2022 VVCAL
Published on May 27, 2022

2022 VVCAL: Aurora Borealis Motif

written by

Hello, and a huge welcome to Week 13 of the 2022 Vibrant Vintage Crochet-A-Long (VVCAL)! The PDF is released! Enjoy!

PDF Version

Announcement! The 2022 VVCAL full PDF is now available to purchase from Etsy and Ravelry.

  • 42-Page PDF of the entire 2022 VVCAL
  • 36 full mix-and-match hexagons plus 2 half hexagons
  • 2 joining options plus border
  • All motifs have charted and written instructions
  • 2.5 pages of tips and tricks
  • Full layouts, motif progress tracker checklist, and yarn information for Scheepjes Catona Colour Pack, SW/RW Colour Pack (1 or 2 packs), and Metropolis Pack
  • Guidance and blank layout for Colour Crafter and Chunky Monkey stash yarn

Attention!

If you have not yet seen the Week 13 Instruction post, please head there first and see the instructions for the version that you are working. Below, you will find the Aurora Borealis Motif pattern, in US, and UK Terms, Chart, Video, and Step by step photos.

Social Media Hashtags: #VVCAL and #CypressTextiles

Aurora Borealis Motif

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

The Cosmos: Aurora Borealis

The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are beautiful dancing waves of light that have captivated people for millennia. Here are some interesting Aurora Borealis facts!

  • It was Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei who coined the name “aurora borealis” in 1619 after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas. The earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a 30,000-year-old cave painting in France. One North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus head, while the Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife. An early royal astronomer under Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed his report of the phenomenon on a tablet dated to 567 B.C., while a Chinese report from 193 B.C. also notes the aurora, according to NASA. [More]
  • The science behind the northern lights wasn’t theorized until the turn of the 20th century. Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland proposed that electrons emitted from sunspots produced the atmospheric lights after being guided toward the poles by Earth’s magnetic field. The theory would eventually prove correct, but not until long after Birkeland’s 1917 death. At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere, creating what’s called the solar wind. When that wind slams into Earth’s ionosphere, or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called the northern lights (aurora borealis), while in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s called the southern lights (aurora australis). “These particles are deflected towards the poles of Earth by our planet’s magnetic field and interact with our atmosphere, depositing energy and causing the atmosphere to fluoresce,” said astronomer Billy Teets, the director of Dyer Observatory at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. [More]
  • Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. While solar wind is constant, the sun’s emissions go through a roughly 11-year cycle of activity. Sometimes there’s a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in 2014, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(opens in new tab) (NOAA), placing the next one in approximately 2025. [More]
  • Auroras occur on other planets, too — all that’s required to make an aurora is an atmosphere and a magnetic field. “Auroras have been seen in the atmospheres of all the gas giant planets, which is not surprising, since these planets all have robust magnetic fields,” said Jeff Regester, an instructor of physics and astronomy at High Point University in North Carolina. “More surprisingly, auroras have also been discovered on both Venus and Mars, both of which have very weak magnetic fields.” Indeed, scientists have catalogued three different types of Martian auroras. One occurs only on the planet’s dayside, another is a widespread nighttime feature fueled by strong solar storms and another is a much patchier nightside phenomenon. The Hope Mars orbiter, the United Arab Emirates’ first-ever interplanetary mission, managed to capture the discrete nocturnal aurora shortly after arriving at the Red Planet in early 2021. The probe’s observations could help scientists better understand this mysterious phenomenon. [More]

Aurora Borealis Motif Pattern

Scroll down past written instruction for chart and video.

Reference

Stitch Guide (US Terms)

Note: Scroll down for UK Terms.

  • 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
  • beg beginning
  • 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 dc (1sc, ch1) – counts as 1 dc
  • BPsc back post sc
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • lp loop
  • MR make ring: slip knot, ch3, ss in third ch from hook
  • 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, beg 3trpc, [ch3, 3trpc] 5 times, ch3, ss in beg 3trpc. [6 3trpc, 6 sp]

Rnd 2 [1sc in 3trpc, (4dc, ch3, 4dc) in next ch-sp] 6 times, ss in first sc. [48 dc, 6 sc, 6 sp]

Rnd 3 Pull lp to back of work, [BPsc in 3trcl, ch4] 6 times, ss in first BPsc. [6 sc, 6 sp]

Rnd 4 Beg dc in first ch-sp, [(2dc, ch1, 3dc) in same ch-sp, ch1, 1dc in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final dc, ss in beg dc. [36 dc, 12 sp]

Rnd 5 [(1sc, ch3, 1sc) in both next ch-1 sp and ch-3 sp from “petal” treating them as one sp to anchor petal, ch3, 1sc in next ch-sp, ch3] 6 times, ss in first sc. [18 sc, 18 sp]

Rnd 6 Ss in 1 ch, [1sc in ch-sp, ch3] 18 times, ss in first sc. [18 sc, 18 sp]

Rnd 7 1sc in first sc, * ch3, 1sc in same sc, [ch3, 1sc in next ch-sp] 3 times, ch3, 1sc in next sc, rep from * 5 times omt final sc, ss in first sc. [30 sc, 30 sp]

Rnd 8 * 3sc in next ch-sp, [2sc in next ch-sp, 1sc in next sc] 3 times, 2sc in next ch-sp, rep from * 5 times, ss in first sc, cut yarn and weave ends. [84 sc] 

Stitch Guide (UK Terms)

  • 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
  • beg beginning
  • 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 tr (1dc, ch1) – counts as 1 tr
  • BPdc back post dc
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • dtr double treble crochet
  • lp loop
  • MR make ring: slip knot, ch3, ss in third ch from hook
  • 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, beg 3dtrpc, [ch3, 3dtrpc] 5 times, ch3, ss in beg 3dtrpc. [6 3dtrpc, 6 sp]

Rnd 2 [1dc in 3dtrpc, (4tr, ch3, 4tr) in next ch-sp] 6 times, ss in first dc. [48 tr, 6 dc, 6 sp]

Rnd 3 Pull lp to back of work, [BPdc in 3dtrcl, ch4] 6 times, ss in first BPdc. [6 dc, 6 sp]

Rnd 4 Beg tr in first ch-sp, [(2tr, ch1, 3tr) in same ch-sp, ch1, 1tr in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final tr, ss in beg tr. [36 tr, 12 sp]

Rnd 5 [(1dc, ch3, 1dc) in both next ch-1 sp and ch-3 sp from “petal” treating them as one sp to anchor petal, ch3, 1dc in next ch-sp, ch3] 6 times, ss in first dc. [18 dc, 18 sp]

Rnd 6 Ss in 1 ch, [1dc in ch-sp, ch3] 18 times, ss in first dc. [18 dc, 18 sp]

Rnd 7 1dc in first dc, * ch3, 1dc in same dc, [ch3, 1dc in next ch-sp] 3 times, ch3, 1dc in next dc, rep from * 5 times omt final dc, ss in first dc. [30 dc, 30 sp]

Rnd 8 * 3dc in next ch-sp, [2dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in next dc] 3 times, 2dc in next ch-sp, rep from * 5 times, ss in first dc, cut yarn and weave ends. [84 dc] 

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!

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 Aurora Borealis Motif!

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

Happy Crafting,

Rachele C. – The Art of Crochet Blankets

You may also enjoy these completed CALs