And You Thought I'd Forgotten

First, there was this:

Then there were these:

Then you have to imagine a light bulb. The one that goes off when it occurs to you to go check your gauge against the finished dimensions. It being rather difficult to know otherwise how many rows and stitches you are actually supposed to be working with. If you're getting 4 stitches per inch and 5 rows per inch, and the piece is supposed to measure 12.5" (that's the measurement for the stitches) by 26" (that's the measurement for the rows), you have 50 stitches and 130 rows to work within. Oh, out of those stitches, you are supposed to allow for 10 stitches worth of border. All told, that means that no matter how many times you graph it, if your motif is 60 stitches wide it is never, never, NEVER going to fit.

It simplifies things amazingly.

Of course, cables do pull it in a bit, don't they. The red pin is where I should be. Which means I'm 1.5 inches short.

I'm wondering if the 50 stitches should be my base, exclusive of the increases I'm doing for the cables. One way or another, I have to figure out where to space out 6 stitches worth of increases.

For the record? I don't think that first piece will ever shrink to 12.5" by 26", do you?