Knit a Garter Stitch Half-Pi Shawl

Pi shawls were invented by Elizabeth Zimmermann and are a fun way to knit shawls, blankets, and tablecloths. Half-pi shawls use the same calculations to determine where the increases occur, but a half-circle shape is made instead of a complete circle. In this video, Michele Lee Bernstein shows you how to knit an easy and relaxing half-pi shawl, worked in garter stitch.

Michele begins with a garter tab cast on by knitting three stitches and working six rows for the tab. She works the garter tab cast on to 9 stitches. She works the next row, which is the Wrong Side, by knitting all the stitches and placing her stitch markers.

She begins working increases on the next row. These first set of increases are different than the rest of the shawl. She takes three stitches in the body of the shawl and triples them to 9 stitches. In the remainder of the shawl the stitches in the body of the shawl between the stitch markers will be doubled. She works the other increase rows on Rows 7 and 15. She explains that to continue working the shawl, increase rows will also be worked on Rows 29, 55, and 105.

Michele gives some suggestions on how to change the stitch pattern on the shawl, instead of working it entirely in garter stitch. She suggests working an eyelet row on the Right Side by working (k2tog, yo) across the body of the shawl stitches in between the stitch markers. Working these eyelets doesn’t change the stitch count but does add a nice eyelet detail on the background of garter stitch.