Crochet Snowflake Patterns: Lace Snowflakes and Snowflake Decor

A crochet snowflake is a flat lace motif worked in joined rounds from a magic ring, with six identical repeats in every round. The twenty designs in the Lace Snowflakes pattern use size 3 cotton crochet thread and a 2.5 mm hook, finish at 1.75 to 6.25 in (4.5 to 15.5 cm) across, and most take 20 to 45 minutes before they are stiffened and blocked.

Each design takes three to six rounds and 3 to 16 yd (3 to 15 m) of thread. All twenty together use about 100 yd (90 m). You start small, then work up to the Grand Frost.

The snowflakes in the window at the top of the page are blocked and stiffened, so their arms stay straight in the light. The next section explains what makes a snowflake different from other small lace.

What is a crochet snowflake?

A crochet snowflake is a flat, six-part lace motif worked in rounds from the right side, then stiffened. In the Lace Snowflakes pattern, the first repeat of each round is written out in full, and “[ ] 5 times” repeats it five more times. You work it six times. That is the whole structure, and once you have read one round you can read them all, because every round in all twenty designs is written the same way: the first repeat in full, then the brackets, then the count.

A crochet snowflake is not a small doily. It is a lace motif pinned point by point and stiffened, so its arms stay straight when it hangs. Without that step, a lace snowflake curls.

The close-up shows the parts every round builds: chain arms, chain spaces and picot points. A snowflake also hangs as one ornament among many, and the baubles, angels and other types sit in Crochet Christmas Ornament Patterns: 15 Types to Make.

Thread for lace sits in the finest yarn category. The Craft Yarn Council “Standard Yarn Weight System” lists 10-count crochet thread in category 0, Lace, and states that its ranges are guidelines only. The snowflake pattern names its own thread, size 3 cotton, so you follow the pattern’s gauge.

Lace snowflake ornaments by size and skill level

Crocheted snowflake ornaments in the Lace Snowflakes pattern fall into four groups by size and skill level: small simple snowflakes, medium snowflakes with arms and branches, textured snowflakes with clusters and puffs, and the Grand Frost showpiece. Fourteen designs are rated Easy and six are Intermediate.

Which crochet snowflake pattern should you make first? First Frost, Design 1. It is rated Easy, and its first two rounds are the pattern’s gauge check: about 1.25 in (3 cm) across. If yours measure close to that, your thread and hook match the pattern. Then move on.

Small simple snowflakes

Yarn

Size 3 cotton crochet thread

Hook

2.5 mm

Skill level

Easy

Best for

tree, garland, window, gift and card toppers

Eight designs make the simple crochet snowflake pattern group: First Frost, Picot Wheel, Ice Hexagon, Snow Blossom, Pinwheel Frost, Frost Crown, Icicle Flake and Diamond Frost. They measure 1.75 to 2.25 in (4.5 to 5.5 cm) across, which also answers the tiny snowflake search.

Start here if you are new to thread, because the stitches are chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet (UK treble), picots and, in Pinwheel Frost, treble crochet. Most take three rounds.

All eight are in Lace Snowflakes.

Medium snowflakes with arms and branches

Yarn

Size 3 cotton crochet thread

Hook

2.5 mm

Skill level

Easy

Best for

tree, garland, window, gift and card toppers

Six designs grow longer arms: Crystal Spike, Fern Frost, Twin Star, Arrow Frost, Feather Frost and Trefoil Frost. They measure 2.25 to 3.5 in (6 to 9 cm) across and are still rated Easy.

Each arm is a chain worked back toward the centre, and a branch is a short chain made partway along the arm. Work into the back bump of each chain, so the arm comes out crisp and straight.

All six are in Lace Snowflakes.

Textured snowflakes with clusters and puffs

Yarn

Size 3 cotton crochet thread

Hook

2.5 mm

Skill level

Intermediate

Best for

tree, garland, window, gift and card toppers

Five of the six Intermediate designs sit here: Lattice Frost, Cluster Star, Snowball Flake, Doily Frost and Polar Star. They measure 2.25 to 3.5 in (5.5 to 9 cm) across.

Cluster Star, Snowball Flake and Polar Star add clusters (CL), puffs and dc3tog. Doily Frost and Polar Star take about an hour, because they run to five and four rounds.

All five are in Lace Snowflakes.

Lace Snowflakes gives each of the twenty designs its own size, level, round count and thread amount, and all twenty use about 100 yd (90 m) of thread.

How do you crochet a snowflake?

How to crochet a snowflake comes down to one rule in the Lace Snowflakes pattern: you work each round from the right side, six times over, then stiffen the piece. The full rounds are in each design. The steps show how they fit together:

1. Make a magic ring and work the first round into it.
2. Work every round from the right side, and join it with a slip stitch (sl st).
3. Work the first repeat as written, then repeat it five more times, so every round has six repeats.
4. Chain (ch) the arms and branches, then work back toward the centre.
5. Count the stitches and chain spaces (ch-sp) at the end of each round, and count picots and arms separately, because they are never worked into.
6. Weave each end through the back of the stitches of the same round for at least 1.25 in (3 cm).
7. Stiffen and block the snowflake.

Step 5 is the check. The count at the end of each round lists every stitch and chain space that round makes, so you know a round is right before you start the next. No guessing.

How do you stiffen and block crochet snowflakes?

You stiffen and block crochet snowflakes by soaking them in stiffener, pinning them flat at every point and leaving them to dry for at least 12 hours. The Lace Snowflakes pattern calls blocking the step that turns a curly piece of crochet into a crisp snowflake. Its finishing steps run in this order:

1. Soak your snowflake in fabric stiffener, strong starch, or 1 part white craft glue to 1 part water.
2. Squeeze out the extra.
3. Pin it flat on a board covered in cling film.
4. Put one pin at every arm tip, point and picot, pinning the six main points first.
5. Check that opposite points sit in line.
6. Leave it to dry for at least 12 hours before you unpin it.
7. Thread 6 in (15 cm) of thread or thin ribbon through one tip to hang it.

The photo shows step 4: a pin at every point, so each arm dries straight. You will use more pins than you expect. Blocking crochet lace is a technique of its own.

Snowflake decor for windows and blankets

Snowflake decor takes the motif off the tree and into a window valance or a blanket. Both are bigger projects. You can still start small, with the blanket’s practice swatch. The two patterns use different techniques: filet crochet for the valance and a raised popcorn stitch for the blanket.

Snowflake filet window valance

Yarn

Size 3 cotton crochet thread

Hook

2.75 mm (C-2)

Skill level

Easy to Intermediate

Best for

kitchen, cafe or living room window

The Frost Lace Snowflake Valance is a filet crochet window valance with three large snowflakes, small snow crystals between them and a scalloped edge. You work it from the top down with a rod pocket, so your first rows become the pocket the rod slides through. It measures about 35 in (89 cm) wide and 15.7 in (40 cm) deep and fits a standard 36 in window.

Filet crochet is made of open spaces and filled blocks, so the whole snowflake design comes from double crochet and chains in one colour. Every one of the 41 chart rows has the same 105 squares, and the chart and the written rows match square for square. It takes about 522 yd (477 m) of thread, at a gauge of 10 squares and 10 rows to 3.35 in (8.5 cm), blocked.

It is the Snowflake Window Valance.

3D snowflake stitch blanket and cowl

Yarn

4, medium (worsted)

Hook

5 mm (H-8)

Skill level

Easy

Best for

Christmas gifts, sofa throw, baby blanket, winter cowl

The Frostfall 3D Snowflake Stitch puts raised popcorn (pc) snowflakes on a smooth half double crochet background. You learn it on a practice swatch, which is also your gauge swatch: 14 half double crochet and 10 rows to 4 in (10 cm).

The crochet snowflake blanket comes in Baby, 30 x 37 in (77 x 93 cm), and Throw, 50 x 56 in (127 x 141 cm). The cowl comes in Regular, 23.6 in (60 cm) around, and Large, 27.6 in (70 cm) around, both 10.3 in (26 cm) tall. The stitch works over any multiple of 14 plus 3 stitches, so you can set any width.

Popcorns are made only on right side rows. Every row keeps the same stitch count. You always know where you are.

It is the 3D Snowflake Stitch Blanket.

The Snowflake Window Valance gives the full chart and all 41 written rows, and the 3D Snowflake Stitch Blanket gives the swatch, two blanket sizes and two cowl sizes.

Where else does the snowflake motif appear in Christmas crochet?

The snowflake motif appears on five other Christmas pieces, in yarn as well as thread. On these it is a motif on something else, not the project itself. The table shows where each one sits.

The mantel photo shows the lace snowflakes strung as a garland, one of the uses the Lace Snowflakes title names. A snowflake garland can come from either set, and both sit in Crochet Garland Patterns: Christmas, Snowflake and Leaf Garlands: the thread snowflakes on a cord, or the yarn Nordic Snowflake from Christmas Garlands, which the cord joins through the loop at one arm tip. Your choice of thread or yarn decides the look, so pick the one that matches your room.

More Christmas crochet patterns

The snowflakes are one part of Christmas Crochet Patterns: Ornaments, Stockings and Decor, so you can match them to the rest of your tree. Every pattern is listed in Crochet Patterns to Make: Christmas Decor and Winter Wear.