Monday 20 September 2010

Perfect Piece of Pi

It's done! It's done!
I've finally finished the Pi Shawl, and it's fantastic!
The edging took almost as long as the shawl, but in the end it's totally worth it.
Here it is pre-blocking. I think it measured approx 45" across:

I put it into a bath of Soak to get it nice & clean & wet to block it, and look what happened!
The red dye came POURING out of the yarn! My heart was in my mouth that I was after ruining it, after all the hard work!
Thankfully it doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear:
*sigh* Isn't it beautiful? It's not perfect, but I love it. I ran out of yarn again after buying my extra wheel, so I gave up approx 3/4 of the way through the 576 pattern repeat and just began the edging.
The post blocking diameter is approx 54". So not much growth with blocking, but it lies flat and looks much more even.
Pattern: Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann from Knitters Almanac
Yarn: Ístex Plotulopi Unspun Icelandic, 4 wheels of brown & 2 wheels of red
Needles: 4.5mm Addi Clicks and dpns
My only comment is that I couldn't close the hole in the centre after Emily Ockers cast on, as the Unspun Icelandic just came apart in my hand when I tried to pull it. So, it has an extra design feature in the centre!
A true labour of love project, but I'm going to be lovely & warm watching the tv this winter!
Now that I've finished the Pi, I can get cracking on the charity knitting for the hospice.
I bought this yarn last week to do something with:
It's cheap as chips King Cole Big Value chunky. Chunky coz then it might knit up faster, lol!
I'll have to get looking for something to make with it.
In the meantime, I bought the latest issue of Simply Knitting the other day as there's loads of quick gift ideas projects in it that I think will be great for the charity fair.
I think I'm going to start with this one using some self striping cotton yarn I got forever ago in Lidl:


In the meantime, Good Knitting!

11 comments:

Lou Harmon said...

It is beautiful.
I made my first Pi shawl this spring and I loved it. I didn't make the patterned one like you did, perhaps some day I will, I just made the plain one.
Yours is absolutely beautiful.
I added you to my blog list. I love Elizabeth too.

Tara said...

Quite lovely, congrats! I need to make myself another lap shawl, as my cat ate my lovely Hemlock ring blanket. Grrrrr...

UnderMeOxter said...

It *is* fantastic! Well done you.
I was skeptical about the red when I read your tweets about it but it works beautifully. Like raspberries on Baileys cheesecake!
Yum!

kelgell said...

Yay to the Pi Shawl completion. What a feat! I think it actually looks quite good with the reddish edge.

spinndiva said...

Oh! I LOVE the shawl!!! The colours are just down my alley!!!! Beautiful!!!

Knitrageous said...

Stopping by from Follower Appreciation Day!

Your shawl is outstanding! It looks great.

Jamye
http://knitrageous1.blogspot.com/

Nic said...

That's just fabulous. Well done you. I knew the red would be wonderful so I'm really glad that you like it. raspberries on Baileys cheesecake? Yum!

What are the finished blocked dimensions btw? The diameter I mean. Just curious.

Alrischa said...

Don't you love those Alphabet squares for blocking? I wonder if anyone buys them for their kids... lol.
Great job on the blanket; it looks like lots of work! Lucky it didn't all turn pink in the bath :D

Bionic Laura said...

Fabulous! Love the colour in the centre. I think the red sets it off nicely. I would have completely panicked when I saw all that red water, it's great the colour didn't run or anything. You'll love snuggling up under it for the winter.

sheknitupthat said...

It's a masterpiece!

Emybloom said...

mmmmmmm pie