2022 VVCAL
Published on June 24, 2022

2022 VVCAL: Night Sky Motif

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Hello, and a huge welcome to Week 17 of the 2022 Vibrant Vintage Crochet-A-Long (VVCAL)! Y’all, it’s the last week of hexies! I can’t believe it!

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 17 Instruction post, please head there first and see the instructions for the version that you are working. Below, you will find the Night Sky Motif pattern, in US, and UK Terms, Chart, Video, and Step by step photos.

Social Media Hashtags: #VVCAL and #CypressTextiles

Night Sky Motif

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

The Cosmos: Night Sky

A clear night sky offers an ever-changing display of fascinating objects to see — stars, constellations, and bright planets, often the moon, and sometimes special events like meteor showers. Here are some interesting facts about the Night Sky!

  • During daylight we only see our Sun and sometimes the moon. At night we see the Moon, Planets and their moons, Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, Nebulae and Stars against the dark sky. Because of the finite speed of light, when you gaze up into the night sky, you are looking into the past. The bright star Sirius is 8.6 light years away. That means the light hitting your eye tonight has been traveling for 8.6 years. Put another way: When you look at Sirius tonight, you see it as it was 8.6 years ago. As you look at more distant objects, the effect becomes bigger and bigger. The stars of the Big Dipper range from 60 to 125 light years away. When you look at Dubhe, the front star in the “bowl” of the Dipper, you are seeing light from before you were born. The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object readily visible to the naked eye. It is 2.5 million light years away. The light from it that we see right now is 2.5 million years old. We are therefore seeing the Andromeda Galaxy as it was at a time long before modern humans existed! The closest human relatives alive at the time were members of the genus Australopithecus. [More]
  • When you look up at the night sky with your naked eye all of the stars appear to be the same color, but in actuality they are not. Stars have different colors depending on their temperature. The hottest stars are blue, followed by white, yellow, orange, red, and the coolest stars are brown. Heated objects change colors as they get hotter, a glowing red object is hot but it represents the lowest heat seen under light. As something gets hotter it changes to white and then blue. Our sun is a “Green star,” or rather a green-blue star, as its actual color borders these two shades. Once influenced by its surroundings the sun appears to be white or yellow to us humans looking up from planet Earth. Most of the stars you see in the night sky are bigger and brighter than the sun. All of the 50 most prominent stars you can see in the sky from Earth are MUCH brighter and bigger than the sun. The dimmest of all 50 is Alpha Centauri, which is still more than 1.5 times brighter than the sun. Every constellation in the sky is visible with the naked eye, just as our ancestors saw them. [More]
  • Globular clusters refer to a conglomeration of thousands of stars that are packed together to give the appearance of a large fuzzy star when viewed with the naked eye. However, on a closer look using a powerful telescope, a globular cluster is an array of glittering stars tightly bound together by gravity, which is responsible for their spherical appearance. The closest and the brightest globular cluster is called the M22 and can be seen nestled in the same area as the Sagittarius constellation. The M22 is located 10,000 light-years away from the earth.
  • Space is full of debris and asteroids make up the majority of it. It is estimated that there are more than 150 million asteroids in the solar system. Once in a while, some get close enough to be pulled into the earth’s atmosphere by gravity. As they fall, they burn brightly, giving the impression of a falling star. Such sights are magnificent to behold, and many cultures around the world believe they are harbingers of good luck. Earth receives a minimum of 30 meteor showers in a year, and these only accounts for the visible ones. Most meteors and asteroids burn up in the atmosphere even before they go far. [More]
  • Mauna Kea, Hawaii is the top spot to gaze at the Night Sky. The largest astronomical observatory sits on a dormant volcano that is 14,000ft tall. There is very little city light, so the view is quite clear. 11 countries have built observatories on the volcano.
  • Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah is another great place to observe. The air is dry and clean, at a high elevation away from city lights, and a group called the “Dark Rangers” offers astronomy programs throughout the year.
  • Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska is the third greatest location to gaze at the Night Sky. From this location, you can see the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights are a spectacular sight! [More]

In its efforts to help educate the public about the hazards of light pollution spoiling both the natural environment and our understanding of the cosmos, and to help preserve the natural night sky for future stargazers, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has certified a selection of open areas as “International Dark Sky Parks.”

Jacob Frank, a media manager for the Four Corners School of Outdoor Education in Monticello, Utah, photographed the sky at one such site, the Hovenweep National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border.

Night Sky Motif Pattern

Scroll down past written instruction for chart and video.

Reference

Stitch Guide (US Terms)

Note: Scroll down for UK Terms.

  • beg beginning
  • beg 3dccl (beg dc, 2dccl) in same st/sp – counts as 1 3dccl
  • beg 4trcl beg tr, * yoh 2 times, insert hook in same st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 2 times, yoh and pull through all 4 lps
  • beg dc (1sc, ch1) – counts as 1 dc
  • beg tr (1sc, ch2) – counts as 1 tr
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • 3dccl 3dc cluster: (yoh, insert hook in st/sp, yoh, pull up lp, yoh, draw yarn through 2 lps) 3 times, yoh, draw yarn through 4 lps
  • 4trcl 4tr cluster: * yoh 2 times, insert hook in st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 3 times, yoh and pull through all 5 lps
  • 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, [1sc, ch2] 3 times, ss in first sc. [3 sc, 3 sp]

Rnd 2 Beg 4trcl in next ch-sp, [(ch3, 4trcl in same ch-sp) 2 times, ch3, 4trcl in next ch-sp] 3 times omt final 4trcl, ss in beg 4trcl. [9 4trcl, 9 sp]

Rnd 3 Beg 3dccl in first ch-sp, [ch2, 3dccl in same ch-sp, ch2, 3dccl in next ch-sp] 9 times omt final 3dccl, ss in beg 3dccl. [18 3dccl, 18 sp]

Rnd 4 4sc in 18 sps, ss in first sc. [72 sc]

Rnd 5 * [1sc in next st, ch3, sk1] 2 times, 1sc, sk3, (3dccl, ch2, 3dccl) in next st, sk3, rep from * 5 times, ss in first sc. [12 3dccl, 18 sc, 18 sp]

Rnd 6 Ss in 1 ch, 1sc in same ch-sp, * [ch3, 1sc in next ch-sp] 2 times, ch3, 1sc in same ch-sp, ch3, 1sc in next ch-sp, rep from * 5 times omt final sc, ss in first sc. [24 sc, 24 sp]

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

Stitch Guide (UK Terms)

  • beg beginning
  • beg tr (1dc, ch1) – counts as 1 tr
  • beg dtr (1dc, ch2) – counts as 1 dtr
  • beg 3trcl (beg tr, 2trcl) in same st/sp – counts as 1 3trcl
  • beg 4dtrcl beg dtr, * yoh 2 times, insert hook in same st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 2 times, yoh and pull through all 4 lps
  • 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
  • 3trcl 3tr cluster: (yoh, insert hook in st/sp, yoh, pull up lp, yoh, draw yarn through 2 lps) 3 times, yoh, draw yarn through 4 lps
  • 4dtrcl 4dtr cluster: * yoh 2 times, insert hook in st, yoh pull through, (yoh, pull through 2 lps on hook) 2 times, rep from * 3 times, yoh and pull through all 5 lps
  • yoh yarn over hook

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

Rnd 1 MR, [1dc, ch2] 3 times, ss in first dc. [3 dc, 3 sp]

Rnd 2 Beg 4dtrcl in next ch-sp, [(ch3, 4dtrcl in same ch-sp) 2 times, ch3, 4dtrcl in next ch-sp] 3 times omt final 4dtrcl, ss in beg 4dtrcl. [9 4dtrcl, 9 sp]

Rnd 3 Beg 3trcl in first ch-sp, [ch2, 3trcl in same ch-sp, ch2, 3trcl in next ch-sp] 9 times omt final 3trcl, ss in beg 3trcl. [18 3trcl, 18 sp]

Rnd 4 4dc in 18 sps, ss in first dc. [72 dc]

Rnd 5 * [1dc in next st, ch3, sk1] 2 times, 1dc, sk3, (3trcl, ch2, 3trcl) in next st, sk3, rep from * 5 times, ss in first dc. [12 3trcl, 18 dc, 18 sp]

Rnd 6 Ss in 1 ch, 1dc in same ch-sp, * [ch3, 1dc in next ch-sp] 2 times, ch3, 1dc in same ch-sp, ch3, 1dc in next ch-sp, rep from * 5 times omt final dc, ss in first dc. [24 dc, 24 sp]

Rnd 7 [3dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in next dc, 3dc in next 3 ch-sps, 1dc in next dc] 6 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 Night Sky Motif!

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

Happy Crafting,

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