Pi Shawl

Thought I would add a picture of my progress  on the Pi Shawl.    At this point (only worked on it one day which was a very stressful day - see previous post) it has 72 stitches - using the magic loop makes 36 stitches on each side.  So far I have followed the pattern in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac except I am using magic loop instead of the double pointed needles.  The next row is an increase row and will double the stitches to 144.  Then I am following the Gull Wings pattern from Ravelry.  By the end it will have 576 stitches.  Wonder what the date will be when I post the final picture.  Wonder if there will be a final picture or if it will be the project that goes in my casket.  I figure I never go on a trip without a knitting project so assume someone will put a project in the casket for my final trip.  :)

Pi Day

So today is 3 14 15 and is the biggest Pi day of the century.  Since I am horrible at math, I only know this because of Twitter and my daughter.  And apparently when the time is 9:26:53 it makes a very special moment in your life and you won't even know it.  :)  Unless you are on Twitter and I am sure it will explode at that time.  Or it did this morning and I missed it.

So in honor of Pi Day I decided to start the Elizabeth Zimmermann Pi Shawl.  I've started it three other times and failed miserably and ripped it out.  Just the cast on is hard - you need to google it on You Tube and watch a video to figure it out.  And it is awkward as all get out to do.  But I did it twice with the very expensive Noro lace yarn I bought in Mesa as a special present to myself (shortly after husband bought a bunch of reloading supplies).  So the cast one went ok on the third try then I did row one.  Started row two and the yarn broke.  Just broke - right in my hand.  I discovered if you gave even the slightest tug it would break.  I checked on Raverly and found that others had the same problem with the yarn.  Upset doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.  This was VERY expensive yarn and I had two packages and a goal of a beautiful shawl and I am sitting there with fragments of yarn.  I called the  yarn shop in Mesa and the lady was very nice - she gave me some suggestions on how to deal with the yarn and also said if I was still unhappy I could mail the packages back and she would give me store credit.  So the yarn is in time out right now and I will bring it back out in a few weeks.  In the mean time I found some Mohair Glitter yarn in my stash that I believe the Pi knowledgeable daughter gave me for either Christmas or my birthday.  It is a sparkly blue and will make a beautiful shawl and I am now on row 18 of the shawl!  But I have miles to do before I am finished.

In other craft news I started a Tunisian crochet sweater for myself and decided I needed to practice this technique  before I went very far into the sweater so I found some bulky brown yarn and made two small rugs for the bathroom.  There was no pattern - just Tunisian (afghan stitch) with the brown and a double crochet edge with the multicolored yarn.  Was good practice and we needed the rugs anyway.

I am also making scent circles for the local NICU.  I use an old CD to draw and cut circles from fleece.  In the past I would just laundry them in scent free detergent after cutting but I read that they prefer they have a zig zag edge so will do that this time.  Then I will put them in groups of five in ziplock bags to take to the NICU.  They are given to mothers to sleep with a circle inside her nightgown so her scent is on the circle.  The circle is then put in with the baby in the NICU.  My daughter-in-law did this with the triplets and my understanding is that the NICU is always in need for more circles.  I saw fleece on sale the other day so bought some.

Keeping busy is important for retired people like me and I like doing different craft activities so between knitting, cross stitching, crocheting and a little sewing I think I am reaching my goal.

And that is why the house isn't as clean as it could be.  :)