Celestarium

Originally featured in the Winter 2012 Twist Collective, Celestarium is an accurate view of the night sky from the North Pole in the form of a pi shawl. It is the sister shawl to Southern Skies and cousin to Equatorial Nights. Eyelets and beads are used to represent the stars. The center bead represents Polaris.

The first bead is prestrung, the rest are attached using a small crochet hook. The edge of the shawl is a knitted on garter stitch border.

To help keep track of the star placement, stitch markers are placed every 72 stitches once the shawl reaches above 72 stitches. There will always be 72 stitches in between markers. No stitch markers have be moved around to accommodate star placement. The pattern includes a star chart that shows what constellations have been knitted.

Photos © Jane Heller

Size

46” / 117 cm diameter

Materials

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction;400 yd / 366 m per 4oz / 113 g skein; (50% Merino, 50% Tencel); fingering weight:
3 skeins in Haida

Needles & Notions

Size 4 US / 3.5 mm:
• needles in preferred style for small
circumference knitting in the round
• circular needle 24” / 60 cm long
• circular needle 40” / 100 cm long
Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain correct gauge.

0.75 mm crochet hook for beading,
8 stitch markers, 370 size 6/0 silver-lined crystal seed beads

Gauge

22 stitches and 28 rows = 4x4” / 10x10 cm in Stockinette stitch
Getting exact gauge is not critical. It is more important to get the row gauge than the stitch gauge. To save time and to ensure accurate sizing, check gauge