A ~14” replica of the death star!

12/8 update: OK, since there is demand for it, I am going to begin working on charts for the color. Those may not be done for a few weeks, but I will go ahead and share my scribbled notes that I made as I wrote the pattern. They may not be the easiest things to read, but they’ll work as guidelines for those of you who have no idea how to approach this while I work on the charts.

MC (Main Color) is the light gray solid yarn, and SC (second color) is the dark gray tweed.

Note: An attempt was made for all decreases to fall within the dark gray areas. If they aren’t, the decrease can be moved up or back a few stitches in either direction so it does.

Starting with the bottom:
First color set up: Work this twice (you will be short one stitch - that’s ok).
11 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 4 SC, 1 MC, 43 SC, 3 MC, 22 SC, 2 MC, 12 SC, 1 MC, 30 SC, 6 MC, 4 SC.

I worked this pattern for about 10 rounds (note that there are decreases in here, so when I say I worked this color pattern, I mean I kept the edges of the blocks of color straight, NOT that I worked the same number of stitches of each) and then added some horizontal partial-stripes of the MC. I did not make notes here, and it is not necessary to do it this way; I did it at random because in ever image of the death star I have seen, the city sprawls and trenches have had some irregular edges and are not plain rectangles. I also added a few areas with 1x1 vertical stripes. Anything to break up the monotony.

Second color set up (Row 38): 15 SC, 2 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 15 SC, 2 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 12 SC, 3 MC, 8 SC, 5 MC, 10 SC, 2 MC, 5 SC, 5 MC, 10 SC, 2 MC, 15 SC, 2 MC, 11 SC, 2 MC, 12 SC, 4 MC, 15 SC, 4 MC, 12 SC, 2 MC, 11 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 5 MC, 2 SC, 1 MC.
In this section, I began breaking up the blocks on row 46.

Third color set up (Row 56): This is addressed in the pattern .pdf since it is the 6x6 stitch block section with the slightly altered sequence of decreases. There is no more need for color instructions from this point on since you’ll be working either solid MC or solid SC.

Top half:
Note about working around the superlaser: I always made sure at least two stitches surrounding the hole for the superlaser were done in MC. Beyond those two stitches on either side of it, I “wrapped” the dark tweed block around the curved shape of the hole, rather than working a solid piece of MC there.
First color set up: 12 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 20 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 15 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 15 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 3 SC, 10 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 10 SC, 4 MC, 3 SC, 3 MC, 10 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 8 SC, 3 MC. For this section, I began modifying the color blocks sooner, since this section isn’t as many stitches tall as the first section of the bottom half.

Second color set up (Row 22): 2 MC, 6 SC, 3 MC, 14 SC, 2 MC, 14 SC, 3 MC, 10 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 14 SC, 3 MC, 14 SC, 2 MC, 30 SC, 6 MC, 10 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 2 SC, 2 MC, 14 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 20 SC, 6 MC, 12 SC, 2 MC.

Third color set up (Row 35): 2 MC, 20 SC, 3 MC, 20 SC, 3 MC, 30 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 12 SC, 1 MC, 12 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 6 SC, 2 MC, 20 SC, 2 MC, 10 SC, 6 MC, 15 SC, 3 MC, 6 SC, 1 MC, 4 SC, 2 MC.

…and that’s it.