bazinga – 1. A catchy phrase to accompany your clever pranks. As popularized by Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory).  2. A short post highlighting something that Emma and Kelly think is freaking fabulous.

This is the Celestarium Shawl, designed by Audry Nicklin.  (Photos copyright by Jane Heller.)  It is in the latest issue of Twist Collective, a really fabulous online knitting magazine.  When I first saw it, I thought “OK, it’s a pretty shawl,” but as shawls don’t usually capture my attention so much, I flipped right by it.  But I came back to it because it is pretty; I like the round shape, I like the drape, I like the use of beads and eyelets.  I think the yarn is lovely – it is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the colour Haida.

But then, I read the description, and, well, it had me:

“Celestarium is an accurate view of the night sky from the North Pole in the form of a pi shawl. Eyelets and beads are used to represent the stars. The center bead represents Polaris.”  [from the Ravelry project page]

This is so cool.  I sent the link to Emma and she agreed – totally cool.  Emma spent part of the summer studying early scientific treatises on the stars for her summer internship, became enthused, and has been studying astronomy at UBC this fall.  We are both geeky enough to think this is an amazing idea for a pattern.

Doesn’t that just make your heart stop?  Absolutely freaking fabulous.