Darlene Polachic's Jack Frost Snowflake

Jack Frost Snowflake designed by Darlene Polachic, published in "Big Book of Tatting" by House of White Birches.  I know snowflakes should have 6 points, but I'm a sucker for arches. The picots in the center were bumping into each other and annoying me, so I tied them together into a little star in the world's simplest application of needlelace.


Turns out this is yet another out of print tatting book.  It has some nice patterns but is not something I'd recommend spending a lot of money for.  Weirdly, the cover image below [when originally posted April 2016] is not the same cover as the Amazon page itself or my copy of the book.  Not sure what is going on there.

 

Amazon link to book

(As an Amazon Associate I earn a commission from qualifying purchases though this link.)

Post edited 3/26/2025 to update Amazon link and manually insert picture of book cover.

Jon Yusoff's Pirouette snowflake

For Easter, a colored snowflake from Jon Yusoff's lovely book "Tatted Snowflakes Collection."  This snowflake is named Pirouette - I removed some picots from the large open spaces in each tip to help emphasize the shape of the white chain, which is a little more striking in person.  The colored thread is a vintage Coats&Clark variegated; I'm pleased that the blue showed up in about the same spot in the center each time.

This is another of my favorite snowflake books; I bought it directly from Jon via her blog (http://tatsaway.blogspot.com), but she no longer seems to have a sales link to her books, so I'm not sure if she's still selling them or not.

Nancy Tracy's Hippie Flower

The original pattern was designed by Nancy Tracy of Be-Stitched, but I have modified it a bit - added a repeat to make a 6-pointed snowflake instead of a 5-pointed flower, added a picot at the tip of the "petal", and omitted a picot or two from the "fluffy" part of the pattern.



I really like the central star, but it's obscured by some picots, and some of the picots in the "fluffy" part overlap each other which always annoys me, so I tried it again with my original variations but removing more picots.



I'm not sure which one I like more.  Either way, this is a fun little motif and was quick to tat, and would make lovely 5-pointed flowers in colored thread as well as a snowflake in white.  I found it helpful to use a gauge to ensure the long chains were all the same length (I tat on the bus while commuting and it sometimes has negative effects on chain tension consistency).

I got the pattern for free by being subscribed to her newsletter, but it appears that instead of putting this pattern on her extensive pages of free patterns (here) she has listed it for sale in her store (here).  If you wish to subscribe to her shop newsletter to get other free patterns in the future, follow the instructions on her website.

Workbasket Magazine's Two Tone Coaster

This is the "Two Tone Coaster" from Workbasket Magazine's book "Tatting Patterns: The Classic Collection" (part of their Aunt Ellen's Treasury series).  I used a smaller thread and did it in all white, and I think it makes a lovely snowflake.  I suspect that with some careful pinning, I can coax the large loops into diamonds when starching.  I love the nested shapes (flower-hexagon-flower-honeycomb) and contrast between the dense and open areas.


Sadly, this is yet another out-of-print book and the Amazon used price has gotten crazy.

Amazon link to book

(As an Amazon Associate I earn a commission from qualifying purchases though this link.)

Post edited 3/26/2025 to update Amazon link and manually insert picture of book cover.