'Aunty' Nancy's Baby Shawl

I am itching to get stitching on the possum stole but I have a deadline for my Pi so I need to get going with that. Here's a progress photo I took when I changed needles to accommodate the extra stitches after the last increase round. I tried to stick with the shorter circs but eventually gave in and now I remember why it is a good idea to swap to longer ones! It is so much easier to move the stitches around and even when the extra length isn't much it makes a huge difference not to have to shuffle a few stitches along every few minutes. I got several rows done last night where the previous evening I think I only did one.

I think the photograph shows nicely how the increases in a Pi shawl work. There are the same number of stitches just after the last increase round in the centre and before the increase round at the edge. As you move out the stitches spread out more until, when you are twice as far as the last time you had to increase, you increase again to twice the number of stitches. See how the stitches are close together after an increase round and spread out before the next one? Lovely, plain and lovely. I will take this over to Nancy's when I am ready to add a border and let her choose a stitch for the edging. Probably either godmother's stitch or there is a fancy one called great grandmother's edging which, as she is to be a great grandmother :o), seems appropriate. I know Nancy would love to be knitting this herself but crippling arthritis prevents her and I am only too happy to offer to do it for her. The only awkward bit of the arrangement is that she will insist on paying for it and I would be very happy to do it for love. She's a great lady and has not only welcomed me into the family with open arms and made me feel like a daughter, but also given me all her considerable stash when she had to give up knitting because of the pain it caused her. A sad reason to gain a stash but it's wonderful to be able to draw on her knowledge.

Tomorrow, continuing the family theme, my mum's knitting.