Great Flake Race! Over!!

[espap]

I want to participate, but I am running low on thread. I went to the shop today and didn't have any!! Must try again during the week.

[quirkyvirgo]

 

In honor of the snow coming this afternoon and thursday.

 

Nice flakes Kari! Those look great!

[DesertCrocheter]

Me too, I'm in!! I may not be very fast, but after the Snowflakes in July CAL I didn't get back to making snowflakes for my tree, and so I have about 5 snowflakes to decorate it with! If I finish my bil's scarf by tomorrow, and then maybe another scarf for my nephew by Saturday night, I may even be done with Christmas gifts. Oh wait, I have 2 more scrunchies to do, too. :eek How am I ever going to get them all done? But I need to flake! Patty

[Country_Bumpkin]

 

In honor of the snow coming this afternoon and thursday.

 

Kari, I love the one on the right!! What patterns are you using?

[Julie]

 

I used the elmers glue and water mix to stiffen mine. Heard that from Deneen, Kari, and a few others as well. It worked just fine for me, even though I'm sure I didn't get even parts of glue and water! They look good, and it stiffened just fine.

 

I know that will work too but I haven't tried it yet. I do like the Stiffy by Plaid stiffener, and for the cost it's lasted me a long time. I don't remember exactly when I bought it, maybe January or February of this year and I still have a third of the bottle left. I just recycle it back into the bottle when I'm finished. I will probably buy it again when I finally run out; I'm not the neatest person on the planet and am certain to have a glue fiasco if I attempt to mix glue and water myself.

[donnalynn2]

I went into Jo-Ann's tonite and picked up a copy of the 99 Snowflake Booklet! WOW! If you can get a copy of this, it's wonderful! There are soooo many beautiful snowflakes in it! I cannot wait to get started!!!!

[earthwhisper]

Count me in. Any suggestions on yarn/thread? Last year I used a sport weight yarn that I had in my stash, but I think the snowflakes looked a little "thick." I am looking for something I can buy easily at Michaels/Walmart or JoAnns.

[crochetlady]

I am in too!!!

 

hugs

Vims

[yarnjunkie]

I bought some stiffener a while back at WalMart I think it was called Stiffen Stuff or something like it. I used it on some doilies that I framed and it worked great. I'm going to try the glue and water thing for my flakes I think.

 

I'm going to pat myself on the back for a minute here girls...I just designed my very first snowflake! Of course, I didn't write it down and I don't have a pic but you'll just have to trust me that it turned out pretty well.

 

Thanks for the great idea, Natalie, you rock I look forward to discovering new patterns and ideas....but now I must return to my flakes!

[Kimberly]

Count me in. Any suggestions on yarn/thread? Last year I used a sport weight yarn that I had in my stash, but I think the snowflakes looked a little "thick." I am looking for something I can buy easily at Michaels/Walmart or JoAnns.

If you are not too sure about trying out the normal size 10 bedspread weight thread, you might want to start with a size 5 or a size 8 as they are both a little bit thicker! I'm almost sure that you can find the size 5 at the hobby stores (at least I seem to remember seeing them there when I was last in the US) and for sure the size 10 is available!

[vhanna26]

Count me in too.

[natalie058]

I'm totally new to thread and am not sure about what's "good' or not, but I've been using DMC Cebelia sz 10 thread, and I love it! It so smooth and shiny and I like that it's tightly spun... With the size three Royale, I think it was I tried, the strands kept splitting.

 

Donna - I have the 99 snowflakes book, too - I love it!! It's been hard for me to decide if I want to them in order - or at random - or just do the quickest ones first, LOL!!

 

I also just stiffened my first flakes the other night... My first time stiffening *anything!!* I used Stiffy that I found at JoAnn's, and for a blocking board I used an 8x11 Foamy, the extra thick 6mm kind. It worked out good! the only problems I encountered were 1) not enough pins and 2) the ink from the template I printed leaked thru the holes in the plastic wrap and onto the tips of the flakes in some places, like the pinholes were too big. I think maybe the T-pins I bought were too bulky.

 

And oh yeah - I tired a flake last night with some X-stitch blending filament for sparkle, and it looked awesome!! And it was cheap, too, only $1.50!

[donnalynn2]

natalie, I want to see one of your flakes with sparkles on it! i still haven't decided if I want to do that yet...

 

My goal is to do ALL 99 snowflakes! I know I won't get them all done this week, however, I want to get them all done by next year so I can decorate my tree all in snowflakes and the few special ornaments i have... then i can get rid of all those nasty fabric colored balls that are always shedding! LOL

[nutz4crochet]

What a great idea. I have too many things to finish up, but I am going to keep watching for all the pretty snowflakes. I love using Dmc Cebelia too, the downside is for some reason it yellows. Aunt Lydias no. 10 thread is really good for snowflakes, along with just Elmer's white glue for blocking.

[Julie]

I love using Dmc Cebelia too, the downside is for some reason it yellows. Aunt Lydias no. 10 thread is really good for snowflakes, along with just Elmer's white glue for blocking.

 

Cebelia yellows? I hadn't heard that before. I always understood that the medium you use to block snowflakes could cause the yellowing, not necessarily the thread.

 

I use DMC Traditions or Cebelia most of the time, blended with - ya'll don't want to hear this, do you? Lurex. I swear I get nothing for mentioning this! It's just like the blending filament but MUCH cheaper in the long run - a huge cone for $12 that should last you a lifetime. I prefer the irridescent sildorex in snowflakes hands down. (The picture is horrible, in reality it's clear with the pinky/purple irridescence, absolutely lovely). No mess like with glitter, and I wind it with my yarn winder and a ball of white thread. If you just want to try blending filament, definitely get the little spool of it and give it a shot. If you really really like it, I recommend getting a cone of it. I don't think you'll regret it.

 

Some flake-y links:

stiffeners

stiffeners again

yellowing

[Julie]

If you can find it, the 101 Snowflakes book is really good too. I use that and the 99 Snowflakes book more than any others.

[nutz4crochet]

Yes it yellows. I made a oval pineapple doily in white a couple of years ago along with many others and they are yellowish. No starch either & smoke free home too. I still use dmc, but I stay away from white. I will have to try the lurex, sounds really pretty.

 

Cebelia yellows? I hadn't heard that before. I always understood that the medium you use to block snowflakes could cause the yellowing, not necessarily the thread.

 

I use DMC Traditions or Cebelia most of the time, blended with - ya'll don't want to hear this, do you? Lurex. I swear I get nothing for mentioning this! It's just like the blending filament but MUCH cheaper in the long run - a huge cone for $12 that should last you a lifetime. I prefer the irridescent sildorex in snowflakes hands down. (The picture is horrible, in reality it's clear with the pinky/purple irridescence, absolutely lovely). No mess like with glitter, and I wind it with my yarn winder and a ball of white thread. If you just want to try blending filament, definitely get the little spool of it and give it a shot. If you really really like it, I recommend getting a cone of it. I don't think you'll regret it.

 

Some flake-y links:

stiffeners

stiffeners again

yellowing

[creativegoodness]

I use DMC Traditions or Cebelia most of the time, blended with - ya'll don't want to hear this, do you? Lurex. I swear I get nothing for mentioning this!

 

I made some snowflakes with some gold lurex a friend send my way, and I really like the way it turned out. I've been drooling over the irredescent one you're talking about!

[Kimberly]

I made two more while at work today waiting for my reports to run.....my warm up is going good so far! *grin*

 

I can not wait to get home to try my lurex! I have several skeins of it waiting for me there.....ooooh weeee will I have some purty snowflakes starting in 9 days!

[yarnjunkie]

Well, I just couldn't wait until the official start date. Good news is I have finished 13 14 snowflakes out of the 15 that I needed to get done. I'm going to wait until they're all done before I block them. I'm thinking I might try the sugar method. We'll see how that goes. Happy flake makin'!!

[natalie058]

I ran across this site tonight... [i hope it's okay to post here, and no sorts of copyright violations are occuring...]

 

There's some pretty stuff there if you can read symbol crochet.

[Julie]

I ran across this site tonight... [i hope it's okay to post here, and no sorts of copyright violations are occuring...]

 

There's some pretty stuff there if you can read symbol crochet.

 

I was a member of the Yahoo group that did those conversions; at the time they had permission to do it and to post them from someone in Russia. Hopefully that permission still exists, especially since they're obviously still on the 'net. As far as I know it should be fine as I've heard of no retractions to that.

[Julie]

Well, I just couldn't wait until the official start date. Good news is I have finished 13 snowflakes out of the 15 that I needed to get done. I'm going to wait until they're all done before I block them. I'm thinking I might try the sugar method. We'll see how that goes. Happy flake makin'!!

 

WOW!!! Look at you go Ms. Speedy!

[Kimberly]

I ran across this site tonight... [i hope it's okay to post here, and no sorts of copyright violations are occuring...]

 

There's some pretty stuff there if you can read symbol crochet.

Oh wow!! Some of those are gorgeous!!

[kariholtz]

my lame attempt at a button for it