In Which the Pirate Crochets.

I had the bright idea to crochet a snowflake as a Christmas gift for Michael’s mom, who is a crocheter herself and appreciates these things. So I pulled out the #10 thread and a wee steel hook, and set to work on the Savannah Snowflake, which is a free pattern available on the Snowcatcher website.

It was not an easy project. The thread was slippery, I wasn’t sure about where to place some of the stitches, and the original plan to wrap the flake around a colourful ornament was scuttled when it didn’t turn out to be large enough. But the more rounds I did, the better I felt about how it looked, especially as I worked my way around the final round to create the points of the flake.

The snowflake then took a starch bath. I mixed a quarter-cup of cornstarch into a cup and a half of cold water, and brought it up to heat on the stovetop. It didn’t take long for the mixture to become thick and translucent. When it had cooled down enough to touch, I got the flake thoroughly saturated with the goop, and then patted off the excess with paper towels before pinning it out on cardboard to dry. The next morning, it was completely solid and only a little bit stuck to the cardboard, but it came right off with some help from a kitchen spatula.

Then I completely forgot to take a photo of it before wrapping it up and giving it away. But here it is in its place of honour on the tree: