Lyria Shawl

The story:

Every year, the Minnesota Yarn Shop Hop brings the community together and helps raise money for local food shelves. This year, the theme is Museums and Amazing Threads went with the planetarium theme. 

Looking at the project, I wanted to capture the space's vibe while still allowing for something elegant. The name Lyria comes from the Lyria galaxy, which will produce a meteor shower that will be visible in Minnesota during April of 2026. The shawl is shaped like a spiral galaxy, which inspired the name. The shell section of the pattern has a spiked vibe to mimic the streaks of meteors across the sky and give interest to the shawl. 

What you need:

• 3.5 mm hook

• Main Color Yarn (490 yards) 

• Contrast Color Yarn (490 yards)

• Scissors

• Tapestry needle for sewing in ends

Stitches to know:

• dc - Double Crochet

• sc - Single Crochet

• hdc - Half-Double Crochet

• ch - Chain

• st - Stitch

• sl st - Slip Stitch

• cldc - Chainless DC (see tutorial)

• standing dc - See Tutorial

• fp-pop - front post 4dc Popcorn (see tutorial on popcorn stitches)

• bpdc - Back Post Double Crochet

• bpsc - Back Post Single Crochet

• Magic Circle

• tsc - Twisted Single Crochet (see tutorial)

Tips and Tricks:

• While the pattern calls for the standing double crochet and the chainless double crochet, both of those are optional. For the standing double crochet, you can join the new yarn color however you prefer. The chainless double crochet is just that, chainless. If you prefer to chain 2 or 3 instead, you can. I prefer the other techniques because it gives a more polished finished project! 

• I highly suggest weaving your ends in as you go. This will make the headache less of a headache when you finish the shawl. 

• This project needs to be blocked once it is complete. It is best if you wet block it due to the silk in the fibers. If you are using a different yarn, then steam blocking it would work just fine. I suggest that if you are planning to wet block, you can spin the wet project in a salad spinner to extract much of the water. This will allow it to dry faster!

• Gauge isn't terribly important because you can repeat the section until it’s as big as you like. However, a gauge is provided if you want to make it like the sample above with the yarn quantities listed. 

• The twisted single crochet is a different way of achieving the same look as a crab stitch. If you prefer, you can do a crab stitch instead. I just find the twisted crochet is easier to do and looks exactly the same. 

You will turn at the end of every row

Rows underlined are the contrast color

Start with a magic circle 

• Row 1: Start with a cldc, dc 13 more times into the magic circle. Pull the circle close, but do not join to the first stitch. (14 dc)

• Row 2: ch 2, 3 hdc in the first stitch. hdc in each stitch until you get to the last stitch. 3 hdc in the last stitch (18 hdc)

• Row 3: start with cldc, dc 2x into first stitch. dc in each stitch until you get to the last stitch. 3 dc in the last stitch (22 dc)

• Row 4: start with cldc, ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc in the first stitch. *ch 3, sk 2 sts, dc in next stitch*. Repeat from * to * until you have 3 stitches left. ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc in the last stitch. 

• Row 5: start with cldc, ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc in the first stitch. *ch 3, sk 3 ch, dc in next stitch*. Repeat from * to * until you have 3 ch stitches left and the last dc. ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc, ch 3, dc in the last stitch. 

• Row 6: ch 2, hdc 4x in the first stitch, hdc 4x in the ch 3 space until the end. hdc 4x in last stitch. 

• Row 7: start with standing dc, ch 3, dc in the first stitch. ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc in next stitch, * ch 3, sk 2 sts, dc, ch 2, dc, ch 2, dc in the next stitch, ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc*. Repeat from * to * until you have 3 stitches left. ch 3, dc, ch 2, dc in the last stitch. 

• Row 8: start with cldc, dc again in the first stitch, dc 2x in the ch space, dc 1x in next dc, ch 3, sc in the sc *ch 3, [dc 1x in first dc of shell, dc 2x in ch space, dc 3x in next dc, dc 2x in ch space, dc 1x in last dc of shell], ch 3, sc in the sc* Repeat from * to * until the last half shell (dc, ch 2, dc) is remaining. ch 3, dc 1x in first dc, dc 2x in ch space, dc 2x in last dc

• Row 9: start with cldc, dc 1x in first dc, ch 2, sk 1 st, bpdc in the next 3 sts, ch 1, sc in the sc *ch 1, bpdc in the next 3 dc, ch 2, sk st, fp-pop around the next st, ch 2, sk st, bpdc in the next 3 dc, ch 1, sc in the sc* Repeat from * to * until you get to the last half shell at the end. ch 1, bpdc in the next 3 dc, ch 2, sk st, dc 2x in the last stitch. 

• Row 10: ch 1, sc 2x in first stitch, ch 5, dc in the sc, *ch 5, bpsc around the popcorn, ch 5, dc in sc* Repeat from * to * until you reach the last half shell. ch 5, sc 2x in last stitch

• Row 11: start with standing dc, dc 2x in first st, dc 1x in next st, *dc 6x in each ch sp*. Repeat from * to * until you have 2 sts remaining, dc 1x in the next st, dc 2x in the last st. 

• Row 12: ch 2, hdc 3x in first st, hdc in each st until you reach the last st, hdc 3x in last st

Repeat 3-12 until it is as large as you like, ending after row 11. Move to the border. For the sample, the last row before the border was 31. 

Border: ch 1, tsc in each stitch until the end of the row

Fasten off, weave in your ends, and block the shawl.