Iron Will

Snowflakes are a never-ending addiction for me.

White crochet thread has been flying off my shelf like crazy while I whiz through my special project. I buy huge spools, usually in bulk and typically on clearance, and my big batches are too big to carry along on the commuter train I ride to and from work each weekday. So I wind off smaller portions I can carry in my purse.

Even though smaller portions are easier to transport, they are more difficult to manage when working on a large-scale project. I run out of thread at least once a week while I'm crocheting on the train!

So I started winding bigger portions.


I shape my snowflakes on used clean pizza boxes. I've been using the same boxes for about seven years now. Some were so pitted, it was difficult to get proper tension in snowflake stretching. Some of the boxes had warped due to all the years of moisture, too.

So we had to eat more pizza.

The Lizard didn't mind that.

Just not every night. After all, we're not teenagers anymore!


But new boxes meant I had to build new "snowflake condos." I tape snowflake templates to the box bottoms, then cover the bottoms with cling wrap.

Of course, I ran out of cling wrap. I'd been using a couple of colorful rolls I'd bought about 150 years ago when my kids were still living at home and painting Easter eggs every spring. Because, you know, colorful cling wrap makes kitchen chores fun and makes school lunches edible. Or trade-worthy...

I ran out of tape, too, but I always keep four boxes of tape refills beneath our laptop to prevent it from overheating. I didn't have to buy more. Yet.


The lengthy construction process got me behind on pinning. For this project, the snowflakes don't have to be stiffened, but they do still need to be shaped. This resulted in an evening of mega pinning. 28 snowflakes, I think!

AND I RAN OUT OF PINS!!!

So off to the store I went to buy more rust-proof pins. Then pinning resumed. It seemed to take forever.


The next day, I came home from work anxious to remove the pins and shoot my huge collection of snowflakes!

One lone surprise caught me off guard.


So now I have to remake my tweaked adaptation of Be Still My Heart. I also wanted to try to rescue this snowflake, if possible.

A cotton swab dab of bleach turned the entire snowflake point yellow, and you know how I feel about yellow snowflakes, right?

Rust started this problem, so perhaps rust could finish it. I've had a jar of rusty nails brewing for my natural dyeing for a little more than a year now. I gave the tainted snowflake an orange bath.


The results looked promising...


...but did not hold.


I have a newer jar of rusty nails soaking so I will have enough fluid to cover thermal Henleys I plan to dye for The Lizard later this autumn. Rusty nails make bright, pastel and feminine colors "sad." The Lizard likes "sad" colors.


I dipped the snowflake briefly in my osage orange dye pot, then gave it another bath in the newer rusty nails jar, hoping to achieve the chartreuse some natural dyers are able to obtain using yellow and then iron.

The results looked promising...


...but did not hold.


Back to the snowflake blocking board!

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