spin away

Firstly, thank you for your response to my design dilemma with respect to this snowflake. I do love blogging :-)

Snowflake #3 for Land of Laces’ 25 Snowflake Project on facebook.

Spin Away Snowflake

click to download free pattern pdf

Here’s what I have done with it finally.... 

I switched the rings around the central ring to face in the opposite direction, leading to the next rings having their broader side on the outside, and so on. 

It gave me the long arms, but a broad base tapering naturally to the tip unlike the blue version previously where the dendrites appear spindly.  

In that sense, the arm is an extension of the original yellow flake.

The 2^nd chain segment could've been shorter in version 3. Instead I changed something else … 

This is the final version worked in Lizbeth size 20. 

Can you spot the change between versions 3 & 4 ? 

Which do you prefer - the green or blue one?

Since there was no clear consensus, and I Have worked on them all, the pdf contains all 4 patterns. You can pick and choose one or more, since each is a stand-alone.

I also included the 2-colour version merely to show the working sequence of shuttles.

The snowflake is worked in one-pass by climbing out of the central ring with a mock picot, as instructed in the pattern. However, here are a couple of alternate routes …

Alternate working :

1. Pull out a length of thread from shuttle 1, work the central ring and climb out with mock picot. Use this tail to work the 2^nd side of the first split ring, and then add 2^nd shuttle when the tail ends. I used this in a couple of the models.
2. Instead of starting with a central ring and climbing out, work the first ring as a mock ring (SCMR), and throw off the central ring leaving a mock picot between them. Then continue as normal, after rotating work and switching shuttles.

I’d still like to add some graduated picots on the lower chain segment to see the effect, but that will be for another day. Or perhaps some keen tatter will do it and share?!

It was amazing to see the response and wonderful tweaks made to the Paisley snowflake! And Gloria Nelson has entered her needle-tatted, graduated picots model in a Handy Hands draw! First time my pattern has been entered in any kind of competition/draw that I know of!

There are ideas spinning in my head, so watch out for more spin-offs on this pattern!

click to download free Spin Away Snowflake pattern 

All patterns are listed under Snowflakes here