It is time for Part Four of the Shetland Pi Shawl! Get your copy here (pdf format).
ETA: I uploaded a revised pattern as of 3:30pm on Sunday — there was an error in the written out instructions. The chart was correct. This is why I prefer writing patterns with charts only!
This is a really, really big helping of Pi: on the first round you increase to 576 stitches, and then work 51 rounds (48 of them in the lace pattern).
If you think you may run out of yarn, you can do 1 or 2 fewer repeats in this section. Each pattern repeat is 8 rounds.
There is a funky little maneuver in this pattern: in Round 5 you decrease 2 stitches in each of the 9-stitch pattern repeats, so you number of stitches changes in that round. But on Round 6 of each repeat you increase 2 stitches by knitting in the front and back of the 2 yarn-overs you worked in Round 5, so you will go back to the “normal” stitch count then.
Several of you have asked me why I am calling this a “Shetland” shawl. It is because most of the stitch patterns I am using are either traditional Shetland lace or based on traditional Shetland lace. I say “based on” because I didn’t look any of these up in a stitch dictionary before charting them. I just did it out of my head, depending on my memory. So some of them might be slightly different from a traditional Shetland stitch pattern.
And a couple of you have expressed concern that you might not be keeping up with the group with your knitting. Worry not — there is no time limit on this KAL, you can start it any time and finish it any time you like. As it happens, I have finished my pi apart from the bind-off, but of course I’ve had access to all the parts before you did. I wanted to be a little ahead so I could troubleshoot any problems.
Thanks for all your good wishes on the completion of my manuscript. I’ll talk again about this project when it is a bit further along in the process of turning it into a book. At this time I do not have a publication date but based on past experience, I’d say about a year from now.
And I did celebrate in the right order — I purchased these shoes before I had a margarita.
These are Mephisto shoes, the style is called “Raika.” I love Mephisto shoes — they are one of a very few brands that don’t hurt my feet. I got them from Zappos.com, my favorite shoe source.
Several of you thought I needed a new purse, but I just got one at the beginning of the month. 
Lucy sez:
“What the heck are you watching?”
