Just another Snowflake Monday

Another winner. This one is from Priscilla's Christmas Crochet.











Now a little experiment. I found some white Anchor Marlitt thread in my stash and thought I'd give it a try on a snowflake. It has a beautiful glossy sheen to it but I was concerned that my glue-based stiffener would just cover it up.

................Pre-glue.............................. Post-glue

You can see that the glue did dull it down quite a bit. It doesn't look any shinier than my other flakes, just slightly translucent. But now I know that if I run out of crochet cotton (HAHAHaHahaha!) the Marlitt will do.

Snowflake Monday

Isn't it gorgeous? It's #1 from McCall's Needlework & Crafts, December 1986. I made it with #20 cotton and a 10 hook and it's come out just over 5" from point to point. That's really a bit big for me, and all 5 patterns are about the same size, so I think I'll make these with #30 or even #40 cotton in future.

And remember I said I'd made an easy one after that? Ha! Sure, crocheting this was simple but what a nightmare to block. Points are easy, you just pin and pull. But try and get nice rounded loops when the SF is so small - only 2" across - you can hardly get your fingers between all the pins required. And look how wonky the centre is. Nope, not happy with this one. Ah well, plenty more to try.

The calendar may say 20 January...

... but my garden is saying it's officially Spring.












Can you say Global Warming?

Of course, the Amazing Perpetual Primrose is still going strong.

Snowflake Monday

Ta da! My two flakes from last week - Noel Nevins' #2 and #3. I like #2 but #3 is a bit too open for my taste. And I still like #1 best (see last week).

But - KC has sent me some patterns and the one I made today is stunning! It's got long arms of picots and I'm rather nervous about pinning it out. I'll post the results next week.

As I wore myself out with all those picots, my second flake today was a nice, simple little two-rounder.

See you next week.

PS Tina - I haven't forgotten the snowflake you made that I said I'd try but two picot-monsters in one day is too much. It's first up to bat next week, though!

Saturday Sky

Back yard, 7:00am, 13 Jan 07

If I haven't already been kicked off the Saturday Sky webring for non-participation, here is my first SS for 2007 (ok, ok, it's my first since October last year).

I'm not making any promises about future SS's but it was so nice to see a bit of sunlight after days of cloud and rain that I had to take a picture.

And no, it didn't last.

Rain in places, snow on high ground

Here, on this very wet and rainy Snowflake Monday, is the "new" snowflake I made last week. It's also now my "new" favourite! If you sign up to the CrochetSnowflakes group you can get the pattern - it's Noel Nevins' "Snowflake #1 (for website)". It doesn't look like it's ever been uploaded to her website; in fact, most of the site is unavailable but the test pattern can still be found in the group's Messages, dated Aug 20 2006.

I've made two more today (47 to go) - Noel's #2 and 3 of 8 - just waiting to be blocked. Speaking of which, there's a very good blocking template (gif) available from the group. I print three on a page to save space/paper.

1st on the 1st of the 1st

Here's my very first Snowflake Mondays snowflake of 2007 - pre-stiffening* and blocking. This is one of the simplest patterns and yet it's my favourite of the flakes I've made so far (sorry - this one's not online).

I also made a "new" snowflake today - I'll post a picture when it's been blocked. Two down, 49 to go!


*For those who like to know about these things, I use a roughly 50/50 white glue and water mix.