Snowflakes go to the Fair

I made some snowflakes. I should say, MORE snowflakes, as I have made quite a few over the years. I like them. They are a lacy reminder of the snow we don't often get here in southern NM. I love having them to hang from the Christmas tree branches. I have enjoyed sharing them with friends and family.

Adapted from one set of snowflakes I've made several times.

But this blog isn't just about making stuff (although a large part of it is about making stuff), it is about creative process. Creative Learning Process. Being an educator I know stuff about about Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning, and learning processes. In short, we learn through a progression of steps that start with getting the fundamental processes in place, like learning various crochet stitches, and how to make them fairly consistently. Then we use learn to follow directions, and create something. After practicing that a while - sometimes a long while - we become increasingly independent with those processes. An experienced crocheter can find a mistake in a pattern, and figure out what to do to get that pattern to the intended end result. Then, with a little more experience, figure out how to make desired changes in a familiar pattern. They might even combine familiar patterns in new ways. Finally, there is creation (Did it already seem like creating? More to it!). By creation, I mean that the crocheter begins to make their own patterns.

Another adapted snowflake.

So, back to snowflakes. I wanted to make some, but I also wanted to do something a little different, so I made a few using a button in the middle. I had made some little flowers with buttons in the center, and had liked how they turned out, and they provided a little strong point on the flower to connect a barrette or something. I made these two by adapting the button center to patterns that I had made several times before, and I liked the result. I took them to Cruces Creatives to work on for a visit or two, and several people seemed interested in learning how to make them, too. Yeah, you guessed it, I agreed to teach a class in making snowflakes.

This is one of my patterns. The most complex one.

Well, I didn't like the idea of using someone else's patterns for the class. I didn't want to buy a pattern book for each person, or make them go to the expense, and I wanted to start off with some relatively simple patterns for people who might not be too advanced in their crochet skills. So I came up with four new patterns, and wrote up the instructions. This was a new part of the process for me, and I think the simple patterns were a good place to start, honestly. The classes were small (one person for each class) which was better than if there had been a mob. I got to do some one-on-one teaching, and encouraging.

Another of my patterns.. simple and quick to make.

About the time the classes were done, it was time to enter arts & crafts into the Southern NM State Fair. This is something I really try to support. It makes me sad that this element of county/state fairs seems to be dying out, at least where I live. So I looked around and what had I been working on lately? Snowflakes. Well these are too simple to win a prize, I thought, but they're pretty, and they're finished, so, off they go! And they did, and no, they didn't win a prize. I'm not disappointed, but it did make me think. I wondered if I had explained my creative learning process, and the patterns that I had created to make the snowflakes that I entered, would have made a difference in the judging. Maybe it would have, and maybe not (and no hard feelings to the fair judges either way).

Still another of my pattern creations.
Did you catch my mistake here? I don't usually point them out.

It did inspire me to write it down in my blog though, and here it is. Snowflakes that I made, and made up. Snowflakes that made me think about how to make snowflakes, how to use the negative space and repetitions, and points, and how many points. What is it about a picot at the point of a snowflake anyway? I learned about making, and I am proud of myself for doing it. And I feel like I innovated as well...

Yup, this is one of mine, too.

I like the buttons in the middle, they give a little weight to the snowflake, to help it hang a little better. And now, after almost a year of ignoring my blog, I actually have something to add. Some simple snowflakes. Enjoy!