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Pi Shawls for Pi Day

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It’s March 14, also known as Pi Day, so who could resist thinking about some pi-shaped (or pie-shaped?) shawls?

The most famous Pi Shawl is of course Elizabeth Zimmermann’s. Originally shared in her print newsletter, it’s been republished in Knitter’s Almanac, where it’s the project for July because it’s “good travel-knitting.” She likes this particular project for its simplicity, with only six increase rounds in the whole project.

Towards the end, by the time your state of mind has become more and more frayed, and your need of mindless comfort greater and greater, your knitting will be nothing but almost endless rounds of hundreds of stitches, with no thinking required, at all. You will end up with an heirloom.

Looking for more Pi Shawl patterns to knit? Check these out on Etsy.

Sounds pretty good, right?

There are lots of great pi shawls out there in the world now; here are a few.

The Simply Pi Shawl form Kay Meadors is really simple, almost all straight knitting. An optional beaded edging gives it a little sparkle and weight.

Ravelry user MMario’s Easy Peasy Lace Shawl uses simple eyelets throughout, while his Pi-napple Strudel gets points for the cute name and lovely design.

The Flower Pie Shawl by Megan Elligner adds a bold flower pattern to the basic shape, while Jan Henley’s Pi in the Sky I is actually a semi-circle using the same concepts.

If you’re willing to pay a bit for a pattern, check out Mindy Vasil’s Camellia, Susan Pandorf’s Evenstar (you’re going to want to look at the amazing variations on this one, including a knit dress), the Butterfly Pi shawl from Linda Farrelly, Margrit’s Pi Shawl by Tanja Luescher and the Diamond Rings Pi Shawl by Donna Druchunas, who inspired me to collect this roundup in the first place.

And if you want to go your own way with a circular shawl worked from the center out, Holly Peacock has a great calculator in a Google document that you can use. Just plug in how many stitches you want to cast on and it will tell you where to increase, how many stitches you should have once you’ve increased, and how many usable rounds you have between increase rounds for plotting out your pattern. Awesome.

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Comments

  1. I am knitting Jared Flood’s “Leaves of Grass” pattern right now, it is a beautiful paid for pi pattern. I am making it in worsted weight so it should be more like a blanket. I am loving it, I love pi shawls

Have you read?

A Whimsical Sock Pattern to Blow Your Mind

You probably know by now if you’re a regular reader (and if you’re not, welcome!) that I love a knitting pattern that’s a little silly or a little different from the usual. Classic patterns are great, too, but sometimes you just want to make something with a bit of whimsy. And when it’s super functional, too, that’s even better.

That’s the case with the Bananen-Socken pattern from Susanne Shahin. These banana socks are one of those patterns no one seems to be totally sure where it came from, and this free pattern on Ravelry explains how she makes them based on how she learned it.

It’s a sock that’s curved and when not on a foot it looks rather like a banana. There’s no heel, and you can use whatever number of stitches you need to make it fit your foot. If you’ve knit enough socks to know how many stitches you like you can just use that number, or the pattern notes include sizing charts to help. (It needs to be multiples of 2 for the ribbing.)

After working a traditional cuff, the body is made with ribbing on the back and welts (or what the pattern calls horizontal ribbing) on the front, which is what gives it the curved shape. There’s no heel, but there is toe shaping, but for the leg and the foot you just keep working the same pattern as long as you like.

I’m a little skeptical about how these socks will feel with ribbing on the bottom of the foot, but I’m definitely intrigued and will probably give them a try. 

The pattern notes are available on Ravelry in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. If you head to the pattern page you can see a photo of what it looks like on a foot, and it just looks like a normal sock.

Have you ever knit banana socks or do you want to now? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Susanne Shahin]