Snowflake Crochet Afghan , pattern + Tutorial

 This timeless Crochet Winter Blizzard Snowflake Afghan designed by Daniel Zondervan is the cat’s meow for the winter season.
Daniel’s inspiration was a combination of two major elements at the time of his designing. He was inspired by the Crochet Igloo Exhibit where snowflakes were varied in designs realizing that snowflakes can be limitless. The second major element was playing with the Jacobs Ladder technique for the corners. He pictured looking at the blizzard through a window realizing that usually ice crystals usually form near the window pane, so you will see crocheter’s choice for spiked half double crochets that tips each motif from being cool to amazing.
Daniel’s afghan design lends itself to being able to be changed in shape or size with the interconnecting hexagonal motifs. The border instructions given that will surround the afghan will have easy to follow instructions for being able to change the shape of the afghan and keeping the border looking amazing.
Afghan Details
Shown in the design as Daniel has it. The sizing change be easily changed by adding or subtracting motifs out.
55″ wide by 60″ long.
19 Motifs
Each motif is 13″ diameter across points. 11.5″ across the flat sides.
The motifs work together like a honeycomb.
Border is an additional 2″ thickness around.
New Sew Joining. Join as you go.
Instructions
Size I, 5.5 mm Crochet Hook
Bernat Super Value Yarn. Main Colour (MC) White – 3 Skeins.
Bernat Super Value Yarn. Colour B (B) Sky – 1 Skein.
Bernat Super Value Yarn. Colour C (C) Peacock – 1 Skein.
Bernat Super Value Yarn. Colour D (D) Navy– 2 Skeins.
 Changing Motif Count Tips
If you want to make more motifs than 19 to make this bigger. This is the breakdown for how many motifs 1 yarn ball will do. The border is subjective to the size of the perimeter, you will need to guess that if changing it to be bigger.
1 Ball White, Colour MC can do 8 Motifs
1 Ball Sky, Colour B can do 49 Motifs.
1 Ball Peacock, Colour C can do 39 Motifs
1 Ball Navy, Colour D can do 15 motifs.
For example, say you want to do 30 motifs. Looking at the break down, you will need 4 balls of white, 1 ball sky, 1 ball peacock and 2 balls of Navy to make it work. You will then need extra yarn for the border which is subjective.
 With (MC) ch 6 and sl st in 1st ch to form ring.

1- Ch 1, 12 sc in ring and join with sl st to the first sc. (12 sc)
2- Ch 1, sc in same stitch as join, ch 5, sc in next sc, *sc next sc, ch 5, sc in next sc*. Repeat around . Join with sl st in 1st sc.  (6 ch-5 loops)
3- Ch 1 *sc, ch 3, dc , ch 3, sc all into same ch-5 sp. ch 2, repeat from * 5 times. Ending with sl st into 1st sc in 1st ch-5 sp. (12 ch-3 spaces)
4- Ch 1, *4 sc in next ch-3 sp, ch 2, 4 sc in next ch-3 sp, sc into ch 2 sp. Repeat from * 5 times. Ending with sc in ch 2 sp. Do not join with a with a slip stitch.
5- Ch 6 (counts as dc + ch 3), *2 sc in next ch-2 sp of previous round, ch 3, skip to 5th sc and dc, ch 3, repeat from * around. Join with a sl st on top of beginning ch-3.
6- Jacobs Ladder MC Technique Begins. Ch 1, *4 sc in next ch-3 sp, 2 dc into sc of pervious round, ch 10, sl st into 1st chain, 2 dc into next st, 4 sc in same ch-3 sp, [ch 3 sl st from 3rd ch from hook to form picot], sk dc from pervious rd,  repeat from* 5 times, Ending with picot, sl st into beginning sc. Fasten off MC. Weave in ends.
7- Jacobs Ladder Colour B. With Colour B, sl st at any sc after ch-10 sp. ch 3 (counts as dc), 1 dc in same st, *1 dc in next 6 sc skipping over picot, 2 dc in next sc before previous rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, 2 dc in next sc after previous rd ch-10 sp, repeat from * 4 times. Ending, 1 dc in next 6 sc skipping over picot, 2 dc in next sc before previous rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, sl st into beginning ch 3. Fasten off Colour B. Weave in ends.
8- Jacobs Ladder Colour C. With colour C, sl st in any dc after ch-10 sp. ch 3 (counts as dc), 1 dc in same dc * 1 dc in next  8 dc, 2 dc in next dc before pervious rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, 2 dc in next dc after pervious rd ch-10 sp, repeat from 4 times* Ending 1 dc in next  8 dc, 2 dc in last dc before pervious rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, sl st in top of beginning ch 3. Fasten off Colour C. Weave in ends.
9- Jacobs Ladder Colour D. With colour D sl st in any dc after ch-10 sp, ch 3 (counts as dc), 1 dc in same dc) * 1 dc in next 10 dc, 2 dc in next dc before pervious rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, 2 dc in next dc after pervious rd ch-10 sp, repeat from * 4 times. ending 1 dc in next 10 dc, 2 dc in last dc before pervious rd ch-10 sp, ch 10, sl st from top of beginning ch 3. Do not fasten off.
10- Rounds 6, 7, 8 and 9 have the ch-10 loops. With motif facing right side up, lay down Round 6 and feed round 7 ch-10 loop up through loop. Then feed round 8 up through round 7 loop. Finally, feed round 9 loop up through round 8 loop. The Jacobs Ladder is complete for corner. Repeat same steps for remaining 5 corners. Please be careful, you are weaving these through without locking them into position. Just be gentle so the Jacobs Ladder doesn’t fall apart. Next round, we are going to lock the Jacob Ladder permanently into position.
11- With same colour D, ch 3 (counts as dc), dc in same dc) * 1 dc in next 12 dc, 2 dc in last dc before ch 10 loop. ch 1 insert hook through the last ch-10 loop and sc, ch 1  2dc into next dc, repeat from * 4 times. ending with 1 dc in next 12 dc, 2 dc in last dc before ch-10 loop. ch 1 insert hook into the ch-10 loop and sc into it, ch 1, sl st from top of beginning ch 3. Fasten off Colour D.
12-  Using Colour MC. The round uses random mix of half double crochet and half double crochet spikes. HDC Spikes are created by yarn over the hook and insert the hook into any of the rows directly below. Insert hook through project and yarn over. Pull yarn through and give it slack to extend the yarn back to the top of the row. Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook. Crocheters can use their own creativity in this round for how far they want to drop down for the Half Double Crochet Spikes. Being random will give this round an incredible look. You can drop down between 1 – 3 rows below. If you prefer not to have any spikes, you can just use HDC around as per the instructions. We have suggested layers for being random and they truly are random. Tip: The first 3 and last 3 stitch spaces on each side should be a regular HDC as the stitch is too close to the corner to drop straight down.

1- Join to Ch-1 space at any corner. Ch 1, *hdc into this space, 1 hdc into next 2 stitches. Next 12 stitches are your free choice on mixing hdc and hdc spiked stitches. See diagram for hints. Next 2 stitches are 1 hdc and final ch-1 space is hdc. Ch 2, skip to next ch-1 space and repeat from * around. Fasten off.
First Motif Border Round Only
Using MC, fasten on to any sc after a corner. Ch 1, sc into the same stitch, *ch 3, skip one stitch and sc into next. Continue * to the next corner. Ch 4 to jump over corner and sc into next sc on the other side of the corner. Continue * once again and keep going around in this fashion. There will be a total of 8 ch-3 spaces along each side plus 1 ch-4 gap for each corner.
Fasten off and weave in ends.
This is the only time you will use this instruction. The rest of the motifs will join to each other starting with this one as you crochet instead of sewing.
 Now that your first motif is done, the rest of them join together as you go. Some motifs will have 1, 2 or 3 neighbours that will join at the same time. Plan ahead. Think about it like building a brick wall, you need to be strategic. It is critical that you also have 8 ch-3 spaces along the side and 1 ch-4 space on each corner when doing the revolutions. If you have missed a count saying that you have too many stitches or not enough, fake it so you don’t have to frog it. There are a few spots in our sample where we missed a stitch and we faked the final joining round to make it work. You don’t even notice it, unless I told you to look for it. The instruction to join is really easy, where the sides join together, you will substitute the instruction of that particular side. Instead of sc, ch 3, skip one stitch, sc into next. You will do the following: 
sc, ch 1, slip stitch around joining motif ch-3 gap space that matches, ch 1, skip one stitch and sc into the next.In corners, you will change the stitching from ch 4 to  ch 2, slip stitch around same ch-4 gap space on the joining, ch 2 and then sc into the next sc on the other side of the corner.Each motif joins each other at 10 spots. This includes the 8 ch-3 gap spaces and the two corner spaces.You can only join to another motif when a final round has been done on the joining motif.Continue until all motifs are joined togetherThe final perimeter border is written so you can change the shape or motif counts of your project.
Final Border The final border is easy as Daniel has designed this is a way where you can change the shape of the final afghan and the border still follows around.There are 4 rounds in total for the border. The first round is the one to watch for as it has to add more stitches in the peaks and do a treble in the bottom.
Round 1 of Border
1- Join B to any ch-4 corner. Ch 3, 4 dc into the same space. *Skip to next ch-3 space and put 2 dc into space. Repeat * until you get to the next corner. The next corner could be a similar corner that is more than 180 degrees or less than. Here’s here to figure out what to do by looking at the pictures below.
2- If the corner is less than 180 degrees, you will need to put a Treble in to where the two motifs are joined together. This prevents a huge gap. Continue to the next ch-3 gap and continue to do your 2 DC into each gap space until the next corner.
3- If the corner is more than 180 degrees, you will need to add in 5 dc into the ch-4 space so it can turn the corner properly. Continue to the next ch-3 space and continue to do your 2 DC into each gap space until the next corner.
4- Continue around making a decision at each corner on what to do.
5- Fasten off B and weave in ends.
Round 2 Join Colour C to any middle of grouping of 5 DC. Ch 1, 3 sc into same stitch. Place 1 sc in each stitch going around with the exceptions to the groups of 5 dc. When going over a group of 5 dc, ensure the middle one has 3 sc. Continue around and fasten off.
Note that there is no 2 sc tog required for the valleys, the sc will follow around without any trouble in the valleys, you only need to add 3 sc to the top of the hills to keep it sitting flat. Fasten off Color C and weave in ends.
Round 3 With Colour C, fasten onto any SC. Ch 1, 1 sc in same stitch, *ch 1, skip one stitch and sc into next. * Continue all the way around. You do not need to add or subtract stitches to make this work. At the end, ch 1 and sl st to beg sc. Fasten off
Round 4 – Final Round
Fasten Colour D onto any Ch -1 space. Ch 1, (1 sc. Ch 4. Sl st in 3rd ch from hook.Ch 1. 1 sc – extended picot made) in same sp as last sl st. Skip next sc. * Extended picot in next ch-1 sp. Skip next sc. Rep from * around. Join with sl st to first sc. Fasten off . source