Merrily we knit along

I've been working on the shawl pretty consistently and I'm nearing the end of my second skein. I have a question for those of you who said you've made it before.

Could you possibly measure your Center Back from the top edge till the first stripe beings? I don't have a good idea on how big it should be before I start the stripes, the pattern just says to make it as big as you want..but I have no idea how big that is!

I thank you in advance.