pi r square shawl
So after a couple months of joining and watching all the beautiful EZ projects on this site, I have finally started my pi r square shawl. So far it has been really fun and really fast! I am using a yarn that is somewhere between fingering weight and lace weight (I bought it because I loved it -- and still do -- but the label only has 100% alpaca 50g on it) and I am knitting on a size 5 needle. So now I have a question for anyone else who has made this shawl. I am already 10 ridges past the third increase, and even stretched tight, I am only at 11 inches. EZ says not to increase past the 4th increase, but I am wondering if my shawl is only going to have too much plain knitting at the bottom, not to increase a 5th time? I suppose I will be able to tell by then if I need more width in the shawl as well. I am planning on putting on a lace border, but I am not counting on that adding much more then an inch to the circumference of the shawl..... Any ideas, or experience would be much appreciated!Have a great week!
not to be ungrateful or unappreciative, but I am asking for advice on the Pi R Square shawl from Knitting Around, not the Pi Shawl. This one is knit flat and is kinda square.....thanks!
posted by sunneshine at
10:47 AM
9 Comments:
the pi shawl is actually a circular project. By knitting back and forth, consequently in garter stitch, will make the shawl much smaller. You will need to reknit this babe in the round,which will be stockinette stitch and then you will see, greater length and clearer lacework will be yours.
good luck, I love pi and Eliz Z
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Anonymous, at 11:09 AM
That's exactly what i wanted to tell her !!!
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Sam, at 1:19 PM
I havent read through pi are square, just had a quick look, but do remember that lace will stretch out once blocked, I would be careful about adding if EZ says not to, it perhaps messes up the repeats of later patterns, just try and stick with it and see how it goes
I am sure it will be fab!
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Lothlorian, at 1:45 AM
You need to use larger size needles.Perhaps an #8.
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Anonymous, at 9:26 AM
I made one and loved it. What helped me was watching the movie that goes with this series. I know that she made a version (on the tape) with smaller needles and it looked smaller than Meg's who knit hers on larger needles with all lace patterns. On my last increase round I had about 300 and something..and I am plus size so I was worried. It does block out and the edging does add to this. Hope this helps. You should check your library for the knitting around videos if you dont want to invest in them but they are great. My library got them for me from another library.
Casey
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Minnesota Mazzio's, at 1:54 PM
If you're knitting a Pi R Square shawl, you shouldn't have a fixed number of increase rows. So color me confused. You may or may not have garter ridges, depending on how you've designed yours.
I know the original publication of this design was in Knitter's Almanac, as part of the February baby things. There's a pretty good picture of the shawl acting as a background for the baby sweater, longies, doubleknit pad and bonnet. I don't recall the Knitter's Almanac version as well, but the directions were quite similar to the original.
So I'd start by doublechecking that you're definitely doing a Pi R Square shawl and *not* a Pi R Round one. Pi R Round *does* have a somewhat fixed number of increase rounds, and there are several published "fancy" versions with detailed lace patterning. The other lace shawl in Knitter's Almanac is Pi R Round, for June or July IIRC.
I *have* seen versions of both shawls done in garter stitch, and they're quite lovely. So that by itself isn't enough explanation of problems.
(also note that some or possibly all of EZ's publications of these designs do *not* use the names they're commonly known by... usually Pi R Square is used for the square shawl, and Pi R Round is used for the round one. That's why I'm pointing you at the Almanac - you can doublecheck against pictures that way)
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Anonymous, at 6:42 PM
I did the pi r square garter stitch shawl starting on pg. 108 of Knitting Around in a lovely silver grey 10 ply (Aran) 60% wool/40% alpaca which I'd bought at a very reasonable price. I used a 4.5 mm circular needle (US 7) and got exactly the gauge EZ mentions (5 stitches to 1"). It does take a lot of yarn. Well, not as much as I thought. I just went down and weighed the sucker. It came in at 1.035 Kg (2.277 lb or 36.43 oz). I put fake holes from the increase areas over to the front/back split line like EZ suggested (Option # 1 on pg 116) and that went very well.
I like the shawl well enough, but there are a few things I'll do differently if I knit it again. Perhaps this won't happen with your weight of yarn, but I found the shawl puckers at the 4th (final) increase round. If I had it to do over again I would space the increases across the entire back section interspersing them with holes without an increase instead of bunching the increases up at the center128 stiches of the back. Perhaps I would cut down total number of increases as well to completely get rid of the gathered/puckered effect from increasing the center 128 stiches to 256 stitches. Hmm... Maybe I'd even cut out some of the increases on the third increase round for it puckers just slightly, though you can't see that at all when wearing the shawl. You can certainly see the pucker effect of the fourth increase round even when wearing the shawl. I notice you can see a bit of that pucker effect after the fourth increase round in the picture of EZ modelling the back of the shawl on pg. 113 in the Knitting Around book.
The second thing I would do differently is put in some short rows in the back section (Option # 3 on pg 116) because the shawl isn't long enough in the back compared to the front sections. Hmm… How many short rows and where to position them???
The third thing I would definitely do differently is to start putting fake holes instead of increases in the line of increases that splits the front and back sections well before the end so that the bottom of the shawl is rounded (Option # 2 on pg 116). This would help the final appearance of the shawl no end and also make the border more continuous giving it too a much better appearance. Live and learn. All in all, the pi r square shawl is a great idea, but it needs a few little adjustments/modification to make it perfect
When I went to put on that interesting sawtooth border I found I had to modify the instructions a bit to get it right. If you have any trouble getting it right, drop me a line and I'll send you my notes though they’re a bit sketchy. After doing a small trial piece I sort of figured out how to change it to get it just right, got into the swing of things and went on from there. Looking at the pictures in Knitting Around, I would say my sawtooth border is a bit toothierJ; i.e., the tips of the teeth are more pronounced.
I’m thinking of doing the lace version Meg Swansen is modelling on pg. 114, but I have no idea what lace pattern to use or how/where to start inserting it. Any advice along those lines would be greatly appreciated.
Hope this helps.
Jean Harris
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Anonymous, at 10:30 PM
Thanks for all the advice!! Jean, I am taking you advice about the fourth increase...as it turns out 250g is not enough to knit the shawl and the border in lace weight on size US5 needles - so the shawl and the border wil be in different color lots. I will post it when I am done. Thanks for all the advice!!
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sunneshine, at 7:56 PM
The Pi shawl is in Almanac, the Pie are Square shawl is an entirely different pattern found in Knitting Around
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Donna Lynne, at 11:16 AM
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