EZ meets the computer age

Dear fellow EZ enthusiasts,

I am in the process of knitting an EZ Fair Isle. Now I've noticed a couple of things about EZ -- her Knitting Without Tears has the old way she used to do things and books like Knitting Around have been updated with her edits ...

For instance, a Fair Isle in KWT has you decrease 33% three times after the half-way point to the yoke. In KA, she has you dec once 25%, then 33%, then a final 40%. Does this fit the average wearer better?

Now her percentages are legendary, but when you're getting ready to do a patterned yoke, you want to make sure:

• you have enough yarn in the main color
• you know what the multiples are for the dec rounds
• you want to ensure that all patterning will fit properly

So, I spent one hour of knitting time last night setting up an Excel spreadsheet to ensure that all these goals would be met: plugging in her percentages, my gauge and my desires for length, etc. This spreadsheet helps me tweak numbers and avoid the pencil/eraser or calculator to make sure I'm still on track. I'm able to adjust lengths (to ensure I have enough yarn -- after first determing how many rows x sts used up a skein) and things like underarms because as someone mentioned earlier, the underarms (at 8%) seem a bit tight.

Since I'm doing a solid color body and sleeves (except for the 5-color contrast at the ribs) I have lots of time to chart the actual pattern I'm going to put in; and now I know exactly how many stitches I'll have at every point on the sweater!