Hexipuffery Abounds!

So, to further expand on something I touched on in my blog the other day, I was recently reading Knit Purl Gurl’s blog and she mentioned a “hexipuff”, and I wondered “What the heck is a hexipuff when it’s at home?”

Oh. My. God. People! Why did no one tell me such wonderful madness exists? I am completely, utterly in love with these things.  A “hexipuff” is a cute little stuffed hexagon. You make approximately 6 bajillionty of these things, then you attach them into a quilt. Tiny Owl Knits is the dreamer upper of such aweomeissitude, and its official name is the Beekeeper’s Quilt.  Seems like it’ll be a great way to use up sock yarn leftovers and even bits and bobs of sock-yarn-weight-ish handspun that I have no idea what else to do with. I’m doing magic loop instead of dpns, too. Just want the practice magic looping.

The madness has begun. Hold me!

Dishcloth Mania

Ya’ll know I have a bit of a dishcloth problem, right?  I mean, I once wrote  a tl;dr essay about the darn things. My cotton stash rivals any other type of yarn I have, and that includes sock yarn, of which I have plenty, thankyouverymuch.  I joined a dishcloth swap group just to justify making more of them.

So, without further ado, some of the most recent dishcloths. I apologize for the image-heavy post – I’ll select all small images (mouse-over to see what they’re called) so hopefully it won’t kill anyone’s downloads.  No one does dial-up any more, do they?

Ballbands:

Another take on ballbanding: a pear-shaped hotpad:

Beach-themed cloths:

Some Halloween and Autumn themed ones:

Swaps for August and July:

Some randoms:

And two chenille facecloths:

Getting Hitched, and Summer Knitting

So as usual, I’ve been quiet, but I *have* been knitting.  I had a lot going on this summer, like:  GETTING MARRIED!

My husband and I had a quiet ceremony at judge’s chambers 2 blocks from our house.  It was exactly the day we wanted, with flowers purchased at our local grocery about an hour before the wedding, and nails done 1 block away.  I like the idea of observing local while engaging in important life events.

And we observed the Pittsburgh tradition of a cookie table, too, by setting up a tiny TV tray table with a doily and a plate of thumbprint cookies (I’m told these are the luckiest cookie of all).  The judge got a kick out of it and even ate a cookie after the ceremony. We then went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, and chilled out all weekend.  It was REALLY nice!  Here are some shots of the day:

Meanwhile, it seems like a lot of friends and family had babies this summer, so I’ve done a lot of baby knitting, and then I also finally took the plunge into shawls, and haven’t looked back!

For my cousin Melissa’s baby, Taylor: Mason-Dixon baby bib done in Peaches n’ Creme.

For my friend Cosy’s baby, Malachi: Mason-Dixon baby bib done in Peaches n’ Creme.

For my friend Kelly’s baby, Elle: a baby washcloth and burp towel of my own design done in Peaches n’ Creme.

And for my friend Allison’s baby, Molly: Mason-Dixon baby bib done in Peaches n’ Creme.

I also ventured into shawls finally! This is very exciting to me, because lace work always intimidated me.  My first shawl was a free knit-a-long pattern by Wendy Johnson, called Summer Mystery Shawlette.  Mine is done with Socks That Rock – Cozy, Fierce & Dirty Orange, lightweight.

Then I cast on the Springling Shawl by Cosette Cornelius-Bates, using her light fingering snapdragon yarn, which is a joy to work with, and KnitPurlGirl’s Rustic Autumn Shawl, done in Halloween colors by Creatively Dyed.  I have to say for this last one, I hate the yarn (which I should note is not the yarn called for by the pattern, but rather yarn I had in my stash that I wanted to use up). The colors are gorgeous but the yarn is splitty, and that is very disappointing. Both shawls are still on the needles.  I’m done with the increases on the Springling Shawl and am just trying to get through the rest of the garter ridges before I can start the lace edging, and I am still on the increases on the Rustic Autumn Shawl.  I’m not sure exactly when I became a person who has 2 shawls on the needles, but apparently I am!

There have been several dishcloths, but I guess that can wait for another post.  There really are enough for a post of their own, LOL! (I mean, really, is anyone surprised by this?)  And finally, I’ve caught the hexipuff bug.  Clearly “hexipuffing” is a dangerously, infectiously giddy past-time that results in a sock yarn blanket. God help us all.

Hope everyone has a fabulous rest of the summer!