Un-puffs

Remember my Jumping on Board post last month? The one about my complete lack of self-control and my succumbing to the most recent knit-bandwagon ? You know, the one about the Beekeeper's Quilt KAL, aka hexi-crack-along! My contribution to this blanket cult is called 720 Degrees of PUFF. Go on, click it, CLICK IT! You know you want to. And feel free to favorite it. I'm an attention hoar.



Well, as you've probably discovered, this pattern has gone viral. Casey even coded in a brand new feature for it on Ravelry: herds. Click the red hashtag #hexipuffalong when you see it on Ravelry, and you'll be served up a plethora of useful links, project photos, + general knitting conviviality related to Tiny Owl Knits' phenomenon du jour.

And I must say, it's wicked fun! Total knitting crack. Remember that mini-skein swap I participated in in the C2S2 group? I put up some pretty-in-pink yarn from Tactile Fiber Arts, and just LOOK at what I got back in return:


Twenty, count 'em, twenty!, wee 5 gram skeins of all kinds of wonderful sock yarn from all over! If you're jonesing to see what each one is, you can check my Ravelry stash listing where you'll find all the details.


I used some of the minis from the swap pictured above, and a few of my newly-dyed COLORBOMB Family Jewels Fingering Minis (recently blogged about HERE and available for purchase in my Etsy shop HERE) to knit up my first five "puffs". Check it:


You might notice that my "puffs" aren't very "puffy". That's because I've decided to knit mine sans stuffing. Yup, I'm knitting un-puffs. Although the pattern is knit as a coverlet, I'm planning to use mine more as a "curl-up-on-the-couch-with-a-good-book-wrapped-in-PUFFS" comfort blankie, and I think the puffed hexagons, while adorable, won't suit for that. I want a more flexible fabric than I think would be produced with the as-written polyfil-poofed puffs. Plus, laundering the FO should be easier and FASTER if I eliminate the stuffing.

So I'll leave you with my new hexi-crack counter, currently at 8/720.*




* Why 720 un-puffs? There are 720 degrees in the cumulative total of the angles in a hexagon, and I'm calling my blanket 720 Degrees of PUFF, so I figured I need to make mine with 720 hexagons. Yep, I AM that nerdy, why do you ask?

Get Your Mini on at COLORBOMB!

Another !exclamatory! post! !!filled!! with exclamations!!!!!! I'm excited because I had fun dyeing this week, and I've finally added new yarn crack to my Etsy shop!



Introducing Family Jewels Fingering Minis and Family Jewels Fingering Minis Family Pak from COLORBOMB Creations!

Hot out of the dyepots (ok, they're cooled down now, but you know what I mean), my new Mini Skeins are PERFECT for all kinds of projects that require a bit o' this color and a bit o' that color. Think hexi-crack, blankiemania, mochi-garumi, colorwork...



Individual colorways available currently are: 'Creamlicklesicle' (orange peel), 'Krazy for Kornflower' (azure blue), 'Turqonton' (turquoise), 'Powder Puff' (soft pink), 'Lime Lolly' (acid green), and 'Lemony Fresh' (bright yellow) - with more to come soon.

Each mini-skein is 10grams (.35oz) and 32meters (35 yards) of professionally hand-dyed 100% superwash Merino wool sock yarn in slightly-variegated/semi-solid colorways on a 2-ply base yarn with a medium, evenly-distributed twist that yields a plump and soft yarn with loads of 'sproing'.

Buy just the individual colors you like OR go for the gusto! and get a Family Pak with one of each, packaged together at a discount, as the 'Candy, Little Girl?' color combo.

You're probably asking yourself: "Where, where can I get me some of these beauties?!?" Glad you asked! Get on over to www.colorbombcreations.etsy.com and slurp yours up before they're all gone!

Jumping on Board

Can't. Help. Myself.

I'm jumping on the hexipuff bandwagon! What? you haven't heard about hexipuffing? I don't believe it! I thought I was the last to succumb to the lure of the blanket comprised of dozens of stuffed cute wee hexagons.

The pattern, The Beekeeper's Quilt (Rav link) by Tiny Owl Knits, has BLOWN UP all over Ravelry and the rest of the internets. Published only a bit over a month ago, this pattern already has over one thousand knitters and crocheters whipping up dozens of the teeny 'hexipuffs', as they are called in popular parlance.

One of the things that pushed me over the edge on making this blanket was a minis swap in the C2S2 group on Ravelry. Here's what I'm sending out:



Twenty-one 5 gram skeinlets of SW Merino/Bamboo Fingering weight from Tactile Fiber Arts. In return, I'll receive 20 mixed mini-skeins from other swap participants, & I'll be on my way to a new blanket!

Since I just finished reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King, a novel postulating a clever female detective partner for Sherlock Holmes (which I highly recommend; read my review on Goodreads here), I'm toying with clever tie-in names to call my iteration of the blanket: Sherlock Meets His Match in Mary... The Apprentice's Blanket... The Blanketkeeper's Apprentice... Can't quite settle on one that isn't totally lame. Or at least lame in a good way.

Tags: knitting, Ravelry, hexipuff, Beekeeper's Quilt