'Tis the Season...

to tat snowflakes! Yes, Christmas may be over, but it is still winter and in my book snowflakes are still fair game. Plus, I haven't shown you any of the snowflakes I tatted through December. Here is a sampling.

From the bottom left corner around in a clockwise spiral to the center, these snowflakes are: Angels in the Snow by Miranda, Star no 1 from page 39 of Blomqvist and Persson's book,

Beaded Snowflake from Vida Sunderman's book (obviously I tatted it unbeaded), Le Flocon Frivole from (of course) Frivole, and Ribbon Snowflake and Ribbon-Floss Snowflake also from Vida Sunderman. I have eyed Angels in the Snow ever since Miranda published it, bought it in June, and finally tatted it 6 months later. It did not disappoint! The pattern from Blomqvist and Persson was not intended to be a snowflake and I started it while at someone's house with only that book to choose from. I really did not expect to like it as a snowflake, but I do very much, and plan to make it again. The Ribbon-Floss Snowflake is the reason I wanted Vida Sunderman's Tatted Snowflakes. I adore it and it works up very quickly, making it a perfect gift. And Le Flocon Frivole is probably my favorite snowflake pattern this year. It is so gorgeous. Did anyone else note the similarities between it and Quatrain? I tatted them one after the other and spotted the identical stitch counts right away. With an ancestor like that and its recreation of characteristics from real snowflakes in a manner still true to the tatting it is made out of, this snowflake has it all.

Again from the bottom left, this picture has Frivole's Stellar, her Criss-Cross, and an adaption of Julie Patterson's Christmas Snowflake. Like Miranda, I am bothered by "snowflakes" that do not have six points. So I messed around with the stitch counts on this pattern, and found that with 2-2/5 on the split rings and a little blocking it will lie flat with six points. "Stellar" really means starlike, but fortunately the Stellar snowflake fits the meaning of the word not in the sense of resembling a star visually, but in the sense of "setting a high standard", as I have found all of Frivole's snowflakes to do. I am definitely going to buy "Regal." It is only a matter of time before I do.

I have given away most of these (and many repeats that are not pictured). Here are the cards I tucked them into. I just got happy with scrapbook paper, cardstock, tatted bits, and my very favorite Christmas carol line of all. It is a breathtaking thought -- Christ the baby, the silent Word, pleading, not yet verbally but by his mere existence, on our behalf.

These snowflakes were all tatted in December, but I have extensive plans for more snowflakes in the coming weeks. As mentioned, I will tat the Star no. 1 again (I wonder if anyone would mind if I renamed it?), and I also want to repeat the Beaded Snowflake (again, this is crying out for another name...), and I am still collecting a file of patterns I want to try. Some of them may have to wait for next year after all -- it is almost time to start tatting hearts!