I don’t think Houston will see any snow this year but snowflakes have always been a holiday decorating must for me.  My parents neighbor, Mrs. Otto, first showed me how to make a crochet snowflake when I was just a little girl.  Mrs. Otto is 97 years old now.  I wonder if she still pulls out the old fashioned quilt frame and quilts a quilt every winter when the weather turns cold.

When the weather here turned “cold” (and I say that with quote marks ’cause cold is about 40º) my thoughts turned to Mrs. Otto and snowflakes.  I searched the internet for a cute and easy snowflake pattern and found one with a great video tutorial.  It’s been a while since I did any sort of crochet.  If you follow along with me and this blog you know gauge is not my style.  But, I worked on it and I think they turned out cute.  I even found my crochet hooks from when I was a young girl sitting in Mrs. Otto’s basement learning how to make her snowflakes.

The pattern is from a YouTube channel called ExpressionFiberArts.com.  Click here for the pattern and follow along with me as I make it snow in Houston.

Here are my supplies.  I didn’t have the suggested fingerling yarn so I used crochet thread.  I had the darning needle, crochet hook and the snippy scissors.  The pins and the starch/water were upstairs waiting to see how the project turns out.

This was my first row of snowflake.  Her instructions on how to start with a “magic circle” were excellent and now I know the trick to making a small, joined “hole” in the center.  The first row is make the magic circle, double crochet and slip stitches.   You will have a total of 6 holes.  I just did the first row and the first stitches of the second row in the above photo.

Here’s the second row done. The second row was as easy as the first.  It was some chain stitches and double crochets.  I got it and I think the gauge is good.  Shocking!

Row 3 was chain stitches and slip stitches.  I didn’t think all they wanted me to do in the same hole was going to fit in the hole but it did.  I was glad.

All done and good enough to bring up to the sewing room to be blocked.  I followed along with the directions on the video to use the basting needle to make the hanger.  Then, I stretched out the snowflake on my pin board and squirted it with Best Press.  Best Press is a starch alternative in many different scents – and scent free.  The video just suggested water to block but I had to be fancy.  I did use the hair dryer to hurry this process along.  It worked out fine.

Viola!  Here’s the finished product.  I don’t have my tree up yet to use it as an ornament.  As you can clearly see it’s a pretty sunny, albeit cold day in Houston so no snow in sight.  But, at my house it’s snowing snowflakes.  Mrs. Otto would be happy that I remembered her.  I wonder if she thinks of me from time to time???

Enjoy this fun and easy project with a young girl or boy.  It’s a wonderful childhood memory for me.