Wordless Wednesday

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Flaking Out

Tomorrow is Make a Snowflake Day, so I've got snowflakes on the brain.

Our January 11 snowstorm deposited 11 inches at our front door. I was in heaven! It was a Friday night, and I didn't have to be at work the next morning! I could shoot to my heart's content!!!


Every once in a while, I experience a snowflake shooting session that is just about a waste of time. Out of 257 shots (which took more than three hours), 17 photos were marginal. The rest were worthless.

I had purchased (my second) ring flash back in April, specifically to shoot snowflakes. But we never got any snow until the last few weeks. The ring flash never came out of the box until January 11, and it won't power up. (That's what happened the first time I bought a ring flash, different brand, back in about 2015. You'd think I'd have learned!) It's too late to send it back. I didn't register it when I received it. I haven't called the company yet, but I'm thinking about it. I know, every day I waste...

So on Snowflake Saving Time, I tried using the same set-up I've used in the past with some success. I use the camera's onboard flash to trigger a strobe, and I use a secondary light source such as a flashlight or headlamp to focus. The (rechargeable) bicycle headlamp I've used in the past burned out within about five minutes. It had been sitting dormant since September, the last time I used it while riding my bicycle to work. It takes about four hours to charge. I pulled out the second bicycle headlamp (The Lizard's, which had not been used in probably a year), and it was completely spent. I plugged both headlamps in to charge them and tried to find a flashlight or headlamp with power.

I know we bought flashlights last year. And the year before. And the year before that. But do you think I could find a single one??? (We bought another one last weekend, and I'm going to try keeping it near the front door so I can find it easily. I even bought extra batteries.)

I have this cute little dinosaur key chain on my backpack that spits light when you push the button behind his head. Kids love playing with it at church. I've used it a few times to find a keyhole in the middle of a dark night. I tried to use it to light up the snowflakes, but I couldn't keep the dinosaur's mouth open while trying to focus on a snowflake.


The flakes were getting fatter. The temperature was getting colder. The clock hands were getting too near midnight for comfort, even though I didn't have to be anywhere the next morning. I decided to try my hand at focusing by the light of the porch. That would work, right?






To say I was massively disappointed is a HUGE understatement. Our best snowstorm in ages, and I had nothing to show for it.

It snowed again - a whole four inches!!! - on Monday, January 28. I had to be at work, and the commute was going to take longer than normal. Illuminated by one of the bicycle headlamps, I shot 26 snowflake photos on my porch before leaving for work, then put the camera away because I didn't have time to download it. The flakes weren't very photogenic. They were clumps of broken flakes smashed into pellets by the wind, and they melted quickly beneath the headlamp beam. I didn't have much hope, but at least I'd shot a few.

While waiting for my train, which seemed to take forever (as in, I could have taken snowflake pictures for another 15 minutes without making myself later than I would already be), I noticed some perfectly formed snowflakes on my coat sleeve. I shot a few shots with my iPhone (without the accessory close-up lenses I'd purchased last year), not expecting much.






I pulled the point-and-shoot out of my backpack and shot 11 more photos before the train came, still not expecting much.






That night, I downloaded the big gun, my good camera, not expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. This is not my Perfect Storm. But it's better than the last photo session! Out of 26 shots, I got 7 that aren't horrible. This will hold me over until the next storm!

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Snowflake Monday

Our annual Make a Snowflake Day is just two days away! Are you doing anything special to celebrate?

I don't have any groundbreaking fiber snowflake projects that will be finished this week, but I did finish off a tedious project I started the year I began making my illustrious snowflake lamp, which was the year before I actually spilled the beans about it… or I guess, spilled the snowflakes!


Because I needed snowflakes measuring specific sizes for the lamp, I began compiling a clickable list of all my patterns, sorted by size. After I finished the lamp, the still unfinished list got set aside. Actually, it got set aside when I started just making up new patterns instead of trying to find patterns on my phone during my bumpy train commutes.

A few months ago, I rediscovered the list and decided it should be finished. I finally finished it last week. Then I had to build a web page to contain it. When I first started the list, I planned to release it on Make a Snowflake Day as part of the lamp project. But the list wasn’t done. And it was WAY too long. Now there are about 200 or so more patterns on it, and there's no way I would stick the list in a blog post.

I can't promise this list, which I initially called Size Matters, will be updated regularly because writing the code for this baby, plus all the alphabetizing, was a chore and a time hog. There are 26 pages of code in this monster!!! I wrote all that??? Yes, I wrote all that!!!

I also linked the new directory in the sidebar to the right so it will be easy to find.


I also finished updating my regular snowflake directory. This was another time hog because I thought I was up to date last May. I thought I'd gotten behind in June of 2018. I was pretty shocked to see I had not touched that list since May of 2017. There was LOTS of work to be done! That one was 56 pages of code I write myself, and to bring it up to date added 9 more pages.

I'm going to try to keep the snowflake directory updated, but I do write all my own code, and I don't have huge surpluses of computer time in which to do so. I do plan to never get that far behind again! It just takes too darned long to catch up!!! And double check the coding… YIKES! So much in html has changed since I last built a web page!!! Oh, my gosh!!! I have to add as s to http in every single link on every single old web page or blog post as I gradually work through updating everything. I used to Dream in Sixes. Now I just dream about the first letter of the word and the colon and double back slash... Ugh!

My head is spinning!!!


Because today's pattern is celebrating Make a Snowflake Day a bit early, I will share some snowflake Eye Candy before moving on to today's pattern, which was the final heartflake (and final flake!!!) I made for my niece Layla. There's still one more heartflake pattern for next week, but today's pattern was the final flake of the 11 I designed for her birthday.

I don't make many red snowflakes, so I had to do a Christmas-themed photo before I shipped off the snowflakes.


I haven't finish any big fiber snowflake projects lately, other than Layla's snowflakes and…

the 50 seven-pointed snowflakes I made for my parents' golden anniversary…




…but I do have a few snowflake projects in progress, including my 23-weeks-behind Moda Blockhead II quilt. Now that I've finished catching up with most of my coding project, perhaps I can finally pick up the Blockheads again!!!










I also have one more snowflake quilt project I can't wait to start working on again, but it may have to wait until I catch up with the Blockheads. This is another project to use up my blue snowflake scraps.


Of course, one of my favorite snowflake quilt projects was "Charmed by Snowflakes", which was my snowflake quilt-a-long while I couldn't crochet back in 2017.


Then, for those of you who don't look at my blog during the week, I tried to photograph each of my six amaryllis flowers with my lamp this year. One of my readers exclaimed that amaryllis flowers with a snowflake lamp make a truly glorious photo. I would have to agree!












Happy Make a Snowflake Day!

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: 4.5 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread in at least 2 colors, size 7 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


Heart Motif Instructions (make 6)

With 1st color, make magic ring.

Round 1: 6 sc in ring. Do not join. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: 2 sc in each sc around for a total of 12 sc.
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: Sl st in next sc, sk next sc, 6 dc in next sc, sk next sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc, 5 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc, sk next sc, 6 dc in next sc, sk next sc, sl st in starting sl st; bind off. Weave in ends.


Medallion VI Snowflake Instructions

Foundation Round: With second color, ch 16, to form top heart point work 1 sc in 4th ch from hook, 1 dc in next ch, ch 10, sl st in starting ch, taking care not to twist work.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in each of the next 4 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 3 dc in each of next 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next dc, 1 dc in bottom of Foundation Round dc, 1 dc in top of foundation Round dc, 1 dc in next ch, 2 dc in next ch, 3 dc in each of next 3 ch, 2 dc in next ch, 1 dc in each of next 5 ch, ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form bottom heart point.
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 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc and 1 tr over post of dc directly below, [sk next 5 dc, in next dc work (1 tr, 2 dc, ch 3, 2 dc, 1 tr) 5 times; sk next 5 dc, 1 tr in bottom heart point, 2 dc in same sp, ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 6th ch 3 tip of Round.

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dc directly below, [sk next 3 dc, 1 dc in gap between 3/dc groups, ch 3, 1 dc in same gap, sk next 3 dc, 3 dc in next ch 3 tip, 1 sc in bottom middle sc of heart motif, 1 sc in each of next 7 st, 2 sc in each of next 2 dc, 1 sc in next dc, draw up loop through next dc, draw up loop through Round 2 sc directly below (should create drop stitch pointing directly to center of heart motif), draw up loop through next Round 3 dc, yo and draw through all 4 loops on hook (point dec made), 1 sc in next dc, 2 dc in each of next 2 dc, 1 dc in each of next 7 sc (which includes starting heart outline sc), 3 dc in same ch 3 tip] 6 times, omitting last 3 dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2; 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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The Birthday Adventures of Snowbow

January brought a message clear
Snowbow the Bear was about to be here
He needed some work getting in synch
And of birthday rhymes he had to think



Snowbow got his act together
But then came snow, light as a feather
What better way to warm the soul
Than wrap up in a lacy gift of the North Pole



More snow is on the way
Bringing Snowbow a chance to play
It will blow and it will be cold
But good wishes will be bold



All the snow gathering outside
And more falling keeps Snowbow occupied
He’s built three friends with which to play
And named them after nieces this snowy day


Snow has blanketed the ground
And few adventures may be found
Snowbow's sewing up a storm
To keep all inside nice and warm


Just because the ground is white
And the sun is out of sight
Doesn't mean spring is forever gone
Find some flowers and wait for dawn



Snowbow's got a ticket to ride
Far from the Great Divide
The Love Train will transport him to
15 kiddos soon in view



That darned Snowbow! He gets into everything!
Snowbow, "You can't make that crochet hook sing!"
"That's what you think," he grins so sly,
As yarn and hook begin to fly!



That ol' bear is at it again
Mischief with him is never mundane
Every mountain he will climb
Especially when made of fiber prime

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