Pi Appliqué ~ Free Pattern and Tutorial! π

Happy Pi Day!

In case you’re new to this remarkable holiday, today is 3/14, and those are the first three digits of pi, the never-ending irrational number represented by the Greek letter π. Below are the first 100 digits from piday.org.

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679 ...

[Edited 9/4/14: Sorry, all my pictures disappeared and therefore you can't see the photo tutorial :( Let me know if you can't get it from the descriptions... sorry!]

 

A few days ago I posted this picture ~ Pumpkin Pi! ~ and said I would post the pattern on Pi Day. Here it is ~ and I also made a tutorial, since this is a seamless, somewhat unconventional pattern. I hope you like it! And if you do make a pi appliqué, please send me a picture, because I’d love to see.

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Suggested Materials

This pattern can be made with any yarn and hook, because gauge isn’t important. But you should use a smaller hook than your yarn suggests, to make the stitches tighter. For example, I used Vanna’s Choice for the tutorial, which recommends about a 5 MM or 5.5 MM hook. I used a 4 MM (G) instead. My finished pi was about 3.5 inches tall and 3 inches wide. You can use whatever materials you like ~ perhaps crochet thread for pi earrings, or bulky yarn to make an appliqué for a pillow. It’s up to you. Also, if you’re planning to use it for something like earrings or an ornament, you should stiffen it with spray starch at the end, otherwise it will be too floppy.

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Abbreviations

I use American crochet terms. Below is a list of the American terms compared to the UK terms, along with the abbreviations.

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Notes

The pi is divided into three parts: the left leg, then the top bar, then the right leg. But it’s all seamless, so don’t cut your yarn in between parts. I have divided the tutorial into those three sections so you can keep your place more easily.

Pull all of your slip stitches tight so you won’t be able to see them later.

Let’s go!

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Left Leg

Okeydokey. You need to start with a Magic Ring (click here for a tutorial) and chain 2. If you can’t do a Magic Ring, or you prefer not to, then chain 3 and use the first chain as your ring. This will leave a bit of a hole in the center, but you can weave the starting tail through at the end and pull to tighten.

Then make 12 dc into the ring.

Tighten it up by pulling firmly on the starting end, then slip stitch into the first dc.

*Note: Pull your slip stitches tight to keep them from being seen later.

Ch 9.

Sc in the 2nd ch from the hook and in each ch across, which will result in 8 stitches.

Now, slip stitch in the next two stitches from the 12 dc.

Turn so you can work back across the sc. It helps if you put a stitch marker in the last stitch made, so you can identify the first stitch when you turn.

This is what it should look like at the end of the row. You’re done with the left leg!

Top Bar

Ch 10.

Dc in the 3rd ch from the hook, and dc in each chain across. Since we aren’t counting the turning chain as a stitch, now you have 8 dc.

Now we crochet along the side of the sc rows. Make 1 dc into the end of the first row, inserting your hook like this.

Then, do another dc into the end of the next row.

Make 3 hdc into the same stitch. This helps form the pointy part, which we are going to accentuate in the next step.

Ch 3 and turn.

Sl st into the 2nd ch from the hook. Sc in the next chain.

Then sc in each of the stitches across the row (it consists of the 10 dc and 3 hdc.)

Before we make the right leg, we have to get our yarn into the proper place. If you lay it out with the pointy bit at the left, can you see how our yarn is at the top of the bar, and it needs to be at the bottom? So turn it to the side like above. We’re going to slip stitch into the two turning chains…

…like this.

Now the yarn is at the bottom corner, and we have to do a few more slip stitches. We’re going to work into the underside of the chain ~ the spare loops from our 8 dc in the top bar.

So, slip stitch into the next three stitches. I hope this picture makes it clear enough. Now we’re in the proper position to start the…

Right Leg

The right leg is done with the same procedure as the sc part of the left. But we start with ch 11 as above.

Sc in the 2nd ch from the hook and in each chain across, which will give you 10 stitches.

Then, slip stitch in the next two stitches on the underside of the chain, and turn, ready to crochet across. In the above picture my hook is stuck into the first stitch.

Sc in each of the 10 stitches.

Here’s the progress so far…now we’re moving onto the pointy part on the right leg. On the home stretch!

Turn so you can work along the side of the rows.

1 sc in the same stitch.

Then, in the end (sort of through the chain, like you see above), do 1 hdc…

…and 2 dc.

Cut the yarn, leaving a six-inch tail if you want to weave it in now, or a long tail if you’re going to use it to sew the appliqué on. I would use sewing thread if I sewed it onto something, because it’s less visible. But it’s up to you.

Fasten off and weave in both ends.

And you’re done! You’ve crocheted your very own Pi Appliqué! π I’m very excited about this pattern, I did crochet a pi once before but that was from another pattern. It’s about time I developed my own. 🙂

If you’re feeling especially nerdy, you can make a pumpkin…then you’ll have your very own pumpkin pi! Or maybe it could be apple pi… π. 🙂

Happy Pi Day! Eat your pi and crochet it too! (Similar to Twinkie Chan’s catchphrase. :D)

3.1415926535…

π