Project 1, the blanket, is only 8 1/2 inches long...but forty inches wide. I just calculated that it's 340 square inches of knitting. Size 7 needles.
Project 2, the scarf, is right at four feet long, and at six inches wide it's 288 square inches. Size 8 needles.
And I'm wondering how that can be right, since both yarns contain the same amount per ball, but Project 1 is just getting to the end of ball 1, and Project 2 is quite a ways into ball 2. It has to be the needle size, but smaller needles mean more stitches/inch and that should be more yarn per inch of stitches...shouldn't it? Apparently not. I can understand that a larger needle takes more yarn per stitch, but would have thought that fewer stitches per inch (and fatter rows) would cover the ground at the same or better rate than the smaller stitches. Maybe that works only with a bigger difference between needles? Or maybe not at all.
Project 1 is supposed to end up about 48 inches long, and that suggests that it's 1/6 done (roughly) and 6 balls of yarn should be enough. I have (had at start) 10 balls of that yarn. Which suggests I'll have plenty left for a couple of scarves or for something else. Project 2 was going to be a 2-ball length (estimated at 6 feet) and we'll just have to see. It's got to be six feet, and seven isn't too long. The person it's for isn't super-tall but also isn't short. I don't have any new pictures of them (and they don't look that different from the last pictures of them (posted on the Paksworld blog (2 images) and here (1 image)) except a little longer. Well, quite a bit longer in the case of the scarf.
Eventually I hope to have what turn out to be my favorite needle sizes in both wood (for regular use--love the feel) and acrylic (for any place that "security" is an issue.) Gauge, the yarn shop I'm using as a source of supplies, has the ones I want on order (plus ones I'm not yet allowing myself to want...) I haven't yet bought yarn there, though, because I'm working through the yarn I bought online first. However...my self-control may lapse; there's a cotton/silk/nylon yarn they have that I would really love to make into something for myself.
