Crochet Snowflakes in color

Sometimes it’s fun to add color to your snowflakes. Here are a few patterns I’ve used to experiment with when I get bored making plain white snowflakes. For the snowflakes above I used the Cake Head Snowflake pattern by Jessica Wifall. It’s available free on Ravelry, I did rounds 1 and 2 in a flower color, round 3 in green, and rounds 4 and 5 in white.

The pattern above is White Dew by Caitlin Sainio. It’s available for free from Lion Brand’s website

These were made using the South Land snowflake pattern by Jessica Wifall. The pattern is part of her Mix and Match Snowflakes collection available on Ravelry for $2. This is an interesting collection of patterns that allows you to mix and match 4 center designs and 4 finishing edgings to create 16 different snowflakes.

And lastly, just to show that even a small two round snowflake can look nice in color, here’s Spring Snow snowflake by Caitlin Sainio. It’s from the book 100 Snowflakes to Crochet. It looks like this book may be unavailable. If you can find it I’d recommend it for the variety of snowflakes with written and charted instructions.

You can see more of the snowflakes I’ve made in 2021 and 2022 at my Ravelry project page.

Turn an 8 pointed motif into a 6 pointed snowflake!

Have you ever noticed that some “snowflake” patterns are 8 pointed, some have even more points. In real life most snowflakes are 6 pointed and some are 3 pointed too. So whenever I see a really cool snowflake pattern and then realize it has 8 points I’m usually disappointed.

Recently I have discovered that it is easy to convert an 8 pointed snowflake pattern into a 6 pointed pattern if the 8 segments are all the same. All you really need to do is work the pattern as written and leave out 2 repeats in each round.

I suggest starting with a magic loop rather than chaining and joining to start. With a magic loop you can adjust the tightness if necessary to accommodate the change to 6 segments.

For the snowflake above I took the original pattern and changed the number of stitches in the first round from 8 to 6. If your first round has a multiple of 8 stitches convert it to a multiple of 6. For this one I started with 6 sc in a magic loop. When the pattern tells me to repeat a section 7 times I subtract 2, repeating it 5 times, then I follow the instructions after that to finish out the end if the round. Often the last repeat of a segment is altered slightly to connect up with the beginning of the round, so make your subtraction after you’ve done 5 segments.

After I figured out the written instructions I drew a chart to help me remember what to do.

It’s even easier if the pattern has a chart. You can just skip the 6th and 7th repeats and move to the 8th repeat to finish the round.

I made this snowflake from a chart posted on Pinterest

The pattern begins with the equivalent of double crochet 2 together. chain 5, and it is repeated 6 times around instead of 8. Then just follow the chart around skipping the 6th and 7th segments on the star.

I encourage you to try this if eight pointed just isn’t your style of snowflake.

Snowflake Roundup 2022

Frosty Tails Snowflake, made with Aunt Lydia’s size 10 thread,

Sorry I missed publishing my snowflake roundup for 2021. I will try to do that later this year.
In the meantime here are some of my favorite snowflake patterns for 2022.

Pictured above is the Frosty Tails Snowflake pattern by Julia Hart. It is available free on her website or you can get a pdf version without ads on Ravelry for $2. This is the snowflake to give to your cat loving friends! The cat design, created with post stitches, is subtle so you might not even notice there are cats, but when you do it’s a nice surprise!

Cake Head Snowflake pattern by Jessica Wifall, with my added color choices.

This pretty snowflake lends itself to adding color to emphasize the flower pattern in the center. To achieve this look I did rounds 1 and 2 in pink, round 3 in green, and rounds 4 and 5 in white. Easy!

Cake Head Snowflake is available as a free download on Ravelry. Jessica did a whole set of snowflake patterns this year and they’re all beautiful. Some are free and the whole set is also available on Ravelry for $3.

Aspen Snowflake pattern by Caitlin Sainio. I made it with the discontinued Nazli Gellin Garden Metallic thread, which has a nice sparkle that I can’t capture on camera.

The Aspen pattern is from the book Crochet Snowflakes Step by Step which I borrowed from the library. It has nice patterns with written instructions, charts and photo tutorials. This would be great for someone who likes visual instructions. And this snowflake is quick to make, looks lovely after blocking and starching. I think this is available in print only at your usual online bookstores.

Aspen snowflakes in turquoise and white.

Turquoise is my most requested snowflake. I will try to do a post exclusively on blue snowflakes in the future. Sadly the turquoise Nazli Gellin Garden Metallic thread is now discontinued.

If you’d like to view more of the snowflakes I made in 2022 you can see them on Ravelry here.

Blue 2020: Snowflake Roundup

This year I received a lot of requests for blue snowflakes!

These are a few of my favorite snowflake patterns that I made this year.

The Galaxy Snowflake pattern is a beautiful one, available free on Saraphir website.

I am also quite fond of the Yes Sir Snowflake pattern by Jessica Wifall, available for free on Ravelry.

If you are looking for something out of the ordinary I like this unusual pattern, Winter Flowers Snowflake from YarnTimeNow blog. This pattern has a photo tutorial, a chart, as well as written instructions.

You can see more of my snowflakes with technical information on my Ravelry project pages.

Oh, just couldn’t resist one last snowflake pattern. Winter Hearts Snowflake by Julia Hart. Not free, but part of a collection of 3 patterns. I think it’s worth checking out.

I hope you enjoyed this roundup.

Snowflake roundup 2019

Key starting with first white flake on left going clockwise: Taku, Ice Feathers, two white Nymphalidae, turquoise Nymphalidae, red Kaikas, dark blue Daffodil, in center left turquoise Alpine Glacier, and Taku.  All patterns by Sainio except Nymphalidae and Daffodil.

My sister gave me the book 100 Snowflakes to Crochet by Caitlin Sainio for my birthday as well as some Nazli Gelin Garden Metallic thread in white. So I was all set to start the snowflake season.

What I like about the book is that all of the snowflakes come with both written instructions and charts! Since I prefer to work from charts I was thrilled. When worked in size 10 thread these turned out a bit small but they are very pretty.

This is pretty, the sparkle thread is loosely plied, a little splitty to work with but I guess it was worth the effort. Older versions of this thread were better. The white snowflakes in the photo above were done in the Garden Metallic. The turquoise ones were also done with older Garden Metallic I had leftover from last year. The sparkle is difficult to capture in photos.

I think Polaris, above, is my favorite of the Sainio snowflakes.

These three snowflakes are from the free pattern Nymphalidae Snowflake  by Jessica Wifall. It doesn’t have a chart. But the pattern is a fun one, the last round loops up to form the points. I’d say it’s an intermediate level pattern.

And here is another of my favorite snowflakes, a free pattern called daffodil snowflake. This one might be an easier pattern to make. It has written instructions only.

If you’re interested in more technical information check out my Ravelry projects page. I have listed thread, hook and finished dimensions for each one.

Best wishes for the New Year!

Fun with star stitch

This weekend I’m teaching a class in star stitch at YarnCon in Chicago. What a great excuse to fool around with some yarn and make some new star stitch items.

Above is a little coin purse I did to explore working in the round. I’d say this is an intermediate level project because starting by working around both sides of your chain can be tricky if you haven’t done it before. The pattern is available free on Ravelry-Star Stitch Coin Purse by Ishrat Khawja.

As a longer term project this star stitch cowl turned out beautifully. I worked it flat and joined it after blocking. I didn’t work from a pattern for this but you can see the yarn and hook used plus some of my notes on my Ravelry project page. This is one project I WILL be wearing!  I love the color.

One more exploration of star stitch in the round, an improvised bracelet.

You would think this stitch might be perfect for working in the round, but the two row version of star stitch is hard to join without leaving holes. I searched for tips on it and didn’t find that much.

EmmeClair Crochet has a youtube video that discusses this and how she deals with joining the stitch. I found it somewhat helpful but still the join is not perfect in my work though much improved from a standard join.

I hope to publish more often, time slips away.  I have a lot of crochet snowflakes for my 2018 snowflake roundup that need to be published!

 

 

 

Corner to Corner Crochet Owl Chart

I had a wonderful time teaching at Yarncon this year. What a great experience, meeting so many talented crafty people and seeing all the beautiful yarns for sale. My thanks to Natalia and all the folks at Team Yarncon for putting on such a great event!

One of the classes I taught was a corner to corner (c2c) crochet class. We had a great time learning the diagonal box stitch and then making a heart design from a chart. While preparing for the class I came up with this owl design, but some friends said it didn’t look very owly. I set it aside, but decided to bring the sample along to Yarncon. My students thought it did look like an owl, which encouraged me to share the chart for this project.

This is only the chart, if you don’t already know how to work diagonal box stitch I would refer you to this excellent article on c2c crochet from 1 dog wolf.

I used an H (5 mm) hook and Vanna’s Choice worsted weight yarn in the following colors.

background: blue (dusty blue)
owl: brown (barley)
eyes: white (oatmeal)
bill: orange (terracotta)

As you work the color changes refer to the chart. Increase rows are numbered with black, decrease rows are numbered with purple. The arrows on the chart indicate which direction to read each row.

Finished size about 8″ square.

Khristina Preneta, who attended my c2c class at Yarncon, made this beautiful pillow using the heart square we made in class. Thanks Khristina for sending the photo!

Springtime at YarnCon

It’s spring, which means it must be time for YarnCon, Chicago’s Indie Fiber Fair held April 7 & 8 at Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union Hall.

Above is my Skinny Mint Tunisian Scarf, featuring some of the stitches covered in my Introduction to Tunisian Crochet Lace class. It’s an intermediate class, but if you take the Beginning Tunisian Crochet class you’ll be good to go for the lace class. Both classes are offered on Saturday and Sunday. You can click the link for more details and to sign up online.

This is my 5th year teaching at YarnCon and I always look forward to teaching and then  checking out the Indie dyers, spinners, and all the fiber vendors in the main hall.

I’ll also be teaching a new workshop on Corner-to-Corner or C2C crochet on Saturday.  Take a new direction and approach your projects on the diagonal, a great way to show off those popular cake yarns.

Shown above, C2C scarf made with one Caron Cake. I can’t wait to try this with one of the beautiful hand dyed cake yarns available at YarnCon.

If you are in the Chicago area check out YarnCon for a fun day of fiber.

 

 

 

 

A Starflake for the New Year

Coming off snowflake mania I needed to let myself down gently. I found the pattern for this cool Starflake Mandala on the Loopy Stitch blog. It’s a bit of a cross between snowflake and mandala. I used Patons Grace, a sport weight cotton yarn, and 2.75 mm crochet hook for this. Check my Ravelry project page for colors used and all the technical details.

To tell the truth, I did make a starflake during snowflake season using size 10 crochet thread.

As you can see it’s quite a bit smaller, it’s ok but I think it looks nicer in the sportweight yarn. You can see the project details for the thread one here.

These were fun to make and I’d definitely recommend trying the pattern in DK or Sport weight yarn.

 

 

 

 

 

Snowflake Roundup 2017 continued

It’s hard to believe it’s spring already and I haven’t finished my snowflake update. Above is a picture of many I made to give away in 2017.

Here’s a Ravelry link to the project pages for each individual snowflake shown. You can find the pattern links there as well as the yarn and hook sizes I used. You need to be a member of Ravelry to view it. You can join Ravelry for free and you’ll get a prompt to join when you click the link above if you’re not a member.

Ok, it’s on to spring! Here’s cute sun motif. I decided to make it a hanging ornament. The pattern is available free on Caracol blog and is written in English as well as Spanish! I used cotton sport weight yarn for it and it measures about 2.75″ in diameter. You can see more details on my Ravelry project page. It’s a cute and fast project to make. Give it a try if you’re feeling in the mood for some sun.