, and this year the walk will be held in 14 cities across the U.S. So if we guesstimate 3,000 x 14 cities that would mean 42,000 pairs of socks. Now to be fair we’d have to average in the crew members that work so hard to keep the walkers safe, fed, and healthy during the event. I can’t find exact numbers but I’d guess there’s about 200 crew members involved in each walk. So to our first total we’d add another 2,800 for a grand total of 44,800 pairs of socks.

Okay, so both men and women young and old participate in the walk, so when yarn shopping I’d figure my needs based on the largest size and expect leftovers. The men’s large Pink Ribbons sock requires 450 yards of sock yarn and the STR lightweight comes in a skein of 360 yards so I’d need a grand total of 18,900,000 yards or 52,500 skeins of STR for this year alone. Now obviously not everyone would need a men’s large, so there will most likely be a lot of leftovers. So, with all leftover yarn I would knit chemo caps for the patients at Fred Hutch here in seattle as well as the little ladies at Children’s Hospital:o)

Now I know you’re all dyeing (get it? dye like color! HA! I crack myself up!) to know what colorway I’d choose for this endeavor. If I had to choose today I’d pick Rose Quartz for obvious reasons. But in my dream scenario, y’know the one where I could actually accomplish such a feat, Tina would lovingly create a new Pink Ribbon colorway and generously donate a portion of the profits (and lets face it for 52,500 skeins there’d be a LOT of profits!) to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and that donation would be the bit that causes a researcher to finally find a cure for this dreaded disease!

On March 20th, 2008 at 6:12 pm Dena Hanson said:

Another variation on the global warming theme…many scientists believe that the melting of the polar ice caps could lead to another ice age. This doesn’t seem too far out of the realm of possibility here in northern Illinois as we brace for 8 or more inches of heavy, wet snow on the second day of Spring. So maybe Italy would love a nice warm sock to help ward off the chill.
I’m not much for writing patterns so these are just some guidelines. After all, we’re all sock knitters here, aren’t we? The good thing about this project idea? No Second Sock Syndrome! By the way, I’m not making these numbers up…I actually did the mind-numbing calculations.

Materials needed:
3 trillion skeins of STR lightweight in (duh)Olive Garden (actual yardage needed is 2 trillion, 825 billion and change, but it’s always better to have more than you think you might need - you can use any leftovers to knit some socks for the family. They’ll probably be wanting some too.)

2.5mm (or whatever size you need to get gauge) circular needles in 500 and 300 km length plus some really, really long double-points for the toe decreases.

Gauge: 36 sts in 10 cm

These instructions are for top down construction. I’m a bit weary of all the zeros required to do these calculations and I don’t remember my powers of ten too well (too much beer I think) so if the numbers seem a bit “off”, well you know. Anyway, you will need to cast on a whole lotta stitches onto the longest circular needle. By a whole lot I mean 570 million. Really…seriously. Knit in 2×2 or 1×1 ribbing (your choice…I prefer 2×2 ’cause it looks less sloppy) for approx. 250km. Knit in stockinette until sock measures 650 km from cast on. Knit your standard heel on half the stitches, turn heel, pick up, decrease for gusset, etc. I think you can take it from here. Note: there will be a whole lotta kitchenering at the toes. I don’t like my socks to be too pointy so maybe a couple thousand stitches on each of two needles. I suggest some chocolate and beer - or maybe chocolate beer.

On March 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm Mary Willard said:

I’m not sure there is enough chocolate and beer in the world to get me through Kitchenering that many stitches!!

On March 21st, 2008 at 7:31 am Cyd said:

So with all of us looking to save energy lately, what we need are some nice new hot water heater cozies!

I’m thinking a nice entrelac pattern would do nicely for the sides, and the top would be a pinwheel pattern with a slit to accomodate the plumbing. Now your hot water heater is not only functional, but pretty! You would want to work in something like a Raven colorway, because darker colors absorb light and heat, and would help to keep the hot water heater that much hotter!

If your hot water heater is approximately 2 feet in diameter and four feet high, that would make for approxmately 4000 square inches of knitted fabric (at a gauge of 5.5 stitches per inch on size 6 needles using STR heavyweight), so this would require approximately 3200 yards of yarn, or approximately 9 skeins of heavyweight STR.

Add in a 10th skein, and you could knit a thin scarf to wrap around your hot water heater cozy, and tie a bow around it! Now you have a gift-wrapped hot water heater that can be festive for any time of year, and saves money to boot! What can be better than that in these energy-conscious times?

On March 21st, 2008 at 11:55 am MegT said:

I live on the edge of a beautiful state park along Lake Michigan but smack dab in the middle (actual cutting the park in half)is a decommissioned nuclear power plant. Needless to say, this intrusion of the power industry is a bit of an eyesore amongst all this, so I propose creating two cozies to beautify the reactor containment buildings and blend in with the surrounding park.

Each building is a 205 X 150 feet high cylinder. If I did my math correctly, that’s a surface area of 4,014,953 inches per cylinder.

Using a number 3 needle and STR heavyweight, I’d cast on 10,800 stitches at 6 stitches per inch for each cylinder and work a slanting shell stitch pattern (one cylinder in a left slant and one in a right slant) for 19,680 rows at my gauge of 8 rows per inch. The shells stretched diagonally across the cylinders would nicely compliment the patterns from the leaves on the nearby trees.

Although, by name, Atomic 6 might be an obvious choice, the colorway is too dark for my vision. In my mind’s eye, Cockamamie would blend all the wonderful colors of the nearby lake and spring and fall in the park. It would certainly brighten up our cold gray winter. If I wanted to be more sedate, I’d dress one building in Jade and the other in Amber to reflect the colors of the woods and the marsh.

How may skeins of STR heavyweight would it take? My math is crude but my estimates(including measuring the yarn in my gauge swatch) conclude that it would take 35,179 skeins just to cover one of the buildings.

So, when can we start?

Oh, there’s a small matter of getting past the armed guards that patrol the place. Decommissioned or not, it’s still a nuclear plant.

Slanting Shell stitch

Left Slanting Pattern
(Worked over a multiple of 6 sts):
Round 1: [Yo, ssk, k4] to end.
Even-Numbered Rounds 2-10: K all sts.
Round 3: [Yo, k1, ssk, k3] to end.
Round 5: [Yo, k2, ssk, k2] to end.
Round 7: [Yo, k3, ssk, k1] to end.
Round 9: [Yo, k4, ssk] to end.
Repeat Rounds 1-10 .

Right Slanting Pattern
(Worked over a multiple of 6 sts):
Round 1: [K4, k2tog, yo] to end.
Even-Numbered Rounds 2-10: K all sts.
Round 3: [K3, k2tog, k1, yo] to end.
Round 5: [K2, k2tog, k2, yo] to end.
Round 7: [K1, k2tog, k3, yo] to end.
Round 9: [K2tog, k4, yo] to end.
Repeat Rounds 1-10

On March 21st, 2008 at 2:11 pm Nicole Jamison said:

Wow, my details aren’t nearly as specific as others but I did do a little bit of math for a silo hat. Yes, you read it right a hat for a silo–they’re everywhere here in northern VT. So–for a small silo, only 10 feet high and 12 feet in diameter you would need approximately 135 skeins of lightweight. I’m really liking the Dragon Dance colorway so that will be the color. It will coordinate well with the red barns found so close.

Cast on 3844 stitches on size 1 needles. Good luck finding a circular needle long enough. Join into the round and knit for about 6 inches. Do one row of purl to stop the curl. Then knit for about 3 feet. Begin decreases here at regular intervals in every 10th row. Decrease until you have 100 stitches left. Work an i-cord on these stitches until you have one long enough to tie into an overhand knot. (It looks cute on my 3 yr. old.)

What a fun way to get my brain working after changing a messy diaper that the 1 month old made for me!

Thanks, Nicole

On March 21st, 2008 at 4:26 pm thingwhatsqueeks said:

I know a lot of you have been experiencing a lovely (or harsh) Winter with snow and ice, and general Winter-ness. Here in Austin,TX we’ve had no such problems. The weather has been mostly 70 F or above from October of last year through today. There have been occasional cold days, and ice on my car once… once.

Bearing that in mind I see that even though technically it is only now just barely Spring, Summer cannot be that far away. Summers here can become swelteringly hot, and the sun just beats you down into the pavement. Averaging 300 days of sunshine yearly, I think what Austin could use is an awning before the full force of summer gets here.

I chose STR Heavyweight not just for the quicker (ha) knitting, but also because I needed a superwash yarn. It wouldn’t do at all to have the awning felt or shrink in any way. I mean, hopefully we’d rig it onto a gigantic retractable arm so that it could be stashed away when we didn’t need it.

For the color I chose Blue Moonstone. One of Texas’ state colors is blue. It’s symbolic of loyalty, and is featured on our flag, in our state flower (the bluebonnet) and our state stone (the blue topaz). Also, when looking up the blue would be reminiscent of the sky, and the light color would reflect the light and heat that a darker color would absorb.

When looking at stitch patterns I found the windmill stitch. Given the history Texas has with windmills (bringing water to otherwise dry areas) and the future in windmill energy, I thought this was quite appropriate. However, the pattern I saw was quite dense, and wouldn’t let in much light at all (and we do need some) and would keep the much needed rains away. So I modified the pattern to let in a little of both.

Row 1: *k1, p5, k5, p1*; rep from *
Row 2: *k2, p4, k4, p2*; rep from *
Row 3: *k3, p3, k3, p3*; rep from *
Row 4: *k4, p2, k2, p4*; rep from *
Row 5: *k5, p1, k1, p5*; rep from *
Row 6: *k6, p6*; rep from *
Row 7: *p6, k6*; rep from *
Row 8: *p5, k1, p1, k5*; rep from *
Row 9: *p4, k2, p2, k4*; rep from *
Row 10: *p3, k3, p3, k3 *
Row 11: *p2, k4, p4, k2*; rep from *
Row 12: *p1, k5, p5, k1*; rep from *
Row 13: *k6, p6*; rep from *
Row 14: *p6, k6*; rep from *
Row 15: *k2, yo, k2, yo, yo, k2, yo, k2*; rep from* <- modification for sun and rain

Now Austin is 271.8 sq miles.
271.8 sq mi = 1,091,138,273,280 sq in
If STR nets 350 sq in per skein then we would need 3,117,537,923.65 skeins, but you always want to err on the side of caution when starting a big project like this so I would probably just order 3,117,537,930 skeins.

Dude, that’s a lot of yarn, and a lot of stitches. If I had to do it all on my own I estimate (not counting for getting slower as time wore on) that it would take me 155,876,896,183 hours or 6,494,870,674.3 days or 17,794,166.2 years to knit this bad boy. Yeah, I’d definitely have to draft some help.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awning
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/citymgr/basicfac.htm
http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com/fiber_type_detail.php?fiber_type_id=17
http://www.texasalmanac.com/flags/
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/aow1.html
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/stitches/windmill.htm

On March 21st, 2008 at 4:46 pm Nadyne said:

Oh this is a fun challenge. I was thinking that the Westminster Clock Tower aka Big Ben could do with a hat with a nice BIG pom pom attached. I don’t think it needs to be a fancy hat since no one will see the details, but it needs the pom pom. The tower itself is 96.3 meters tall and the spire starts at about 61 meters so the hat is going to be about 35 meters. The base of the tower is a 15 meter square making the diameter of the hat a little over 21 meters. So doing some fun math there needs to be about 9,764,628 yards of mediumweight STR. Now what about that pom pom well I have no clue how to calculate the yardage needed for a pom pom so I took the volume of a 10 yd in diameter sphere and decided that would be the yardage for the pom pom (678,240 yards). Adding those together I will need 27,482 skeins. Now I know that a tam o’ shanter with a pom pom would look better, but can you imagine the damage a flying tam would do to London? Better stick with a basic hat.

Yes a color … Well you don’t want something that is really brown, yellow or orange they’d bland too well with the tower itself. Anything pink would remind me too much of the condom-like mascot for the Tokyo Tower and it IS parliament … my top 3 are Fire on the Mountain, Thistle and Watermelon Tourmaline. (Tokyo Tower Mascot: http://news.3yen.com/2006-09-30/pink-penis-plushes-welcome-150-millionth-visitor-to-tokyo-tower/)
Final Choice - Fire on the Mountain

Nadyne

On March 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 am Milly said:

I’d like to amend my post, instead of Rose Quartz those pink ribbon socks would look AWESOME in Hot Flash!!!!

On March 23rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm Maria Hanson said:

How many skeins of STR does it take to keep a family with five children, a family of five children? Or….did you know that STR is birth control? It takes 3,650 skeins. One a day for ten years. I shall knit one skein of yarn per day. That way my husband and I shall do “nothing”. I’ll make beautiful socks, hats, sweaters, and mittens for my darling children. I’ll make extra special knits from my STR for my husband because that’s all he’ll get!!! Just picture this gorgeous family with five children in all their hand knit STR glory!!!

On March 24th, 2008 at 7:44 am Julie said:

Camouflage Kevlar Vest for a Humpback Whale

General Whale Dimensions:
Whale total length: 50 Ft long
approx (as accurately as I could figure from looking at pictures) girth: 31.4 feet (diameter of about 10 ft x pi)
Vest size in length (to cover vital organs) 20 ft

Yarn: 45 skeins STR mediumweight, Midsummers Night (to make whale blend better with water & break up the outline of the dark whale), 380 yds/ skein
Kevlar wire–17,100 yds

Here we go:

gauge:
5.5 stitches to the inch over pattern
6.5 rows to the inch
Kevlar and STR held double.
Size 6 needles or to obtain gauge

pattern:
Row 1–Knit 2 *YO, K2Tog, Knit 3* repeat to end
Row 2&4: Knit
Row 3–Knit 5 *YO, K2Tog, Knit 3* repeat to end

Cast on 2,072. Hold yarn double with Kevlar wire
Rib for 6″ or so.

Follow pattern. Knit for 20 feet.

Steeks and special notes:
You are going to need to measure your particular whale and steek in the holes for the flippers…your steek will probably be about 5 feet long, machine stitch for your particular whales dimensions and cut the steek with Kevlar-resistant shears. Crochet a nice border around the raw steek stitches. Something manly for a male whale, maybe a nice lacy edge for a female whale.

You’re going to have to pull the vest PAST the flippers until the end of the flipper is at the steek hole, then pull it back toward the whale’s head with the flippers protruding from the flipper-steeks. the whale will need to be supported during this process, obviously.

Also make sure the vest does not impede the jaw hinge, as the whales mouth balloons to huge sizes in front of the jaw hinge for feeding.

Your knitting will need to match your particular whale’s dimensions almost perfectly (or be a bit large) as the Kevlar won’t allow for negative ease.

THE MATH (which, really, I thought I’d need more yarn, but I do have issues with … math. Point being, I could be wrong.)

whale 31.4 feet around x 12 inches per foot: 376.8 inches
376.8 inches x 5.5 stitches to inch = 2,072 stitches/round
2,072 x 6.5 (rows per inch) = 13,468 stitches/inch
13,468 x 12 = 161,616 stitches / foot
161,616 x 20 = 3,232,320 stitches / 20 feet

5.5 stitches to the inch makes 198 stitches to the yard, which makes 75,240 stitches to the skein, rounded down to 75,000.

SOOOO:
3,232,320 stitches total divided by 72,000 stitches per skein gets me 43 skeins of yarn, add 2 skeins for “just in case” equals 45 skeins total.

PS and Plea: Please don’t make me tell you what size circs you’d need for this. They’d have to be BIG…100″ circulars maybe? Would they hold 2000 stitches??? *brain hurts*

On March 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am Stacy Olson said:

Okay, after much thought I would knit a mermaid tail for a manatee.

“The legend of the mermaid is thought to have arisen from manatee sightings, at once a testament to both the rich mythology of the sea and also the abject loneliness of sailors.” Matt Hunziker/The Daily Cardinal- Jan. 31, 2008

So why not give the manatee a little yarn bling to look more like a mermaid. I know that my 8 and 6 year old girls would love to see a “real mermaid!”

I thought I would use STR heavyweight in Mystic Kelp…sounds and looks appropriate for a mermaid to me.

At http://www.ri.net/schools/west_warwick/manateeproject/morphometrics.htm I found measurements for an average male manatee.

I would make my tail start at the umbilical girth (the belly button) and go to the penduncal girth (the base of the tail where it meets the body). I wouldn’t include the tail since they need that to swim and we wouldn’t want to interfere with that. The garment would be a total of 3.5 feet or 42 inches in length.

The average umbilical girth is 8 feet, which is 96 inches. At a gauge of 6st/in. on US size 3 needles, I would cast on 576 stitches. And then join and knit in the round.
The average penduncal girth is 5.4 feet, which is 64.8 inches. So at the end of the mermaid tail I would need to have 389 stitches.

So, in the body of the knitting I would need to decrease a total of 187 stitches. To achieve this I would decrease 10 stitches a total of 19 times. I am estimating the garment to have 504 rows total, so I would decrease 10 stitches every 27 rows to create the tapered tail.

This would require about 15 skeins to complete to be on the safe side…with hopefully enough left over to make something pretty for me! Or maybe some matching manatee/mermaid dolls for my girls

On March 24th, 2008 at 2:49 pm KnittingSarah said:

To Milly on March 20th!!! That is a fabulous idea and fundraiser! I haven’t been able to find that anything like that has been done before.

On March 24th, 2008 at 5:42 pm Elaine said:

Well, my thought was totally off the wall. Literally. I keep thinking about the fabric art installations around the world, running like a ribbon over hills, the last I recall was of saffron-colored cloths hung around New York’s Central Park, and the widespread reaction to that. It made the news everywhere. I envision large rectangles of individually chosen color or colors, to be hung as an installation of art (which they are…) and when the display is over, to be sent to cover the homeless women and children in shelters, waiting for somewhere to go? The art of knitting, in colorful display, later spread as warmth and love across the world’s women and children in need.

Colors? I hear in my head Kermit the Frog and the Muppets, “…someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection… the lovers, the dreamers, and me.” All the colors of the rainbow that are in our hearts and dreams… about 4 skeins of the shade that speaks to your heart per “art piece/blanket of love” of STR heavyweight, at a gauge of 6st/in, should make a piece 40″ x 60″, for each installation.

On March 25th, 2008 at 6:29 am Tina said:

author

Contests | March 24, 2008
By Donna Jo Ketchie

Lizards, newts, skinx–whatever name one prefers, we have the little creatures outside, and sometimes, inside our home. I have knitted a sweater for the dog, cat cozies for the two kitties, but until now, the lizards have been knitting deprived. I am very selfish with my STR yarn, and forturnately, the little creatures are quite small, so I can use leftovers from my yearly sock club yarn. From head to tail, the lizards are approximately six inches long. I propose to make them a body suit of approximately three inches. I am thinking I will cast on 12 stitches with (o) doublepoints, divide onto three needles, join, knit one inch, make a one stitch buttonhole on both sides, knit another inch, make another one stitch buttonhole on each side, knit another inch, and bind off. The body suits done in Flower Power, Dragon Dance, Firebird, and A Walk on the Wild Tide will look especially colorful as the lizards skitter around our small fish pond and scale the side of the house. My own traveling art show–now all I have to do is catch them.

On March 25th, 2008 at 7:39 pm Lucinda said:

WARNING: This subject may not be suitable for younger audiences

This past weekend, I was pondering the question of what I could knit that would suit the criteria of absolutely most creative and ridiculous design concepts. I was in the mountains waiting for my husband to arrive at the aid station during his 100 mile race. Yes, you read correctly: 100 miles (it took 31 hours - straight which equals a lot of knitting for me).
Well, anyway, he came strutting in to the aid station having already completed 62 miles. He had a big grin. He was proud to report that during the night, just before coming into an aid station he turned off his flashlight, and ran in stark naked. Apart from his running shoes, he had a sock strategically placed. Due to the frigid temperature, it was not easy to keep the sock well placed. He was so excited that he stood a chance of earning bonus minutes (The race director stated at the beginning of the race that crazy, silly acts could earn bonus minutes)

Then, came my aha moment. I should knit him a “special” sock to cover his canadian bacon. It should be ribbed so that it would stay on better. Now, the big question, how do you account for shrinkage in cold weather. Perhaps the best way to handle this situation would be to have a tie at each end to be able to firmly secure it. In terms of # of skeins, I figure I can make due with my leftovers of Dragon Dance.

On March 25th, 2008 at 8:01 pm Jessica said:

Warning!

Off-key and macabre sense of humor to follow!

You’ve been warned.

I decided to knit a body bag. Why should the recently deceased be carted off in drab navy or black? We have such appropriately named colors to choose from for this project: downpour, moody blues, mudslide, pond scum, typhoon tina or my favorite for this purpose . . . faulty dyer. The names could even match cause of death. Or pick a bright and cheery color for those so inclined or any of the raven clan for the more sedate. This could be the new fashion accessory. Pick your own colors and leave the world in style.
I would use lightweight socks that rock (since weight would be an issue) and knit at 9 st/in (durability is important even if only used once!)
Crochet a chain about 340 stitches long in waste yarn then pick up 325 stitches with size 1 60″ cirulars (or whatever needle you need to get gauge)through the bumps then turn and pick up another 325 stitches from between the knit stitches picked up on the opposite side. Join in round and knit until about 70 inches long, cast off 2 stitches on left hand side and continue knitting back and forth in stockinette until piece measures 90″ from cast on (though this would be a cinch to customize! Why make a 90″ bag for someone only 5′ tall?) Bind off all stitches loosely, weave in ends sew in 56″ zipper and customize as you wish with embroidery, etc. Then line with pre-made body bag, vinyl or similar (death can be messy and you wouldn’t want to ruin the bag!) and you’re finished!
This should take about 30 skeins of socks that rock lightweight, though those so inclined could substitute luscious silk for a particularly sumptuous entree into the afterlife. This is based on my sock err swatch and extrapolation.

So pick your own style for death as well as life with your own hand knit body bag.

On March 26th, 2008 at 7:50 am Michelle Rhodes-Gloor said:

Grab yourself 67 skeins of STR in the Quiet Riot, and let’s knit some socks for the Reclining Buddha. Yes, he’s in a warm area, but not year round. Of course, he would say that he does not need them, as all life is suffering, and he has transcended suffering. However, we are each to help remove the suffering of others, so we will knit him socks. Using size 0 needles, cast on 358227 stiches, and knit a rib for 357 rows. Knit plain for 1784 rows. Short row a heel using half of the stitches, and working 892 short rows (reducing each row by one stitch). Once the heel is complete, knit 1784 rows plain. Then using the needle for the bottom of the foot, short row a toe indentical to the heel. Graft the top of the sock to the top of the toe. Repeat this entire process for the other sock. The colors of Quiet Riot compliment the colors of the sarong that the Buddha is wearing and the name speaks to the work that the Buddha is doing, calming the quiet riot within each of us.

Enjoy - Mikki

On March 26th, 2008 at 10:23 am Tricia Rawnsley said:

We’ve had a bit of a problem here at our house. Our well pump died Friday, 3/21. Two different well companies tried to pull the pump. It’s good and stuck in the well–along with 200+ feet of pipe. What now? Dig a new well because the old one’s useless.
So, what’s a way to inject some fun into our lives while we’re camping at home? Knitting a new well cozy, to be sure! It would have to be done in Mudslide, because that’s what my yard looks like now, in lightweight, knit tight enough to keep the clay out but allow water to seep through.

The new well is 250 ft. deep. It’s 6 in. in diameter. I knit STR lightweight at 9 stitches to the inch and 13 rows per inch on size 1 needles. How many stitches and rows will I end up with? How many skeins do I need?

Area of a cylinder’s sides = 2 * pi * radius * height (in.)
Area of the cylinder’s top = pi * r squared
Area of the sides = 2 * 3.1415 * 3 * 3000 = 56,547 sq. in
Area of top = 3.1415 * (3 * 3) = 28.27 sq. in.

So, I need to cover about 56,576 sq. in of surface area. This will protect the new well from bad karma, from cold, from seepage, and from being silted in–the downfall of the old well.

If, in 1 in., I have 9 stitches to the inch and 13 rows using US 1 24″ long circular needles, that gives me 9 * 13 or 117 stitches per square inch.

Total number of stitches in my well cozy is 117 * 56,576 or 6,619,392 total stitches.

Total number of rows is height * rows per inch = 3000 * 13 = 39,000, plus the top which I figure to be 39 more rows (13 rows per inch * 3 in. diameter). A grand total of 39,039 rows.

All this seems superfluous, as I haven’t yet figured how much yarn I use in a row of stitches. Let me see . . . I need more math just to cast on.

It’s 6 inches in diameter, which gives me a radius of 3 in. That does not tell me how far it is around this circle–the circumference. 10th grade geometry, help me!
Circumference is 2 * pi * radius = 2 * 3.1415 * 3 = 18.849
I’ll round up to 19 in. for a tiny bit of positive ease. I don’t want to work too hard getting this cozy onto the well.

So, with 9 stitches to the inch and 19 in. circumference, I need to cast on 171 stitches. I’ll then join in the round and knit in stockinette for 3000 inches. Once at 3000 inches I’ll proceed as follows:
Row 39,001: Row *K7, K2tog, repeat from * around.
Row 39,002: Knit even.
Row 39,003: *K6, K2tog, repeat from * around.
Row 39,004: Knit even.
All following odd rows: Continue in pattern decreasing 9 stitches per row. Your decreases should spiral fabulously around the circle.
All following even rows: Knit even.
Stop this pattern when you have 19 stitches left. Cut yarn, leaving about a foot . Draw yarn through all live stitches and pull tight. Attach a clippy thingy. Don’t knot, as this will draw the bad karma well gods to your well and they will force a problem that will force you to take the knot out. Leave the live stitches, so you can easily make alterations in the future. You will need to.

In my itty bitty swatch, I used 53 linear inches of yarn for every square inch of stockinette.

I have 56,576 sq. in. to cover, so 53 * 56,576 should give me the length of yarn, in inches, I’ll need. That’s 2,998,528 linear inches of yarn I’ll need. Divided by 12, it’s 249,877.3 linear ft.

1 ft. = .333333333 yds., approximately.

That means I’ll need about 83,292.433 yards to make my cozy (231.369 skeins). I’ll round that up to allow for a little overlap when adding a new ball and a tail to cast on with and a tail to pull at the end, and say I need about 234 skeins of Mudslide in STR Lightweight.

STR lightweight is about 4.5 oz/127 gm. and 360 yds/329 m.
84,240 yds/
That means I need 1053 oz.,29718 gm. and 84,240 yds/76,986 m.

Add two skeins of STR lightweight Blarney Stone to keep my hands and feet warm while knitting the cozy and dressing the well, and all will be grand!

PS, Do you think I should make a hat for the guy out there jamming the pip into the ground?

On March 27th, 2008 at 9:21 am Maureen Lynch said:

January 20, 2008 – I sat in my family room, knitting a sock, warmed by the fire. On TV were my guys, the NY Giants, playing the Green Bay Packers for the NFC Championship - one of the coldest games in football history. When the TV commentator mentioned that the heated seats that the Giants players were using on the sidelines were not working, I immediately knew what they needed to keep warm – hand-knit socks.

I have been a Giants fan since birth (my family has had season tickets since before I was born 40+ years ago), and I have stuck with them through good years and bad – here they were, the Cinderella team in the game of their lives. How could I not want to make them socks?

According to the NY Giants Official Roster, there were 69 players on the team in this Championship Season. A key to this particular victory was the play of the Offensive and Defensive lines. The offensive line protected Eli Manning and allowed him to realize his full potential as a quarterback. The defensive line “put a hurt” on Brett Favre from which he is probably still recovering. (Brett fans: Please don’t be angry with me for that statement – I love Brett Favre – I think that he represents some of best things about sports. If it had been any team other than the Giants playing him, I would have cheered for him.) These 19 men deserve socks in a colorway that describes them perfectly – “Blue Brick Wall.” The socks need to be thick enough to keep them warm, yet not so thick that they don’t fit into their cleats. My choice – Socks That Rock Mediumweight.

Now, these are big dudes (6 foot 3+ and 300+ pounds) and I am guessing that they have some really big feet (my husband is 6 foot 5, I know what I’m talking about here!). Additionally, these socks need to be knee highs, therefore covering some really big calves. So knitting these socks on size 1 (2.25mm) needles (I want them really firm and wind-resistant) at a gauge of 9 stitches to the inch and a length above the heel of 17 inches, I am calculating that each player would require 3 skeins (380yds. per skein) for his pair of socks (big feet plus big calves = lots of STR required).

As we all know, the kicker and the punter play a vital role in the success (or failure) of any football team. Given that their feet are their most important assets, and those feet need to be coddled and pampered, I would make them socks out of Silkie Socks that Rock. As for colorway, I would choose “Just Right Red.” Again, knee-high socks are required, but as these gentlemen are considerably smaller than the linesmen (both are 6 foot 1 and svelte at a bit over 200 pounds), knitting at 9 stitches to the inch I would use just two skeins for each of them.

For the remaining 48 players, I would again use the Socks That Rock Mediumweight, but in the “Just Right Red” colorway. Now some of these gentlemen are almost as big as the Linemen, some are lithe and wiry, and some are in the middle. Therefore, in order to make knee-highs for all, I am going to estimate that an average of 2.75 skeins of the Mediumweight will do.

Now, I don’t want to leave out the coaches – there are 18 coaches working alongside of Head Coach Tom Coughlin. Standing on the sidelines can get e