Pi shawl--Is it big enough yet?

I am still working on this shawl. I have almost finished with the first 880 yard ball of yarn. I was afraid for a while that the ball would never quit. It seemed to go on forever!

Is it big enough yet to add the edging? When I grab the center and give it a gentle tug it comes just past my shoulder. I wonder how much it might stretch when it is wet?

I have another big ball of this yarn. I know I won't run out of yarn for my border at least!

Pi is growing

Well, we didn't go on vacation and I am just now catching up with my blog. Our daughter had to have her appendix out so we were in the hospital instead of traveling. Fortunately we caught it early and she has recovered very well. We have been busy finding her an apartment at school and collecting furniture for it. This week I have been babysitting for a friend's 2 little ones. Busy, busy times.

I have accomplished some knitting in the meantime though. The Pi shawl is growing as you can see. It even looks a little like a pie here.

I am at 576 stitches and maybe a little over halfway through the first 880 yard ball of yarn. When I hold the center of the circle in my fingers and stretch it out it goes from my fingers to just above my elbow. I think it needs to be quite a bit larger yet to make a nice shawl.

Pi shawl--A Fresh Start

So, I was knitting along on my shawl, and noticed that the circular needle was giving me much smaller stitches than the double points that I started this with. I kept knitting for a while hoping that it was just my imagination but no, it was true.

Since the beginning was a little shaky anyway, with the ladders that had formed between the needles, I sought out a second opinion from the LYS owner, Rosemary, at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop. We decided that it must have been the fact that this needle was more slippery than the dpns. I have had that happen with heavier yarns before but somehow thought that it wouldn't make that much difference in this lace weight on such small needles.

I wasn't liking the 16 inch circular I was using anyway because it wasn't very flexible. While I was at the shop I bought 16 and a 24 inch circulars in the size 4 so I could restart and hopefully have all of the stitches come out approximately the same size. I used the 2 circular needles to do the cast on and the first few sections. I still have a bit of a ladder between the needles even though I tried to keep those first stitches very tight. I think it is just the yarn!

Now I am almost back to where I was and things are going smoothly.

My knitting bag is packed for vacation. I probably have way more than I will find time to work on I wouldn't want to be sitting there just wishing I had some knitting!

EZ as Pi Shawl

I had a quiet moment today so I decided to get my Pi shawl started. I want to take it along on our vacation next week so I needed to do the fiddly part beforehand.

Bob and Larry helped me keep the needles from slipping through those first wobbly stitches! I had read that you should put it on a pillow and turn the pillow as you go instead of trying to turn the needles around. It worked very well!


When it got big enough, I added another needle. I prefer working with 5 needles rather than 4. Here it is at the 36 stitch stage.

And again at the 72 stitch stage. The ladders at the corners got rather big. I am hoping that with some washing and blocking they will even out more. But if not, this is a learning experience right?

I now have it at 144 stitches and on a 16 inch circular needle so it is ready to go on vacation with me!