Grammy Dirlam: Snowflake Coaster

I really enjoy working with Natural Fibers, Cotton being readily available, I look for things that will be useful, fun and look nice as a finished item. For logical reasons, Snowflake Motifs fit that bill. My tree will have sufficient snowflakes. I have some that are nearly as old as I am. I wanted something to carry into the rest of the house. I also wanted to avoid the trap of it is only useable in December. Excuse me, December is only one month. Snowflakes may or may not fall naturally where you live. It is not uncommon for them to begin in October, and last until May in some areas. This makes sense to me.

To make these Beauties, you will need White Cotton yarn, I used Worsted Weight. Any Brand is fine. Try this, It works up beautifully I just found this one on Crafysy, at an unbeatable price http://shrsl.com/?~amfm You will need a G crochet Hook, (4.25mm) some are 4.0, you could end up with stitches that are too tight to lay flat with the smaller hook. You will want a yarn needle to bury ends, and a pair of scissors to trim them.

In this pattern, you will work with Chains- Ch, Double Crochet-dc, Slip Stitches- sl st,

I have broken this down to beginner step by step instructions, complete with pictures. If you would like a PDF of this pattern, with written instruction, No pictures, no extra verbiage, you will find that in my Craftsy Pattern Store. It is available free of charge at this time.

Start with a chain of 3

Join to the first ch to form a loop

See the hole there? That is where you will put the stitches for the first round.

Chain 3,

Yarn over, insert hook in the center hole

Draw up a loop, you have 3 loops on hook

yarn over, pull through 2 loops, Now there are 2 loops on the hook

yarn over, pull through the last 2. Now ch 1, Repeat.

Ch 1 and repeat, until you have 6 posts in the center hole

Now, without chaining, yarn over, Insert hook into the 2nd chain on the next post

draw loop through

complete dc. This joins the round, AND puts your hook over the ch space to begin the next round

Ch 2, dc in space

ch 1, 2 dc in same space, do not ch, but place 2 dc in next space

ch 1, 2dc in same space

continue working around. there are 4 dc, and a ch 1 in each ch loop. there are also 4 dc in a row, between chs of this round. This gives you 6 sides, and 6 corners. Funny how that works out.

At the end of the round, sl st to the top of the ch 2. Now, this is the one tricky spot of the whole pattern.
See where the join is? We need to start the next round BETWEEN the center two posts of the side. Never fear, this is actually pretty easy, but may feel awkward the first time.

Sorry about the sideways picture, but all you are going to do is swing the head of the hook to the right, and insert it between the posts, below the top where the stitch would normally be placed. grab the yarn and pull it through. if this is new to you, you may need to do it in two motions

or if you are more experienced, you may be able to complete the sl st in one motion

We have now moved our starting place over to the right, just a smidge. Great Job, now it is just one more round to complete your coaster.

Ch 3, 2dc, ch 1, 2 dc in next ch 1 sp.

ch 3, sl st between the 2 center post of 4 dc. right above the Post from round 1

Be sure you are inserting the hook below the stitches, so your sl st divides these ever so slightly

Just a slst here, not a sc.

continue around the flake, creating almost petals with the chains and shells. when you get to the beginning of the round, or do we say the end, hummm I guess we are meeting in the middle, as there is no end. Wait, does that make this a mobeus? lol, sorry i get silly on occasion. Life is too short to be dead serious all the time

We now need to join this flake into our coaster. See the two holes there? the one between the top of the dc posts, and the one to the left of it, right under the loop of the slst? we are working into the second space