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!

Pi Border & Charity Appeal

Can you believe, I ran out of yarn, again? Unbelieveable.
I decided enough was enough, and that the shawl was big enough as it is. I was about halfway through the second section of the final repeat, so I called it a day and began the edging.
What do you think?:

I know it doesn't look like much. I'm really hoping it opens up with blocking as it feels denser than the shawl body.

This is how much I've done. I guess about a quarter? It's not too bad, but the turning every row is a bit annoying.

Now, onto the appeal part of the title. I was contacted today by a lady on behalf of St Francis Hospice. They're fundraising to complete the building of a hospice here in Dublin 15. A truly great cause, and one I've always supported at their other location in Raheny, Dublin as they cared for two of my relations wonderfully in their final days.

Basically, they're hoping to have a craft fair in early December and are looking for knitters to make lots of different things. Here's the flier:

I, for one, am really going to try and make some things for them. They sent me a few free patterns that they're sending out to people who ask, so if you want one, leave a comment with contact details and I'll send the info on.

One of the organisers, Maeve Henchion, will be coming along to the knitting group next Tuesday to fill us in on all the details.

I think you'll agree it's a wonderful cause, so please, if you can, knit something up!

Good Knitting!

Just a quickie

No pics on this post today, I'm posting from work.

Just a quick one to let you know about a new blog that a few of us Irish knitters have set up:
irishknitting. This is hoped to be a one stop shop for knitting & crochet information in Ireland.
We hope to keep it updated with news, events, craft groups, places to buy yarn & much more!
Check it out.
A big thanks to Wyvernfriend who has done great work posting lots of information so far.

In Pi Shawl news, would you believe I ran out of yarn again? Mad. I was halfway through the final chart repeat. I decided enough was enough and I just started the border in the red.
I'm still not 100% sold on the red border, but I'll see how it goes.
I had terrible trouble trying to figure it out, until I read the project comments on rav by this person: LindyBeir. A lifesaver!

Pics next post of a hopefully finished shawl!

Ever Increasing Circles

My Pi Shawl progresses. I'm on to the last pattern repeat, 576 stitches. It's a behemoth now, each round takes forever:

It's really hard to photograph it, as it's all bunched up on the circular needles.

I think you get the idea of the pattern here:

As with almost all projects, I've run into a snag. This is all the yarn I have left in this colour:

Nowhere near enough. I do have 3 wheels in red & I was planning on doing the border in that colour, but I don't even think I've enough for the last repeat.

Now I guess I've two options:

1. Knit until I run out & then start the edging

2. Knit until I run out & continue in red to the end of the pattern repeat & then do the edging.

2. Order another wheel from The Yarn Room. It's only €5.95 and postage is free.

I have to admit, I'm loath to buy another wheel. I'm really trying to not spend any more on yarn before my holidays (more on that later on). I know it's only €5.95, but it's the principle.

I think I'll settle for No. 1 and knit until I run out. No. 2 would most likely look rubbish.

If I'd planned it better, I suppose I could have alternated the colours between repeats, but hey, that's foresight & good planning, two things that I am not known for!

In other news, Alice & I went to Inspiring Ideas yesterday for a card making demo. We came away inspired (pardon the pun) and €45 poorer. Sheesh. I just can't seem to help myself.

Anyway, when we got home, we got creating again:

Not too shabby I think. I guess we should count up our cards and see how many we've made. I think we've probably got enough now. Which would be bad, as we've tons more Christmas stuff left!

In holiday news, I'm delighted to report we got the house in Florida! Woop! Once I knew for sure what was happening we booked our hotels.

Our plan so far:
Oct 23 arrive in Atlanta, stay the night.
Oct 24 drive to New Orleans (7 1/2 hrs).
Oct 25 & 26 Stay in New Orleans.
Oct 27 Drive to Orlando (10 1/2 hrs). This may get broken up with an overnight stay, or we may split the drive half each. I'm inclined to the latter, as I want to get to Orlando as quickly as possible!
Oct 28 - Nov 4 Stay in Orlando
Nov 4 Drive to Atlanta (7 1/2 hrs)
Nov 4 - 6 Stay in Atlanta & fly home :(

I cannot wait! Plus, as soon as I knew we were going to Orlando again, I rang Disney & managed to get tickets to the Magic Kingdom for Hallowe'en night! Yay! My favourite place to go for Hallowe'en. I'm so effing excited. I can't wait to head back to see Doni in Sip and Knit, Knit! in Longwood & The Black Sheep. Not forgetting an interesngly sized Knit Picks order! :) Plus, I hope to find some yarn in New Orleans & maybe Atlanta. Yipee!

Good knitting!

Icelandic Pi Shawl

Cross posted from KnittingElizabeth:

Ok, here I go with my first new KnittingElizabeth project.

It took me a while to decide on which one to start, there are so many EZ projects I want to make!
I have wanted to make a Pi Shawl for a while, though. And I had bought this yarn specially for it, so I decided now was the time.

I'm using Ístex Plotulopi Unspun Icelandic yarn, with two strands held together. This gave me a gauge of 3 sts to 1" using 4.5mm needles. I'm using my Addi Clicks for this.

Off I went, and to be honest, it's been flying along:



I think it looks great:



I've used a little over half of my first wheel (I have 3) and I'm up to 288 sts.



I decided to use the "Three Lace Patterns For Shawl" directions from Knitters Almanac, just to add a bit of interest.
I plan to use this as a lap blanket for snuggling up on the sofa watching tv (and knitting of course) during the winter.

The only thing I'll say about the yarn is that IT SHEDS. I mean lots of hairs. It's like I have my old dog back at home with me. My advice is to not wear black while knitting with it!

So that's my first Knitting Elizabeth project, I hope to have some more progress to report soon.

Good knitting!