Yukon Tapestry

Construction

The pattern is modular and you can very easily add to both length and width. See the yardage charts for size options.

Yarn

Colour 1 (C1 – colour of the trees): A Year in Yukon edition of Pook Yarns Advent sets (www.pookyarns.com) of fingering weight 50% merino/50 % silk. 400 m /437 yd per 100 g.

Colour 2 (C2 – colour of the cables and ravens and the I-cord edge): Drops Flora (65 % wool, 35 % alpaca). 210 m /230 yd per 50 g.

Yardage depends on the size you want to make. See the yardage charts for more info. You need approximately the same amount of yarn in yards/meters for both C1 and C2, so when you have found your size, you know the amount needed for one yarn. Buy the same number of yards/meters for the other yarn.

Shown in the Sunset colourway as C1 with black C2. Make sure to have good contrast between C1 and C2. The more contrast, the clearer the pattern will be.

Shown in size “stole”: 207 sts cast on and 4 reps of border pattern. 27 ¼ x 72 inches (177x69 cm).

Needles and other tools needed

Use long circular needles for the larger pieces due to the large amount of sts. You can use straight needles for the smaller pieces if you prefer. Size US 3 (3.25 mm) or size needed to get gauge.

Crochet hook a size smaller than your needles for the double chain cast on (if applicable) (and it can be used for the bind off, too).

2 cable needles.

2 double pointed needles one size smaller than your regular needles for the I-cord edge around the piece (if applicable).

Stitch markers to place between repeats and marking borders. This will be a huge help for you. Particularly when setting up the repeats. Use loops made out of sewing thread or very thin wire stitch markers to avoid ladders between sts.

Gauge using recommended yarn

30 sts and 60 rows/4 inches (10 cm) in mosaic pattern after blocking (hand wash gently and lay flat to dry). If substituting yarn, one border square should be so near to square as to appear square – stitch gauge nearly or exactly half the row gauge.

If substituting yarns, I recommend yarns with good grip and body.

Please swatch!

The separate file containing the swatch info also contains descriptions of the cast on and bind off methods and the optional fringe.

The story

To begin with, I wanted to add the next pattern to the Canadian Geography Series and asked one of my Canadian inspirators which one it should be. Yukon was suggested.

Looking at pictures of Yukon, it became evident that the territory was dominated by mountains, forests and rivers. The idea of a kind of tapestry for Yukon slowly took shape. I had already begun swatching mosaic patterns, and slowly they began to come together.

The yarn for this came in two editions, one 10 g x 24 and one 20 g x 24. That’s rather a lot of yarn. The wish from Rachel was that people could use all the colours of the sets (well that was easy), and I added a criteria that if they wished, people could use most of the yarn in one project (a bit more challenging). It therefore needed to be pattern you could add sections to without ruining the design.

Personally, I really like shawls. The bigger the better. But I’ve also begun realising that people like scarves, particularly as presents. And wow, blankets! Blankets are great. For babies, for bedcovers, for anything in between. I’m the type of person who can’t keep it simple, so this pattern will be all of the above (with reservations, you might need several advent sets for a king size bed lol).

The pattern really is a tapestry - you will be working the forests complete with deer, the snow covered mountains, the rivers and I even found a way to incorporate the raven, the official Yukon bird. Well, I meant the rivers to be rivers, the Klondyke and the Yukon, but my dear Canadian friend thought it looked like northern lights, so we can call it that too, if you wish.