A place where other people tell me what to make. And then I make it. Sometimes. [Please note that my avatar's currently a placeholder until I can be arsed to make one myself, and was made at lunaii-dollmaker.com.]
Pixel border! :3 Free to use, but tag me if you do! I love seeing what people make. Adjust at the green line for different sizes. Good for graphics, cross stitch, c2c crochet, all sorts of stuff.
Quick post! Made a grid to plot hexipuff colors on, since I found out you can convert brick stitch patterns to a hexagon grid. Thought other people might find it useful! Make sure you save the full resolution version that has no anti-aliasing, for top-notch bucket-filling action.
$80 worth of Christmas yarn (Marble Chunky in Jeweltone) and the 10-Stitch Blanket pattern is the perfect remedy for ignoring root canal pain. Also, that ball of yarn is bigger than my head.
Okay, enough trash posts, I got something good this time.
Behold: hexipuffs! Knitting these takes very little yarn, so it’s a great stashbuster. Of course, I want to make a big purdy patterned blanket from it, so I’ll be using my normal stash of yarn. Anyway, there’s a version of this pattern by Tiny Owl Knits on Ravelry, but I ended up writing my own version without ever seeing it because 1. apparently people have been making hexagon puff blankets since at least the 70′s and that pattern costs $5.50 and 2. writing my own patterns makes my brain be less of a jerk for a while because I’m excited about doing a thing correctly, so it’s like a therapy knock-off for me.
I figure I should share my pattern with you guys for putting up with long absences broken up by two ‘look at this pointless bullshit lawl’ posts, so here we go!
Adjustable Hexipuff Pattern
Things you’ll need
Scrap or stash yarn (any weight)
Circular or double point needles (appropriately sized for yarn choice)
Scissors
Tapestry needle
Some form of stuffing
Optional: Yarn scrap about 4″ long*
Optional: Crochet hook*
*The scrap yarn and crochet hook are making up for my own goldfish memory, but we’ll get to that later.
Skills you’ll need
Some form of circular cast-on (I recommend Judy’s Magic Cast-On)*
Basic knit stitch
Some form of gapless increase**
Some form of gapless decrease**
Some form of cast-off (I reccomend the kitchener stitch)
Optional: Magic Loop Method*
Optional: Duplicate Stitching
*I use the ML method with JMCO, so my directions may be written with this in mind. I’ll try to keep it general, though.
**For decreases, I use a simple knit-2-together. For increases, I yarn over and then knit through the back loop on the next round. You can use whatever methods work for you.
Getting Started
For reference in this pattern/tutorial, I’m using Red Heart Super Saver and a size 10 (US) circular with a 29″ cable. The finished base-12 hexipuff is slightly smaller than the size of my hand. As always with new patterns, I would advise using a yarn you’re comfortable with practicing on and that you can rip stitches out from easily if mistakes are made. The first puff is not the time for fancypants yarn.
Now, what did I mean by base-12? Well, the hexipuff pattern can be adjusted to any size! It’s simple math to scale it to be larger or smaller. For practicing this pattern, I would recommend doing a base-8, base-10, or base-12. They’re comfortably-sized and will work up quickly, letting you practice all of the pattern basics.
To scale the pattern up or down, pick a number of base stitches to have on each needle. Now double the base number. This will be the number of stitches on each needle at the widest point. For example, my base-12 puff will have 12 stitches on each needle at the cast-on, meaning that when I hit 24 stitches per needle, I should stop increasing. If this doesn’t make sense, send me an ask and I’ll clarify more!
Pattern [Full]
I will be using [increase] and [decrease] to denote where you should use your preferred method of choice, instead of writing a specific method to use.
Cast on an even number of stitches on each needle. (6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, etc. Having an odd number per needle will prevent you from increasing properly.)
R1: Knit in each loop around. (Use the tail from your cast-on to keep track of when you’ve finished a round if you have a goldfish memory like me.)
R2: K1, [increase], knit all but last stitch, [increase], k1.
R3: Knit in each loop around. If using the yarn-over increase, knit through the back of your yarn-over to close the gap it’d leave.
R4 onward: Repeat R2/R3 until the number of stitches on each needle is double what you started with. Your last row before decreases should be R3, the solid knit row.
Goldfish memory bonus: Since you’ll be tucking your tail inside your work, consider using a hook to pull some scrap yarn through the corner that your new row begins on. Every time this corner is by the tips of your needles, you’ll know it’s time to switch from R2/R3 or R3/R2. I find this easier than fiddling with a stitch marker every round.
Resuming counting at R5, because how many rows it’ll take to get there depends on how many stitches you began with and I’m not psychic.
R5: K1, [decrease], knit all but the stitches needed to decrease+final stitch, [decrease], k1.
R6: Knit in each loop around. I like to call these rows ‘victory laps’.
R7 onward: Repeat R5/R6 until you’re left with your original number of stitches on each needle.
Stuff, cast off.
Pattern [Simplified]
This is the version you’re probably gonna end up memorizing if you end up making a ton of these.
Cast on [x] stitches. Knit around.
Increase every other row until you have [2x] stitches. Knit around.
Decrease every other row until you have [x] stitches again. Knit around.
Stuff, cast off.
Closing Thoughts
And that’s that! If any of my instructions are unclear, feel free to drop me an ask! I’m still fairly inexperienced at knitting, but I’ll do my best! You can use the duplicate stitch to add patterns from graphs onto your puffs, and if you need ideas for how to arrange your hexagons, try looking up ‘hexagon perler beads’ on Google and getting ideas from there! Have fun, and enjoy your puffs!
Two weeks of my life working on this, and I couldn't be happier with how it came out! (The blanket, not the cat.) I might expand it at a later time, but for now, it's done. Thank frick.
All yarns are Red Heart except for the lightest purple, which is a mystery yarn I found on my shelves. It's scratchy now, but once I wash and steam it, it'll be softer and limper and much more blankety.
Just realized I hadn’t posted pictures of my cat-proofed cables, so bam. USB, DS, USB, 3DS. I actually haven’t lost any of them since jacketing, so bonus points for visibility.
I took way too long on this for the sandals to look that shit. God damn.
Friend's OC, who's a super darling and one of my favorites, dressed as a character from Grand Chase. I have never hated a pair of shoes so much in my life as I have these.
Anyway, I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. Might do someone with less hate-filled shoes next.
Aw yiss, finished the thing. Not my best, but dammit, I think it turned out well.
I had to pretty directly reference the egg, since it was giving me a lot of trouble, and I think I still fucked it up. That arm was the worst, though.
Anyway, I have no idea how big eggs in FR are compared to people, but I got the idea and thought it was cute, so here it is. Now to work on that other thing I owe someone, whoops.
Eeeenh, I'm awful at shading shirts. This looks a billion times better than when I tried to add fabric folds before, though. also i totally gave up on holding to that shirt because fuck those sleeves Can I get some quick feedback on things while I'm still working on it? Colors, shading, shaping, anything?
"Church, remember what you learned in the memory unit? You need to let go. Your past doesn't define who you are. Just gives you the starting point for who you're going to be."
A present for Kat, who's been helping me out with art stuff. <3
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