2022 VVCAL
Published on June 24, 2022

2022 VVCAL: Universe 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 Universe Motif pattern, in US, and UK Terms, Chart, Video, and Step by step photos.

Social Media Hashtags: #VVCAL and #CypressTextiles

Universe Motif

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

The Cosmos: The Universe

The Universe”, to paraphrase the British biologist JBS Haldane, “is not stranger than we imagine. It is stranger than we can imagine.” Here are some interesting facts about The Universe!

  • From its expansion and acceleration to dark matter and energy, the universe continues to amaze and perplex astronomers. The universe began with the Big Bang, and is estimated to be approximately 13.7 billion years old (plus or minus 130 million years). Astronomers calculated this figure by measuring the composition of matter and energy density in the universe, which enabled them to determine how fast the universe expanded in the past. As a result, researchers could turn back the hands of time and pinpoint when the Big Bang occurred. The time in between that explosion and now makes up the age of the universe. In the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble made the discovery that the universe is expanding. But, it was long thought that the gravity of matter in the universe would slow this expansion or even cause it to contract. In 1998, the Hubble Space Telescope studied very distant supernovas and found that, a long time ago, the universe was expanding more slowly than it is today. This puzzling discovery suggested that an inexplicable force, called dark energy, is driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. While dark energy is thought to be the strange force that is pulling the cosmos apart at ever-increasing speeds, it remains one of the greatest mysteries in science because its detection remains elusive to scientists. The majority of the mass in the universe is dark matter that cannot be seen. [More]
  • The Universe was hot when it was young. In fact, even only within minutes of Big Bang expansion, scientists predict its temperature to have been about a billion Kelvin. Moving backward to 1 second, it is said to have been at 10 billion Kelvin. For comparison, today’s universe is found to have an average temperature of only 2.725 Kelvin. The Universe will be cold when it grows old. Observations made especially on galaxies farthest from us show that the Universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. This, and data that show that the Universe is cooling allows us to believe that the most probable ending for our universe is that of a Big Freeze or Heat Death. That is, it will be devoid of any usable heat (energy). Measurements made by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) on the current geometry and density of the Universe favor such an ending. [More]
  • There are 5 eras in the universe’s lifecycle. Right now, we’re in the second era. Astronomers find these five chapters to be a handy way of conceiving the universe’s incredibly long lifespan. First published in 1999 in their book The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity, Fred Adams and Gregory Laughlin divided the universe’s life story into five eras. The book was last updated according to current scientific understandings in 2013.
  • Primordial era: Within a second after the Big Bang finished Big Banging, inflation began, a sudden ballooning of the universe into 100 trillion trillion times its original size. Within minutes, the plasma began cooling, and subatomic particles began to form and stick together. In the 20 minutes after the Big Bang, atoms started forming in the super-hot, fusion-fired universe.
  • Stellferous era: The smaller irregularities that survived eventually enlarged, pooling in denser areas of energy that served as seeds for star formation—their gravity pulled in dark matter and matter that eventually coalesced into the first stars. The era we know, the age of stars, in which most matter existing in the universe takes the form of stars and galaxies during this active period.
  • Degenerate era: Will begin about 1 quintillion years after the Big Bang, and last until 1 duodecillion after it. This is the period during which the remains of stars we see today will dominate the universe. Were we to look up — we’ll assuredly be outta here long before then — we’d see a much darker sky with just a handful of dim pinpoints of light remaining: white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and neutron stars. These ”degenerate stars” are much cooler and less light-emitting than what we see up there now.
  • Black Hole era: Protons, having been around since the beginning of the universe will start dying off, dissolving matter, leaving behind a universe of subatomic particles, unclaimed radiation…and black holes. For a considerable length of time, black holes will dominate the universe, pulling in what mass and energy still remain.
  • Dark era: Eventually, though, black holes evaporate, albeit super-slowly, leaking small bits of their contents as they do. When a black hole finally drips to its last drop, a small pop of light occurs letting out some of the only remaining energy in the universe. At that point, at 1092, the universe will be pretty much history, containing only low-energy, very weak subatomic particles and photons. We can sum this up pretty easily. Lights out. Forever. [More]
Image based on logarithmic maps of the Universe put together by Princeton University researchers, and images produced by NASA based on observations made by their telescopes and roving spacecraft

Universe 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 dc OR beg hdc (1sc, ch1) – counts as 1 dc OR 1 hdc
  • 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
  • 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 dc, 11dc, ss in beg dc. [12 dc]

Rnd 2 2sc in 12 sts, ss in first sc. [24 sc]

Rnd 3 1sc in same st, [ch3, sk2, 1sc, ch3, 1sc in next st] 6 times omt final sc, ss in first sc. [12 sc, 12 sp]

Rnd 4 [(1sc, ch1, 3dc, ch3, 3dc, ch1, 1sc) in next ch-sp, sk 1 ch-sp] 6 times, ss in first sc. [36 dc, 12 sc, 12 sp]

Rnd 5 Pull lp through to back of work, [(1sc, ch3, 1sc) in skipped ch-sp from previous Rnd,ch3] 6 times, ss in first sc. [12 sc, 12 sp]

Rnd 6 Beg dc in first ch-sp, [(1dc, ch2, 2dc) in same ch-sp, 3dc in next ch-sp, 1dc in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final dc, ss in beg dc. [42 dc, 6 sp]

Rnd 7 [(1sc, ch3, 1sc) in next ch-sp, ch3, sk3, 1sc in both next st and ch-3 sp from “petal” treating them as one to anchor petal, ch3] 6 times, ss in first sc. [18 sc, 18 sp]

Rnd 8 Beg hdc in first ch-sp, [ch1, 2hdc in same ch-sp, 3hdc in next ch-sp, 1hdc in next sc, 3hdc in next ch-sp, 2hdc in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final hdc, ss in beg hdc. [66 hdc, 6 ch-sp]

Rnd 9 [3sc in next ch-sp, 11sc] 6 times, ss in first sc, cut yarn and weave ends. [84 sc]

Stitch Guide (UK Terms)

  • beg beginning
  • beg tr OR beg htr (1dc, ch1) – counts as 1 tr OR 1 htr
  • chN chain N number of times
  • dc double crochet
  • htr half 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 tr, 11tr, ss in beg tr. [12 tr]

Rnd 2 2dc in 12 sts, ss in first dc. [24 dc]

Rnd 3 1dc in same st, [ch3, sk2, 1dc, ch3, 1dc in next st] 6 times omt final dc, ss in first dc. [12 dc, 12 sp]

Rnd 4 [(1dc, ch1, 3tr, ch3, 3tr, ch1, 1dc) in next ch-sp, sk 1 ch-sp] 6 times, ss in first dc. [36 tr, 12 dc, 12 sp]

Rnd 5 Pull lp through to back of work, [(1dc, ch3, 1dc) in skipped ch-sp from previous Rnd,ch3] 6 times, ss in first dc. [12 dc, 12 sp]

Rnd 6 Beg tr in first ch-sp, [(1tr, ch2, 2tr) in same ch-sp, 3tr in next ch-sp, 1tr in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final tr, ss in beg tr. [42 tr, 6 sp]

Rnd 7 [(1dc, ch3, 1dc) in next ch-sp, ch3, sk3, 1dc in both next st and ch-3 sp from “petal” treating them as one to anchor petal, ch3] 6 times, ss in first dc. [18 dc, 18 sp]

Rnd 8 Beg htr in first ch-sp, [ch1, 2htr in same ch-sp, 3htr in next ch-sp, 1htr in next sc, 3htr in next ch-sp, 2htr in next ch-sp] 6 times omt final htr, ss in beg htr. [66 htr, 6 ch-sp]

Rnd 9 [3dc in next ch-sp, 11dc] 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 Universe 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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