42,250 or Thereabouts

Have you ever calculated how many stitches a project will take? I did.

For the sake of knowing how much yarn I would need to complete the decreases and cast off (DCO), I took the time to calculate how many stitches would be needed and how many yards those stitches equaled (or vice versa). Since I would have four rounds of decreases followed by a calculated number of rounds between each decrease, I was able to work out that I would need enough yarn to complete 3896 stitches over the course of the total decreases and rounds. Wow! Well, I measured a yard, knitted the stitches and counted the number of stitches I created with that yard. 92 stitches. I divided the total 3896 stitches by the 92 to get the number of yards for the decrease and cast off rounds. It worked out to about 42.34 yards. My nominal arm span is 60 inches. I converted the yards to inches and divided that by my arm span and found that I needed 25 and some odd number of arm spans of yarn for the DCO rounds. I rounded up to ensure that I would not underestimate the final rounds. To make the project I used two skeins of Regia sock yarn which is 420 meters. If I manage to minimize waste, it turns out that there may be about 42,250 stitches in this project. This is the hat for The Viking. wow...