Difficulty: Intermediate ✦✦✧✧✧
Recently my mother-in-law requested a few snowflakes for the January curriculum in her preschool classroom.
After making a number of free patterns, I decided to take a stab at making my own. Here's my other snowflake pattern.
I used a 3.25mm hook with fingering weight yarn (Loops and Threads "Payette"). After blocking, the snowflake is about 3 inches in diameter.
I looked through a number of microscope images of real snowflakes for inspiration.
Here is the snowflake that inspired this pattern.
Row 1: Ch 5, sl st to form a ring. Ch 1, 12 sc around the ring, sl st to join.
Row 2: Ch 1, [sc, ch 2, dc, ch 2] repeat 6 times, sl st to join.
Row 3: Sl st into the ch-2 sp, ch 1, [2 sc in the ch-2 sp, ch 2, dc in the dc, ch 2, 2 sc in the ch-2 sp, skip the sc] repeat 6 times, sl st to join.
Row 4: Sl st 2, ch 1, [sc, 2 sc in the ch-2 sp, ch 2, dc in the dc, ch 2, 2 sc in the ch-2 sp, sc, skip 2 sts] repeat 6 times, sl st to join.
Row 5: Sl st to the ch-2 sp, ch 3, (dc, ch 2, sc) in the ch-2 sp, ch 6, sl st in the 4th ch from the hook, ch 6, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, ch 7, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, sl st 1, ch 6, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, ch 4, sl st in the 4th ch from the hook, sl st 2, (sc, ch 2, dc 2) in the next ch-2 sp, [(dc 2, ch 2, sc) in the ch-2 sp, ch 6, sl st in the 4th ch from the hook, ch 6, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, ch 7, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, sl st 1, ch 6, sl st in the 6th ch from the hook, ch 4, sl st in the 4th ch from the hook, sl st 2, (sc, ch 2, dc 2) in the next ch-2 sp] repeat 5 times, sl st in the 3rd ch to join.
Tie off.
It is really important to block your snowflakes.
I wet-blocked my snowflakes (get the snowflakes thoroughly wet, squeeze out the excess, then stretch out and pin, and allow to dry).
Once fully dry, I steam blocked the snowflakes to ensure they keep their shape (hold your iron 1-2 inches above your work and press the steam release button multiple times while moving over the snowflake). It is necessary to use heat to block acrylic yarns but direct contact with the iron would "kill" and slightly melt the stitches.
You could also use starch or a dilute glue solution to stiffen the snowflakes but I found it wasn't necessary to bring out and keep the shape of my snowflakes.
