Snowflake Monday

Exciting MS-150 Update!!! Fund-raising for 2016 is now online! Yippee!!! The 2015 booklet is done now and available only via tax-deductible donation made here.


And just one day into the 2015 fund-raising drive, I'm in the top two, and my team is tops!!!!! Won't last long, and you won't see a list like this with both my name and my team's name taking up such valuable real estate, but boy, it sure is awesome while it's happening!

And now, on with today's snowflake...


Trepidation [trep-i-dey-shuh n] (noun) Trembling or quivering movement; tremor.

The USS Intrepid, before it became a Vulcan-manned Star Trek starship annihilated by a giant space amoeba, was the name of four different Navy cruisers.

The first USS Intrepid was a schooner and fire ship destroyed in the harbor of Tripoli in 1804. The second was the first US Navy ship with self-propelled torpedoes. The third served honorably before becoming a sludge-removal barge that assisted with the salvage of the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor. Most recently, the USS Intrepid is the name of an Essex-class aircraft carrier, also known as the Fighting I, which may have earned its nemesis Star Trek status by assisting in the recovery of spacecraft from the Mercury and Gemini NASA missions.

Hat tip to Veteran's Day tomorrow... one of my grandfathers was a photographer and trumpeter in the Navy during World War II, and the other was a darkroom technician in the Army during World War II. One served in the Pacific theater, and one served in the Atlantic theater. I am very grateful for the freedom and way of life our veterans fought to protect.

I've always liked the name Intrepid; it sounds so intimidating! Little did I know family mountain biking tails outside of Dead Horse Point also bear the name Intrepid. Family. That means beginner.

I've never been highly skilled in true mountain biking, and what skills I do occasionally build wither and die each year as I concentrate on my road bike riding. Every time I attempt to traverse single track, I end up having to start all over from scratch and learn how to ride over bumps without toppling over my handlebars.

The Intrepid Trail system is a good place to see families with children of all ages learning or building mountain bike skills. True, the Intrepid Trail is mostly easy for anyone who can balance a mountain bike over tree roots, short sections of deep sand and tame slabs of red rock.

But for a 50-plus-year-old body like mine, there is no such thing as beginner, I guess. Owies don't head as quickly! I was terrified the first day! I did a little better the second day. And the third day, I could actually coast over a few low obstacles.

On the second day of our mountain biking getaway, I really didn't want to ride because Day 1 on beginner trails had scared me so senseless. As we mounted our bikes at the trailhead, The Lizard asked, "Do you wish you had brought your road bike instead?"

YES! But I wasn't about to tell him that! He takes me everywhere I want to go and puts up with me taking all kinds of pictures all over the place, sometimes all hours of the day or night. He cheerfully takes me to yarn, fabric and craft shops if that's where I want to go. How in the world could I ever tell him the rides he wants to do are too hard for me?

We worked out a great compromise. On the third day, I rode with him for the first section of the easiest trail, then he went on to complete the difficult technical trails (all of them in one day!) while I looped back on the easy stuff and then took my mountain bike out on the road and claimed another 15 miles or so of sheer pleasurable calorie-burning.


About 12 or 13 years ago, I went on a supposed mountain-biking date with guy who scolded me for riding my mountain bike with knobby tires during my first Ride the Rockies.

"I have two bikes, and I use them for their specific purposes," he'd snarled. Needless to say, he didn't get a second date.

Back then, I didn't have two bikes. I couldn't afford two bikes. And I did my first Ride the Rockies just fine without the proper bicycle. Without HIS approval. So there!

I'm not too proud to ride what I have when I have it wherever I happen to be. I gently rode my road bike across a mean graveled road in North Cascades National Park last summer because that's what I had, and I wanted to ride. I'm not ashamed to ride my mountain bike on the street when I don't have the road bike. I'm not ashamed to get off my mountain bike and walk it when terrain becomes too challenging for me. Humiliated, maybe, but not ashamed. I kind of like my head being in one piece.

The Intrepid Tail System didn't seem very beginner to me, and today's snowflake was tempestuously swirling in my head as I walked my bike over rocks and roots and through sand traps. Big Chief, Whiptail, Twisted Tree and Prickly Pair curled me up in fear! I walked most everything I tried the first day! However, Intrepid proper IS a family trail, and there were lots of little kids out there proving almost anyone could ride it!


You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 4 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 8 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Snowflake Intrepid Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in ring, * ch 3, 2 dc in ring; repeat from * 4 times; ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 6th ch 3 sp of Round. Pull magic circle tight, but leave opening big enough to allow stitches inside it to lay flat.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 2: Ch 5 (counts as 1 dc and ch 3), 1 dc over post of dc directly below, * 1 dc in next ch 3 sp, ch 3, 1 dc in same sp, ch 5, 1 dc in same sp, ch 3, 1 dc in same sp; repeat from * around 4 times; 1 dc in next ch 3 sp, ch 3, 1 dc in same sp, ch 2, 1 tr in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 6th ch 5 sp of Round.

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc over post of tr directly below, * 2 dc in each of next 2 ch 3 sp, 2 dc in next ch 5 sp, ch 15, 1 dc in 6th ch from hook, ch 3, sk 3 ch, 1 dc in next ch, ch 1, sk 3 ch, 1 dc in next ch, ch 1, 1 dc in same ch 5 sp in main body of snowflake; repeat from * around 5 times, omitting last 2 dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.

Round 4: 1 sc in same ch as sl st, * 1 sc in next dc, 1 hdc in each of next 2 dc, 1 dc in each of next 2 dc, 1 tr in each of next 2 dc, sk next ch 1 sp, 2 tr in next ch 3 sp (working up spoke), ch 3, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook (sc picot made), ch 1, 2 tr in same sp, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), 2 dc in same ch 3 sp as last tr, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), 2 hdc in next ch 3 sp, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), 3 sc in next ch 5 spoke tip, ch 3, 5 sc in same tip, 3 sc in next ch 3 sp (working back down spoke), 1 sc in each of next 2 ch 1 sp, 1 sc in next dc; repeat from * around 5 times, omitting last sc of final repeat; sl st in starting sc; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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