Description

The Ketchikan Collection is a series of beaded lace patterns that highlight the rugged beauty of Ketchikan, Alaska using the unique qualities of Wonderland’s Unicorn yarn. 

Above Ward Lake, a 4 1/2-mile gravel road climbs towards Dude Mountain. Brown Mountain Road’s numerous sites include black bear and Sitka black-tailed deer, but it’s at night that the road’s striking views can really be seen. On a clear night, in the absence of city lights, the sky is so full of stars that constellations can be hard to pick out. Photographing aurora can light the sky with a magenta tint laced with a distinct greenish-yellow glow.

Brown Mountain pi shawl’s lace backdrop grows steadily from the center outwards as its carefully placed beads form scaled constellations that mimic the night sky. As a final touch, you can use metallic thread to link those “stars” into their familiar shapes or just let them create a visual puzzle.

Like the night sky, the pi shawl grows exponentially from the center outwards. As the number of rounds in each section doubles, so does the stitch count. While this allows for many different patterns, the goal with this shawl was to create a regular, almost transparent backdrop for the stars. That opened the way for a very simple, repetitive sequence that allows both the knitter and the viewer to focus on the twinkling beads and the shapes they form. The center of this shawl will be Polaris, the North Star, and using the coordinates chart, you will place stars of major constellations in relation to its location.

Also Available on Ravelry

Yarn:

• Six (6) skeins “Unicorn” silk-mohair sport weight yarn; 3.5 oz skein, 63% silk, 23%  kid mohair, 11% nylon, 3% lurex, 100% magic; 310 yards [sample used 1,630 yards Dreamworld (#14)]

Needles & Notions

• US size 7 circular needle, various sizes as the diameter grows circular needle (or size needed to obtain gauge)
• US size 7 DPNs
• US size 7 crochet hook
• Beading crochet hook US #10, (1.30mm)
• 2/0 Czech glass beads [sample used 118 Clear White-color-lined beads]
• darning needle

Gauge: 7 sts, 12 rows = 2 inch lace pattern blocked

Measurements: approx. 60 inches (153 cm) in diameter blocked