2022 VVCAL
Published on April 14, 2022

2022 VVCAL: Exoplanet Motif

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Hello, and a huge welcome to Week 7 of the 2022 Vibrant Vintage Crochet-A-Long (VVCAL)! I’m so glad you’re here!

Attention!

If you have not yet seen the Week 7 Instruction post, please head there first and see the instructions for the version that you are working. Below, you will find the Pulsar Motif pattern, in US, and UK Terms, Chart, Video, and Step by step photos.

Social Media Hashtags: #VVCAL and #CypressTextiles

Exoplanet Motif

Find the Ravelry Page for this motif here and add your project!

The Cosmos: Exoplanet

An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside our Solar System. Here are some fun exoplanet facts!

  • The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, initially detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. By March 2022, 5000 officially confirmed exoplanets had been found according to NASA. [More]
  • In 2017, NASA announced that its Spitzer Space Telescope observed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Three of these planets are located in what’s called the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water – key to life as we know it. The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of known planets in a star’s habitable zone. Our solar system has only two planets in this zone: Earth and Mars. This exoplanet system has three. [More]
  • How do astronomers find exoplanets? Exoplanets usually orbit a star, but that star is usually so bright that the exoplanets cannot be seen directly; therefore, indirect methods must be used to detect them. Most planets are found via the transit method. Exoplanet transits occur when a distant exoplanet passes between its star and Earth, and that slight dip in a star’s light can reveal an otherwise hidden planet. Some planets are found via the wobble method. In all gravitationally bound systems involving stars, the objects orbit around a common center of mass. When an exoplanet’s mass is significant in comparison to its star’s mass, there’s the potential for us to notice a wobble, detectable via a shift in the star’s light frequencies. Very few exoplanets have been discovered through direct imaging, which is just a fancy way of saying taking its picture. The exoplanet must be close enough to Earth, and far enough from its star that it is not hidden in the bright starlight. [More]
  • There are some very weird exoplanets out there. HD 189773b – where it rains glass sideways: Only 64 lightyears away, this deep-blue exoplanet floats serenely in space, but if you had the misfortune to visit this massive gas giant, you’d soon regret it. As well as being spun furiously by winds blowing at 8,700 km/h, you’d be cut to shreds by glass rain. The planet’s blue color is the reflection of silicate in its atmosphere that, when heated by the planet’s deathly 1300°C temperature, forms grains of glass. WASP-12b – puffed up planet in a death spiral: Just three million or so years from its eventual fiery demise, WASP-12b is spiraling inwards toward doom at the hands of its yellow dwarf host star. The planet is now so close to its star that it’s begun wobbling and distorting under the star’s gravity, while intense stellar radiation has caused it to swell up so much that it’s falling apart. TOI 849 b – a world stripped bare: Discovered in 2020, this exoplanet orbits so tightly to its star that a year passes in 18 hours. What makes TOI 849 b particularly weird though is its strangely hybrid nature. While it’s around the size of gas giant Neptune, it’s dense and rocky not gaseous – in fact, it’s the largest rocky world yet discovered, 40 times as massive as Earth. [More]
  • In November 2013 it was estimated that 22±8% of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way galaxy may have an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. Assuming 200 billion stars in the Milky Way, that would be 11 billion potentially habitable Earths, rising to 40 billion if red dwarfs are included. Is there life out there? Potentially! [More]
Comparison of Earth and possibly habitable exoplanet, Kepler-1649c.

Exoplanet Motif Pattern

Reference

Chart

Note: Chart is meant as a visual guide to the written instruction and might not be able to stand alone due to special stitches.

Video

Note: Video is spoken in US Terms. Watch on mute to avoid confusion for UK Terms.

Subscribe on YouTube for more videos like this one!

Stitch Guide (US Terms)

Note: Scroll down for UK Terms.

  • 2dccl 2dc cluster: (yoh, insert hook in st/sp, yoh, pull up lp, yoh, draw yarn through 2 lps) 2 times, yoh, draw yarn through 3 lps
  • 2trcl 2 treble cluster: * yoh 2 times, insert hook in st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 1 time, yoh and pull through all 3 lps
  • beg beginning
  • beg 2dccl (beg dc, 1dc) in st/sp indicated – when joining rnd, ss into full dc st
  • beg 2trcl (beg tr, 1tr) in st/sp indicated – when joining rnd, ss into full tr st
  • beg dc (1sc, ch1) – counts as 1 dc
  • beg 3trpc beginning 3 treble popcorn: (beg tr, 2tr) in st/sp, remove lp from hook, insert hook front to back through beg tr, grab lp, pull lp to front of work to close beg 3trpc
  • beg tr (1sc, ch2) – counts as 1 tr
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • hdc half double crochet
  • lp loop
  • MR make ring: slip knot, ch3, ss in third ch from hook
  • 3trpc 3 treble popcorn: 3tr in st/sp indicated, remove lp from hook, insert hook front to back through first tr, grab lp, pull to front of work to close 3trpc
  • sc single crochet
  • sp space (ch-sp = chain space)
  • ss slip stitch
  • st stitch
  • tr treble crochet
  • yoh yarn over hook

Written Instructions & Step-by-step Photos (US Terms)

Rnd 1 MR, 6sc, ss in first sc. [6 sc]

Rnd 2 Beg 3trpc in next st, [ch2, 3trpc in same st, ch2, 3trpc in next st] 6 times omitting final 3trpc, ss in beg 3trpc. [12 3trpc, 12 sp]

Rnd 3 Beg dc in first ch-sp, [3dc in same ch-sp, 1dc in next ch-sp] 12 times omitting final dc, ss in beg dc. [48 dc]

Rnd 4 [1sc in next st, ch4, 1sc in next st, ch2, sk2] 11 times, 1sc in next st, ch4, 1sc in next st, 1hdc in first sc – counts as final ch-2 sp. [24 sc, 24 sp]

Rnd 5 1sc around the hdc, treating it like a ch-sp, [ch2, 1sc in next ch-sp] 23 times, ch2, ss in first sc. [24 sc, 24 sp]

Rnd 6 Beg 2dccl in same st as ss, [ch2, 1sc in next sc, ch2, (2trcl, ch2, 2trcl) in next sc, ch2, 1sc in next sc, ch2, 2dccl in next sc] 6 times omitting final 2dccl, ss in beg 2dccl. [12 2trcl, 6 2dccl, 12 sc, 30 sp]

Rnd 7 [2sc in next ch-sp, 1sc in sc, 2sc in next ch-sp, 3sc in next ch-sp, 2sc in next ch-sp, 1sc in sc, 2sc in next ch-sp, 1sc in 2dccl] 6 times, ss in first sc, cut yarn and weave ends. [84 sc]

Stitch Guide (UK Terms)

  • 2trcl 2tr cluster: (yoh, insert hook in st/sp, yoh, pull up lp, yoh, draw yarn through 2 lps) 2 times, yoh, draw yarn through 3 lps
  • 2dtrcl 2 double treble cluster: * yoh 2 times, insert hook in st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 1 time, yoh and pull through all 3 lps
  • beg beginning
  • beg 2trcl (beg tr, 1tr) in st/sp indicated – when joining rnd, ss into full trst
  • beg 2trcl (beg dtr, 1dtr) in st/sp indicated – when joining rnd, ss into full dtr st
  • beg tr (1dc, ch1) – counts as 1 tr
  • beg 3dtrpc beginning 3 double treble popcorn: (beg dtr, 2dtr) in st/sp, remove lp from hook, insert hook front to back through beg dtr, grab lp, pull lp to front of work to close beg 3dtrpc
  • beg dtr (1dc, ch2) – counts as 1 dtr
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • dtr double treble crochet
  • htr half treble crochet
  • lp loop
  • MR make ring: slip knot, ch3, ss in third ch from hook
  • 3dtrpc 3 double treble popcorn: 3dtr in st/sp indicated, remove lp from hook, insert hook front to back through first dtr, grab lp, pull to front of work to close 3dtrpc
  • sp space (ch-sp = chain space)
  • ss slip stitch
  • st stitch
  • tr treble crochet
  • yoh yarn over hook

Written Instructions & Step-by-step Photos (UK Terms)

Rnd 1 MR, 6dc, ss in first dc. [6 dc]

Rnd 2 Beg 3dtrpc in next st, [ch2, 3dtrpc in same st, ch2, 3dtrpc in next st] 6 times omitting final 3dtrpc, ss in beg 3dtrpc. [12 3dtrpc, 12 sp]

Rnd 3 Beg tr in first ch-sp, [3tr in same ch-sp, 1tr in next ch-sp] 12 times omitting final tr, ss in beg tr. [48 tr]

Rnd 4 [1dc in next st, ch4, 1dc in next st, ch2, sk2] 11 times, 1dc in next st, ch4, 1dc in next st, 1htr in first dc – counts as final ch-2 sp. [24 dc, 24 sp]

Rnd 5 1dc around the htr, treating it like a ch-sp, [ch2, 1dc in next ch-sp] 23 times, ch2, ss in first dc. [24 dc, 24 sp]

Rnd 6 Beg 2trcl in same st as ss, [ch2, 1dc in next dc, ch2, (2dtrcl, ch2, 2dtrcl) in next dc, ch2, 1dc in next dc, ch2, 2trcl in next dc] 6 times omitting final 2trcl, ss in beg 2trcl. [12 2dtrcl, 6 2trcl, 12 dc, 30 sp]

Rnd 7 [2dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in dc, 2dc in next ch-sp, 3dc in next ch-sp, 2dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in dc, 2dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in 2trcl] 6 times, ss in first dc, cut yarn and weave ends. [84 dc]

Links to Weekly Instruction Posts

Quick Links to Each Week: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20

Links to Published Hexagon Patterns

Pin the Exoplanet Motif!

Thank you so much for stopping in for this week of the 2022 VVCAL!

Happy Crafting,

Rachele C. – The Art of Crochet Blankets

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