Tiny Snowflakes

As I mentioned before I wanted a tiny snowflake and here is what I have come up with.  They are a bit fiddly to make due to their small size but I like their shape.  Can you see how I managed to get an hexagon in the centre again?  Just like a real snowflake.  These really benefit from being blocked to stretch the picots at the end and give them their pointy shape (a few pins and a quick puff of steam from your iron - quickly done!).  I placed the shuttle in the photo for size reference.  They are made in size 20 thread.  Two of them have an added metallic filament and two don't.

I won't be making an "official" pattern for those… it's hardly a pattern really… when you want something that tiny, there's not that many stitches you can put in there!  But if you'd like to make some, here is how:

Wind half a metre or so of thread onto a shuttle, do not cut from the ball:

SCMR2-1---1-2 (the first and third picots should be quite small and the middle one longer)

C2

Repeat 5 times.  That's it.  Simple, n'est-ce pas?  You must make sure to pull everything really tight so there is no floppiness and no gaps anywhere. Join the last chain back under the first SCMR.  It helps if you put a paperclip before starting the first chain so you can find a little space to join to.  I've just tied these with a tiny reef knot at the back, I didn't sew ends in.

Using SCMRs instead of rings is what helps make an hexagonal shape in the centre.

After writing this up, I thought about it again and wondered what would it look like with just normal rings and chains… and guess what?  It's nice too!  In fact, using regular rings and chains produces a little star in the centre instead of an hexagon which is also life-like and pretty.  So there.  Incredibly simple if you want to make tiny snowflakes:

R2-1---1-2, rw

C2 (BUT, make it like this:  2nd half, 1 full stitch, 1st half as when tatting FS/BS, this fills the gap under the ring and makes for a neater finish).

This is what it looks like blocked above,

and unblocked below.

You can see how stretching the centre picot

really helps give it a more "snowflaky" appearance.

Don't pull them too much though

or you'll stretch the centre

and the "star" will be less obvious.

I even tried it with a crystal in the middle (centre row right in the photo below).  To conclude, both versions are pretty but I think most people will find the simple rings and chains version easier to make than the SCMR version… though I'm personally partial to the latter because I like the hexagon, and I think perhaps the SCMR version is just a little bit "sturdier".

I hope you'll enjoy making these tiny snowflakes, really quick and easy.

Best wishes,

Frivole