Like many knitwear designers, I find inspiration in the amazing shapes, patterns and colors that are abundant in nature. And with this pattern the sky really is the limit! Take a look at the night skies of Alaska, Scandinavia, Scotland, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, or Russia and you will be transfixed by the vivid and vibrant color combinations on display, swirling in the sky in scarf or stole like shapes.

Admittedly, it is rather cold in these places and not all of us have the opportunity or desire to visit them, but now you can knit your own illuminations wherever you are! And if you do decide to go, what could be better than the Lights of Polaris to keep you warm and elegant as you witness the enthralling and spectacular show in the sky.

Lights of Polaris is available in three different sizes: small, medium, and large - so it’s incredibly versatile and can be as varied as the colors in the sky. You can use any yarn weight you like and then determine the width and length of your project by choosing the appropriate size, extending the length at your leisure and adding as many stripes as you need to achieve the right width.

You will need two yarns, one with a color gradient and one solid or semi solid. I used Schoppel Zauberball combined with Wollmeise Pure or Schoppel’s Wool Finest, but of course there are tons of other options. I chose fingering weight. With two balls of 3.5oz/100g (one of each yarn) you can knit a decently sized shawl or scarf. With 3-4 balls you can extend your project to a stole. 1.7oz/50g of the solid color and 2.6oz/75g of the color gradient will deliver a nice shawlette. I knitted the large version with Wool Finest of “Meeresblick” and two Laceballs of “Smoking Area” which I knitted at the same time in order to match the fingering weight and to get a longer color gradient. These colors can all be found in the northern lights. You will find that other hues work just as well.
If you need more inspiration for combinations try Crystal Palace Mini Mochi or Sausalito paired with Mini Solid; Noro Hansono or Silk Garden Sock Solo paired with Silk Garden Sock Solo , Silk Garden Fine or Flower Bed; Schoppel Wool Finest or XL Kleckse with Zauberball 100 or Zauberball Crazy; Wollmeise Pure semi solid with multi colored; Lana Grossa Meilenweit, Schoppel Zauberball 6, Schoppel Edition 3, Nordlys by Viking of Norway, Lang Mille Colori, Poeoms Sock, Amitola by Louisa Harding, and many many more.

Lights of Polaris is a seamless modular knit. It is completely reversible and it can be draped like a scarf or a stole if you have knitted a bigger version. All instructions are written and charted, enriched with ample photo tutorials on the techniques of shaping and joining the modules. This makes Lights of Polaris a feasible project for most knitters.

Happy knitting!