Crochet Snowflakes from Little Crochet Projects

Ensure a white Christmas (or pastel, if you prefer) with these dainty crochet snowflakes, taken from Little Crochet Projects by GMC (£5.99, available from www.thegmcgroup.com). You will need a lot of pins to pin out the points of the snowflakes, so that you get the shapes right.

Materials

•  Cotton crochet thread No. 5 in blue, pink and lemon
•  2mm (UK14:USB/2) crochet hook
•  Embroidery needle
•  Scissors
•  Liquid starch
•  Resealable plastic bag
•  Old towel
•  Polyboard/foamboard
•  Pins
•  Silver/grey embroidery floss

Blue snowflake

Using 2mm hook, work 6 ch. Join with a sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: 10 ch, (1 tr into ring, 7 ch) 5 times.

Join with sl st to third ch in first 10 ch.

Round 2: 1 dc into sl st at the end of Round 1 (4 ch, 1 dc into same st, 3 ch, miss 3 ch, 1 htr in next st [i.e. fourth of 7 ch], 3 ch, sl st in third ch from hook, 1 htr into same st as last htr, 3 ch, miss next 3 ch, 1 dc into top of tr in Round 1) 6 times, join with a sl st to first dc.

Fasten off.

Finish off ends by threading onto an embroidery needle and running through sts at the back of your work.

Pink snowflake

Work 6 ch, join with a sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: (15 ch, sl st into ring), 5 times, 12 ch, 1 tr into ring.

Round 2: *9 ch, sl st in second ch from hook and in next 2 ch, 5 ch, sl st into second ch from hook and in next ch, 6 ch, sl st in fifth ch from hook and in next ch, 3 ch, sl st in second ch from hook and next ch, sl st in rem 2 ch from previous 5 ch, 4 ch, sl st in second ch from hook and in next 2 ch, sl st in rem 5 ch from previous 9 ch, sl st in third ch of next loop from Round 1, 4 ch, miss next 4 ch of loop (1 tr, 5 ch, 1 tr) in next ch, 4 ch, miss next 4 ch of loop, sl st into next ch rep from * 5 more times, ending last repeat with the sl st into the top of the tr from the end of round 1 to join.

Finish off ends by threading onto an embroidery needle and running through sts at the back of your work.

Lemon snowflake

Work 6 ch and join with a sl st to form a ring.

Round 1: 6 ch, 1dc in ring, 5 ch, sl st in second ch from hook,
(3 ch, sl st in second ch from hook) twice, 1 ch, miss next ch of previous 5 ch, sl st in next ch, 1ch, *(1 dc, 3 ch, 1dc) in ring, 5 ch, sl st in second ch from hook, (3 ch, sl st in second ch from hook) twice, 1 ch, miss next ch of previous 5 ch, sl st in next ch, 1ch, rep from * 4 times, 1 dc, 3 ch, sl st into third ch of first 6 ch to join.

Finish off ends by threading onto an embroidery needle and running through sts at the back of your work and snipping off the ends.

To finish off

Wash all pieces using mild soap in warm water. Rinse thoroughly and roll out in a towel to remove excess water.

Lay out flat and leave to dry thoroughly.

Pour neat liquid stiffener into a resealable plastic bag.

Put your dry crochet pieces in, remove as much air as possible before sealing the bag and work the stiffener into each piece fully with your hands. You may need to do a batch at a time, depending on how prolific you’ve been.

Remove the snowflakes from the stiffener, squeezing to remove excess liquid. Take your time to pin out each one as geometrically as possible on a sheet of polyboard and leave to dry thoroughly. Thread a long length of silver/grey embroidery floss through each snowflake so you can hang them up.