Zimmermann's Pi Cuffs

The renowned knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann came up with the Pi shawl concept in the 1980's. It's a simple formula for increasing in the round to make a circular shawl. Essentially, you double the number of stitches in a round, and you do this after double the number of rounds each time.

For example:

Cast on 6

knit 1 round

Increase by 6 (12 stitches)

Knit 2 rounds

Increase by 12 (24 stitches)

Knit 4 rounds

Increase by 24 (48 stitches)

And so on. I've taken this circular increasing formula and applied it to netting (the same technique used to make traditional fishing nets, basketball nets and more), added a few twiddly bits, and made some decorative cuffs.

Essential:

1. String or yarn. I've used a gradient set of linen yarns, but you can easily use whatever smooth string or yarn you fancy
2. Netting gauge (I used 10mm size, but you can make your individual meshes any size you want. I have a lovely set made by this shop in Lithuania, but you can also make your own by just cutting up an old credit card to your preferred size).
3. Netting shuttle - I'm using a cheap plastic one I got from ebay here as I think I was using the right sized wooden one (also from Vytu Vatu) in another project - the most important thing with this is that your shuttle should be slightly narrower than your netting gauge.
4. Velvet ribbon - I'm using 16mm Berisford's ribbon, which is very high quality and the best I've come across
5. Needle and thread
6. Scrap string and a means to keep it taut
7. Locking stitch marker or safety pin
8. Blocking equipment (I used foam mats and T pins)

Optional:

1. I wanted a green to black gradient, so I used the off white to black set I had, and dyed the two finished pieces of netting green. For this I used two types of fibre reactive/Procion MX dyes in Sherbet Lemon and Brilliant Emerald, and soda ash for the necessary alkaline levels.
2. I also used flat elastic for my cuffs, so I wouldn't have to retie the ribbon each time I put them on. Ideally you want elastic the same width as your ribbon, but as long as it's a matching colour then you can make it work within a few mm.

As I said, you can use pretty much any size of string/yarn and gauge you want. You just need to swatch and play around until you have an aesthetically pleasing fabric and a number of meshes (each V shaped stitch you make) that fits around your wrist with a little wriggle room. I'd just finished making a string shopping bag with the same yarn, so I stuck with the same gauge and just measured with that.

Once you've got your starting numbers of meshes (I went with 16), you need to plug it into the Pi formula. Here are a couple of examples of number series that would work:

a)

Mesh 6

Work 2 rounds

Double (12)

Work 4 rounds

Double (24)

Work 8 rounds

Double (48)

Work 16 rounds

Double (96)

Work 32 rounds

b)

Mesh 7

Work 2 rounds

Double (14)

Work 4 rounds

Double (28)

Work 8 rounds

Double (56)

Work 16 rounds

Double (112)

Work 32 rounds

c)

Mesh 8

Work 2 rounds

Double (16)

Work 4 rounds

Double (32)

Work 8 rounds

Double (64)

Work 16 rounds

Double (128)

Work 32 rounds

Because we're not working the absolute centre of the circle, we can jump in a few rounds in (and we want to have an even number, so generally starting where the formula has already doubled is a good idea). As I decided to start with 16 meshes, that means I can use formula version c) and jump in as if I was working the 'double (16)' round, rather than starting at the very beginning.

It's a very accommodating formula, so don't be afraid to use the numbers that work for you. It could look great to use a really fine gauge and therefore really small holes (if you can live with the associated amount of work to do), or you could equally go with a chunky knitting yarn and still get an interesting result.

First off, you want to wind some yarn onto your shuttle. This is the part of the cuff that will be elasticated around your wrist. I decided to start with black, and have it fade to green falling over my hands.

Then, you need to tension your scrap string. You could tie it between two things (a chair back could work great), or as I'm lazy and was working on the sofa, I just thoroughly pinned it to the back cushion of said sofa, creating a loosely tensioned line to work from.

Then, work a clove hitch onto the scrap yarn using your shuttle yarn, and leaving a good sized tail. Take your gauge, and wrap the shuttle yarn around it once. Work a second clove hitch, giving you one mesh looped around the gauge. Repeat. You want to create 1 less mesh than your desired number. For me I wanted to end up with 16 meshes total, so I worked 15 onto the gauge. The 16th mesh is created when we join in the round.

Next, we want to keep the meshes attached to the scrap yarn, but remove the scrap yarn from its tensioning and bunch the meshes up (bearing in mind to be careful and not twist them). I then knotted the scrap yarn and attached it tastefully to my sofa with a locking stitch marker. You will need a degree of tension, but you could also use a sturdy chair, wall hook, etc.

To join the beginning of your meshes to the end, you want to knot the beginning tail to the working shuttle yarn, keeping the same mesh size throughout. The simplest knot you can use is an overhand double knot, but if you know more advanced techniques then feel free to use them here and at every end of round.

Now we start round 1. Each mesh is worked in the same way, with a weaver's knot. You want to loop the working yarn from front to back around your mesh gauge. Then insert the shuttle through the mesh being worked from back to front. Work your weaver's knot by creating a loop in front of the mesh with the working yarn, using the hand holding the gauge to keep it in place. The shuttle then goes behind the mesh, through the loop and out. Then the knot is carefully tightened (if this is your first time netting, I recommend watching the weaver's knot being made a few times on youtube). There should be one mesh created on your gauge stick. Work the next mesh in the same way, and continue until you reach the beginning of round (you'll know this because the tail will be there), removing the meshes from the gauge sometimes to make it easier to work.

Join the working yarn to the tail yarn in the same way you joined in the round originally.

To add a mesh or two to the side of the cuff closest to the body in front of the threaded elastic, I chose to work five rounds of meshing before doing my first increase round. I then joined as normal, to set up for the increase round.

As we're doubling the stitches in every increase round, each increase round is worked in exactly the same way. Work your first increase into the mesh you just made by joining the tail end and working yarn. An increase is worked around the gauge using the weaver's knot in exactly the same way as previously. Then work two weaver's knots into every mesh in the round. Your resulting fabric should look like the photo.

Time to go back to our formula: I started with 16, just doubled to 32, so now I want to work 8 plain rounds before I double again. I also switched colours according to the gradient every 4 rounds (using a total of 4 colours). Whenever you need to refill your shuttle, just wind the new yarn onto the shuttle, cut the working yarn attached to the cuff short, loop the shuttle through that mesh, and tie a weaver's knot. If you're doing this at the beginning of round to add in a new colour, make sure you leave a long enough tail for continuing to join each end of round.

Stick with the formula until your cuff is long enough for your tastes: my finished cuffs were 20 rounds long including the cast on, and I finished with 64 total meshes. To finish the cuff, just cut the tails short, and make a second one!

I thought the grey-black gradient was a little dull, so I decided to green it up. If you're happy with your yarn choices then just skip this stage.

I soaked the cuffs in a soda ash solution (just dissolve a teaspoon-ish of soda ash in boiling water. I keep a bottle of it on the go as it doesn't spoil). Then I mixed a nice green from the two dye powders and water, and immersed the cuffs in the solution overnight.

The next day I did a ton of rinsing (I avoid fibre reactive dyes most of the time because I hate how much rinsing you have to do...!), and let it dry. You could just skip straight to the blocking stage while it's already wet, but I wanted to check I liked how the green turned out, which is never clear until you've dried the project.

This is honestly the most important stage, it's what's going to give your cuffs a gorgeous draped shape.

Soak them for at least half an hour. Then we're going to do a LOT of pinning. I started with one cuff, and pinned it roughly in quarters (with my handy blocking mats that have circles pre-printed. If you have plain mats, just pin each quarter taught, and keep going until it's all under tension). I then pinned the halfway points, and the halfway points between the halfway points... Eventually, every mesh should have a pin turning it into a lovely pointed diamond. If you missed a couple of increases don't worry about it, and just fudge the pinning so each mesh is pinned, even if they're a bit more spread out (I was out by one or two meshes, and you really can't tell once it's all done).

I also put a single pin in the centre, and hooked all the beginning meshes onto it. To do the second cuff, I just slowly removed and replaced one pin at a time, until the second cuff was pinned directly over the first. Since I was about two meshes out from perfection, I used a few extra pins here and there to keep each mesh blocked at the halfway point on both cuffs.

When completely dry (which won't take long if you're using laceweight yarn), remove every single pin, preferably without stabbing anyone unless if they deserved it. Stop and admire the drape on your ridiculously foppish cuffs.

If using elastic (which I recommend so you can actually dress yourself with ease), wrap the elastic around your wrist to measure. I cut 2x 7" lengths, which when sewn together would give a snug but not tight fit. Then I threaded the elastic through the cuff several rounds in, and sewed the elastic together. I did this for both cuffs, and then added the velvet bows. I have discovered that I have even less aptitude for tying decorative bows than I thought, so I ended up creating separate loops and sewing them together. If you think you can do a better job of this, then you probably can. Make your bows and sew them on.

This is Kate, and she actually likes having her photo taken, unlike me. Locate your photogenic Kate, and take some pretty pictures. And that's it!