Hi friends. One of my favorite crafts is crocheting. Little stuff mostly - no yarn - only crochet threads. Back in January of 2017, I posted about crochet motifs I was making into a shawl (actually two shawls - one white, and one multi-colored).
Neither shawl is finished, but I found out that a single motif makes a great snowflake ornament for the Christmas tree. So I've also been making a lot of those.
Last year I gave some to family and friends for their trees. This year I decided to make a bunch and give them away.After crocheting the motifs, they need to be stiffened with a glue/water solution and stretched, so they look nice on the tree. I made a couple of cardboard mats for that. Several layers of corrugated cardboard taped together. Then I traced circles the size I needed, divided by eight, and poked a hole at each point so I could pin the snowflakes on it to dry. Then I wrapped the cardboard with plastic wrap, so the snowflakes won't stick to it. I'm using brass quilting pins, because they don't rust, but I wish I could find brass T-pins instead. They would be much easier to work with. I suppose I could cut off part of the pin. I may have to try that, and see how it works.
Most of the snowflakes are white or off white, but I have made some light blue ones and some yellow ones. I guess the yellow ones would be stars instead of snowflakes. I made a couple with some odd colors of crochet thread - a pink one and a dark green one. I ended up painting them with some metallic acrylic paint, but didn't take pictures of those.
I made little pockets for the ornaments, and included a little thank you note. I needed something to put them in, so I covered a cardboard box with wrapping paper, added a handle and some decorations. Today I coerced my husband to go with me to the hospital to take them to some of the deserving folks out on the front lines working with Covid-19 patients. During this year, I've barely been out of the house, so this was a new experience for me. When I went inside the hospital, they took my temperature, and then they had to figure out what to do with the ornaments or how to distribute them. I think I made 145, which is really just a drop in a bucket, compared to how many medical personnel work in even one hospital, but I hope they are an encouragement to those who receive them.