Nayu's Craft Time #50 New Shiny Things and Snowflakes Part 2!

My snowflakes come from here!

Ah, my first 2 part post! Nayu's Craft Time #50 New Shiny Things and Snowflakes Part 1 of 2! was posted yesterday; I introduced you to my new hooks and my very first snowflake. Today I'm going to explain the rest of the snowflake experiment. I wanted to show you have different sized hooks used on the same yarn produce different results, and a part of me wanted to see whether the 1.5mm hook or the 2.5mm hook is best with this particular yarn. 

1.5mm hook snowflake vs 2mm hook snowflake

My second snowflake, seen on the right, was made with the 2mm snowflake. I've decided that there isn't really much difference between them (other than a few more yarn issues). I like the pattern, although I'm tempted to change the single chain in the last row to 2 single chains, to make that space at the top of each hole more distinct. What I did next was make the snowflake using my trusty 4mm hook, which I love not only because it's purple but because it's such a versatile size. 

Ho hum. Upon starting to crochet I instantly knew this yarn was wrong for this size hook. It isn't as neat and tidy. It doesn't feel steady while using it. It annoyed me, but for the sake of experimentation I carried on. I have to say now I've used a smaller hook I may wait until I have my 3mm and redo the few motifs I've made for a shawl, since I think it will be a bit neater (if a bit smaller...) 

Current shawl starting motifs

To make myself feel better I used a thicker yarn and made a 4th snowflake (still using the Frost pattern). 

It makes a huge difference! I loved every moment of creating this orange snowflake. I wanted to make more, but my experimenting time was up. I'm glad I can make snowflakes on both a smaller and larger scale - I'm sure in the future I will join some together as a shawl/blanket, and others I'll make with the teeny tiny hook so they can be snowflake charms on blanket. 

I'm so excited about my lovely snowflake patterns! I was going to promise to make all 100 - I may still do that, but I didn't quite understand the first snowflake so I don't know if I will make them all. I'm hoping as I go through the ones I can follow I'll eventually be able to do the ones I found trickier. Practise makes nearly perfect in crochet. I'm looking forward to showing all of my experiments and attempts with you!

Here are all the Frost snowflakes!

Back to shiny things!

I've saved this point til last to justify why this part 2 features new shiny things. What is really nifty about the new hooks is the special metal cover for the 1.5mm hook, I guess to stop it being squished by a crochet book or whatever else it gets squished by. Yes it amused me taking the cap on and off a few times. It's the little things! (Vague pun intended). 

I hope you've enjoyed this 2 part post - expect more to come over the next few months!  

Snowflakes make me as happy as Elsa is here!