Monday, September 10, 2012

Hexa-Puff Baby "Quilt"

A long time ago at our local craft circle, I was introduced to the Apiary Puff and the concept of a crochet/knit "quilt" of sorts, using stuffed crochet tiles in a larger blanket design. I fell in love immediately, but I knew it would be quite the endeavor to make a whole project out of them.

Well, when Lydia (a fellow crochetter) found out she was expecting, I knew I couldn't do anything less! I changed the pattern, because I was trying to find a simpler way of making, stuffing, and then sewing together the puffs. Here is what I came up with!

Yarns: Pound of Love (in Pastel Yellow), Red Heart Super Saver (in Coral), I Love This Yarn (in Hot Rose).
Hook(s): 5mm for Pound of Love, 4mm for Red Heart, and 3.5mm for I Love This Yarn
Gauge: Overall gauge is unimportant, however, you'll want all of your hex pieces to be the same size in the end, so with every different yarn you use, test the gauge with different hooks until you match the gauge of your existing hex pieces. I had to use a different hook for each yarn to get the sizes to match!
Additional Supplies:
Stuffing (I buy $1 GOSA Pillows from Ikea and one pillow was enough stuffing for this project)
Yarn Needle
Yarn Scraps


Hexa-Puff Pattern

Back Hex:
Begin with a Magic Ring
Into the Magic Ring: Ch 3, dc, ch1, *2dc, ch1* Repeat from * to * 4 additional times. Tighten your magic ring. Sl st to top of the ch 3 to join.
Round 2: Ch 3, dc in next st, *(dc, ch 1, dc) into the ch 1 space, dc in next 2 sts* Repeat from * to * 4 more times, end with (dc, ch 1, dc) into the remaining ch 1 space. Sl st to top of the ch 3 to join.
Round 3: Ch 3, dc in next 2 sts, *(dc, ch 1, dc) into the ch 1 space, dc in next 4 sts* Repeat from * to * 4 more times, (dc, ch 1, dc) into the remaining ch 1 space and dc into the next st (right before the ch 3 that started the round). Sl st to top of the ch 3 to join.
Round 4: Ch 3, dc in next 3 sts, *(dc, ch 1, dc) into the ch 1 space, dc in next 6 sts* Repeat from * to * 4 more times, (dc, ch 1, dc) into the remaining ch 1 space and dc into the next 2 sts (right before the ch 3 that started the round). Sl st to top of the ch 3 to join. Fasten Off.

Front Hex:
Same as Back Hex for Rounds 1-4. Do NOT fasten off at the end of Round 4.
Round 5: Begin by matching up a completed back hex to your almost-complete front hex, wrong sides together. Ch 1, and sc through BOTH the back and front hex to join the two pieces together. Sc into each st and 2sc into each corner ch 1 space until you're almost all the way around. Stuff a bit of stuffing into the hex before finishing. Sl st to the top of the first sc to join. Fasten off.

Half Hex:
Same as Back Hex for Rounds 1-4. Do NOT fasten off at the end of Round 4.
Fold the hex in half so that the wrong sides are inside. Ch 1 and sc through both halves of the piece, around, placing 2sc in each corner st. Add 3-4 sc stitches along the corners closest to the fold, and sc along the fold as well (this will make edging much easier). Make sure to STUFF your half-hex before you finish sc'ing all the way around.



When you've made all of your hex pieces, arrange them how you would like them and pin in place. Sew them together using a yarn needle and coordinating yarn. Be careful to secure them thoroughly at the corners.

My blanket used 50 Hex Pieces (9 Rose, 9 Coral, and 32 Yellow) and 8 Half-Hex Pieces (6 yellow, 1 rose, 1 coral) and I used scraps of the Rose yarn to add a simple single-crochet border. Final measurements were 24" wide by 30" long.


I LOVE the look of this project, even though it was one of the most involved project's I've ever done. I'd like to make it again using yellow for ALL the hex pieces, and a honey-colored yarn for the joining round (and sewing). I think that it would look like a honeycomb and it would be adorable if paired with an amigurumi bumble bee!



My Grandma also makes Hexagon Garden Quilts similar to this one, and I think that would be a neat arrangement as well!


Lydia Showing off the Hexa-Puff Quilt!

34 comments:

  1. Love it! You beat me to this project. ^_~

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just a note to let you know I've included a link to this project in my roundup today of 15 best free crochet patterns for baby blankets over on Crochet Concupiscence.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so cool. I'm looking forward to starting this amazing blanket

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliant. When you have made your honeycomb pin it, it sounds adorable :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would like to see the back also. It's a unique blanket. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The back looks pretty much the same! I used the same yarn on the front and back of each hex, but I'm sure you could mix it up!

      Delete
  6. Hi love your site. my question is could explain what the GOSA pillows are? and do you just use the stuffing??? What about fiber fill, would that work?
    thanks,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, fiberfill works great. The GOSA pillow is a $1 pillow that they sell at Ikea. It is a TERRIBLE pillow, but I just rip them open and use the fiberfill inside of them.

      Delete
  7. How easy is this to wash?

    It's very cute!

    Marny CA (not Anonymous)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have an oversized washer/dryer so it wasn't bad to wash on the gentle setting. I Imagine if I made it much larger it would become a pain.

      Delete
  8. So cute! Can't wait to try it! Did you use just one skein of each color yarn, or how many did it take?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its has been a while, but I believe I used a "pound of love" for the yellow, and about 300 yards of each for the pink and coral.

      Delete
  9. How do you sew them? The sides of each don't touch.
    They looked puffed out like they are stuffed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are stuffed! You don't want to stuff them so much that they are round as opposed to hexes though! I found that when I lined them up to sew, they touched about 85-90% of the time, and the rest were easy enough to shrug up with the sewing yarn and yarn needle. It all came together well in the end!

      Delete
    2. You can also do a row of singing crochet around the edge to make them easier to attach to each other.

      Delete
  10. Hi, I loved this, hugs from Brazil
    http://www.titacarre.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Okay, I just found this pattern and I have a question....

    Do you sew the hexes together except on one side, then stuff the hexes and then sew that one side? Or how do you put the stuffing in and keep it in?

    Thanks so much,

    Lynne
    Caulfield, MO, USA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're actually crochetting the front and back part of each hex puff together. You can do 5 sides, stuff it, and then finish it off if you like! I found that I only needed about 2-3 sts worth of space to stuff the stuffing in, so I would get *almost* all the way done with that last round before I stuffed them.

      Delete
  12. Hola Andrea una maravilla como cada trabajo que haces ♥ besos Sandra.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Andrea, I have been looking for a crochet version of the puff quilts, and you beat me to it....love it, wondering how you back it w/material though or what you use for your backing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The front and back of each puff are idential, crochet, hexagons. So tha "back" is the exact same as the front!

      Delete
    2. Thank you so much for this, this does seem much easier to do than a sewn puff quilt, but still time consuming

      Delete
  14. I love it ♥

    ammmm can I shere it in my blog??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Share all you want! Please just link back here so that people with questions can find me!

      Delete
    2. Thank you... One question, is it possible to back it with material if so chosen?

      Delete
  15. Just want to say you have a very lucky friend!! That's an amazing baby blanket and the work and love you put in it shows! Amazing job! Katina

    ReplyDelete
  16. How many hexapuffs and half-hexapuffs would you recomend for a full sized qulit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honestly, the best way to figure that out would be for you to make a single hex and measure it. Then do the math. I wish I had a solid answer for you, but since your gauge will be different than mine, that would be the most reliable method.

      Delete
    2. Thank you very much

      Delete
  17. I'm a beginner and I keep ending up with 4 extra stitches at the end of round 2 so that round 3 isn't completed correctly. Any ideas about what I'm doing wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'd just like to know roughly how heavy this quilt is, I want to make a king size one but not sure about the weight.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Black Car IQ is a luxury transportation company that provides a driver/chauffeur and a luxury fleet of vehicles. Think leather captain’s chairs, iced beverages, high speed internet, and Netflix!
    Click here to read more private transportation service Utah

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow! how can get an article great. Really appreciate more.You are so intelligent brother.
    A good article can teach a lot to a man. An article can change a man's life. So we should read more and more articles. But we wasted our many times for reading a low-class article.
    I am honestly saying that your article is just awesome. Please keep it up and publish more and more.

    ReplyDelete