Snowflake Monday

I began this flake in about June of last year but got bored with it and never finished. Until New Year's Day. One of my resolutions was to finish up all my abandoned snowflake patterns. Mission accomplished!

I discovered a great way to finish up snowflakes that don't have the umph I need to keep going. Start over in an exciting and inspiring color. Voila!

My prototype was being worked in gray as a Gray's Peak Snowflake and as a companion snowflake for the Torreys Peak Snowflake. Blue and white do so much more for this snowflake, I thought I'd go back to the drawing board for Grays. But when I worked up a third (and fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh) flake in gray, this time with sparkles, I fell in love with the color all over again.


Grays Peak is just across the easy saddle from Torreys Peak. At 14,278 feet, it is the highest summit of the Front Range, which runs north/south from Casper, Wyoming, to Pueblo, Colorado. The Front Range was so named because it's generally the first mountain range you see when traveling west from the Great Plains. The Front Range provides a somewhat mild climate along the Colorado metro area from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins by blocking and holding some prevailing storms, which also makes winter recreation very popular in the higher elevations.

Grays Peak also is the highest point along the Continental Divide. The Lizard is enamored with a mountain bike race that travels the Continental Divide from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. He wants to participate in the totally self-supported three- to four-week race one day, but his wife says no.

Grays Peak was named by botanist Charles Parry, the first white man to climb the peak, to honor his botanist colleague and teacher Asa Gray. Asa was one of botanist John Torrey's pupils. Asa relinquished his doctorate of medicine to pursue botany, and he did not see the mountain named after him until 11 years after Charles ascended it. Asa traveled west to collect plant samples for Harvard twice, and both times he climbed the mountain named after him.

The Asa Gray Award is the highest honor given living botanists by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Asa Gray is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. Last year, the US Postal Service designated a first class postage stamp to honor him.

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: 5.5 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

Grays Peak Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring. (This magic ring will need to be big and stay fairly large after tightening.)

Round 1: In ring work *1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, ch 3, sl st in top of dc, 1 hdc; repeat from * around five times; sl st in starting sc. Pull magic circle tight, but leave opening big enough to allow stitches inside it to lay flat.

Round 2: Ch 18 (counts as 1 dc and ch 15), *1 dc in next sc, ch 15; repeat from * around 3 times; 1 dc in next sc; ch 10,1 dtr in 3rd ch of starting ch 18 (ch 10 and dtr count as final ch 15 sp).
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 3: 1 sc around post of dtr just made, 1 hdc around same post, 1 dc around same post, *in next loop work 1 dc, 1 hdc, 12 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc; repeat from * around 4 times; in next loop work 1 dc, 1 hdc, 11 sc; sl st in starting sc.

Round 4: *Ch 2, 1 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next dc, ch 2, sk next hdc, sl st in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc, 2 sc in each of next 2 sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc, 2 sc in each of next 2 sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc, sl st in next sc, sk next hdc; repeat from * around 5 times, omitting last sl st of final repeat. Do not join.

Round 5: *Ch 3, sk next dc, 2 dc in next dc, ch 3, sl st in next sc, ch 5, sk next 5 sc, 3 dc in next sc, ch 2, 3 dc in next sc, ch 5, sk next 5 sc, sl st in next sc; repeat from * around 5 times.

Round 6: *Ch 3, sk next dc, 1 [dc] in next dc, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), ch 5, 1 sc in 5th ch from hook, ch 6, sl st in sc, ch 4, sl st in sc (tri-picot made), ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), working back in main body of snowflake 1 dc in same dc as [dc], ch 3, sl st in next sl st, ch 7, 3 dc in next ch 2 sp, ch 10, sl st in top of last dc just worked, 3 dc in same sp as previous 3 dc, ch 7, sl st in next sl st; repeat from * around 5 times; 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.

Mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container, or use desired stiffener. Paint snowflake with glue mixture. 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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Grays Peak

2 September 2002

I may have to climb this mountain again just to get a better trip report. I can’t believe I wrote only a couple of paragraphs!

The first known person to ascend Grays Peak, botanist Charles C. Parry, named the peak for his botanist colleague Asa Gray. Asa actually did not see the peak until 1872, 11 years later.

The summit of Grays Peak is the highest point of the Continental Divide. Typically it is climbed from Stevens Gulch and in conjunction with nearby Torreys Peak.

I didn’t try to climb Grays from the standard approach. The stream of people going up the standard approach on Bierstadt had left me yearning for the path not taken, the road not followed.

I went to Peru Creek, on the other side of the mountain, and climbed the wrong peak. Turns out the mountain I did climb, Argentine Peak, is the 131st tallest peak in Colorado, and it’s one of 600 13ers. I climbed my first 13er by accident!

I knew before I reached the summit I wasn’t on the right mountain. I could see both Grays and Torreys across the valley. But I was enjoying the climb, so I kept going.

A woman behind me was following the same trail, but she seemed to have little or no interest in the mountain. She was collecting mountain goat hair from shrubbery along the way and carding it as she walked. I wish I could see what she did with the yarn she likely spun from the colossal amount of fiber she gathered that day.

On my second attempt, I encountered an enormous male mountain goat with a perfectly groomed summer coat, and he was so photogenic and cooperative, I lost all interest in the peak. I used up I don’t know how many rolls of film on him. Then clouds moved in, and I had to beat feet back down to the car.

On my third try, I finally reached the summit of Grays, but clouds were moving in too quickly for me to attempt Torreys. Plus, I was hoping I might run into that mountain goat again.

Alas, my photographic dreams were shattered. He was nowhere to be found. The first high altitude snowfall of the season occurred the following week, and my quest for Torreys and more mountain goats would have to wait until the following summer.

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