Amy March's Slippers by Tiny Owl Knits

Aren't these CUTE??  Do you LOVE Little Women?  Can you see Amy wearing these? 

 I needed a new pair of slippers, not really but I Wanted a new pair of slippers and I found this pattern on Ravelry.com a while back.  I bought the yarn, Lion brand Thick and Quick Wool and the US size 10 1/2" DPNs but never started on these because I just couldn't concept the cast on.  Sounds simple, "use your favorite Toe Up Sock Cast On," except I've never done Toe Up Socks.  Speed Bump.  Read further and decided that the Short Row Heel instructions were also well beyond my ability.

After staring the BeeKeeper's Quilt and learning the cast on there I remembered this pattern.  Same cast on!!  I dug out the yarn and DPNs last night after everyone was tucked in.  Up to the heel went SO fast!  Heel, another story entirely!  Never did figure it out.  I did try, I swear.  So I opted for a darted heel and did get some large-ish holes along the "dart" but these are just slippers.  Thick Wool slippers in South Central Texas.  Holes may be welcome, we'll see!!  LOL

I omitted the lace and ribbons.  While really soft, feminine, girly and just plan cute I live with 2 cats and 7 dogs.  I don't need to advertise my feet as play things!  In omitting the ribbon though I actually had to change the finishing step for these.  I picked up 8 stitches on either side between the heel and the ribbing and did a formal bind-off around.  Overall I am pleased with the outcome.  These only took a few hours to create the pair.  Not a bad Football game day project!!  The Aggies vs Razorbacks game is on the TV....11 minutes to go and I'm finished!  "Ohhhh Yeah!!!!" (Vector)  =)

Chico helping with the HexiPuffs!

There is a contest over at Ravelry.com on the TinyOwlKnits group for the BeeKeeper's Quilt and the winner could score some really nice mini-skeins of sock yarn (that I would LOVE to get my hands on!!) so I've submitted several pics and this was my submission yesterday.  After taking Chico to the dog park for the second day in a row to watch him swim like a mad man I was able to pile the puffs on him without him moving!!

So, here he and the Puffs LOVE each other so much that they decided to take a nap together.

Here, the Puffs have attacked and taken down the mighty Pit Bull!!

HexiPuff Progress

I knit several puffs this weekend.  They don't take very long and the pattern is easy to memorize so you don't need anything other than yarn and needles.  A little ball of polyfill for the very end and bag or basket to pop the finished puff into.  Great couch project!! 

Just laid out, not stitched together.  This is not how it will look, I just wanted to see how large a space 25 puffs would cover.  Not much....

The decorated ones.  Since this picture I've finished a little Fox Face so he will be added at a later date. 

Piled, it just looks like there are more of them when you pile 'em up!

I read on the KAL group forum that one person had set a goal of knitting 1 puff per day!  That is wonderful, set a goal and work towards it.  However, I would like to at least be able to start stitching a quilt together before I'm dead so I will try for several in a day.  Not sure how many but I'm going to try for 5.  5 a day and I need over 500 that means about 100 days. 

I put a little HexiPuff counter on my sidebar for me to keep track.  Progress Pics once a week?  This is going to be awesome!

Tiny Owl's BeeKeeper Quilt

Yesterday I started  what may well take a year to complete if you believe the designer.  I joined a KAL or Knit-A-Long on Ravelry.com to knit a BeeKeeper Quilt.  Below is the picture provided by the designer, TinyOwlKnits.  Here's how she describes them.

"Made of little stuffed honeycomb shaped puffy pockets ♥

Use leftover scrap sock wool & it doesn’t have to be lined because it’s puffy & double sided!"

So you knit these little honycomb shaped pieces then stuff them.  You can also decorate them using the duplicate stitch that I found out was totally beyond me!  UGH!  How can that be?  Oh well, now I've watched a YouTube video by VeryPink.com, thanks Staci and I will try again at a later date!

Here are my first 9 HexiPuffs.  All using scrap or leftover sock yarn so this project could be an awesome way to destash.  I don't really love the different color combos together but to go buy matchy-matchy yarn would totally defeat the purpose here!!!  I will resist!

I am a little ashamed to show the close up of my two failed attempts at duplicate stitch but since I'm not frogging them, go ahead and look!  I'll get better at it and the blanket will be for me so I don't care!

The designer says you need 102 HexiPuffs for a 2 x 2 foot pram quilt.  167 for a 2 x 3 foot quilt and 384 to cover the top of her daybed.  This very well could take a years time to complete something useable.  I've timed the process, so far and totally uninterrupted I can complete one HexiPuff from cast on to stuffed in just under 50 minutes.  I'll get faster and I can already do them while watching TV/movies so ....

Last night I started a solid powder blue puff.  Just naked and boring.  This morning I tried that darn Duplicate Stitch again and it worked better.  I made an Emery puff.  She will have a special spot on my blanket!  Also did a little sheep on a leaf green puff.  I'm kinda diggin' this stitch now that I know what I'm suppose to do with it!  Still need to practice but since I need upwards of 500 of these little darhlin's I will get it!!

See, my adorable little white pibble with the brown spot above her tail.  Oh well...

Chris says this doesn't look like a little sheep but a skull and crossbones!  I will NOT be asking for his opinion!!  LOL

This little HexiPuff is made using Yarn Bee baby Pitter Patter in Angel (white)!  WOW what a soft little puffy pillow!  This yarn is a thin chenille and if I hadn't promised myself I would NOT buy any more yarn I would be out there getting more of this yarn!!!  Someone on Ravelry just said they could see doing a baby blanket in blue with little white clouds and it would be heavenly!  It would be the softest thing ever, that's for sure!

I HexiPuffed all weekend, off and on, and now have 25 Puffs!  I would have more puffs if I hadn't stopped knitting and started decorating existing puffs.  The Flowers, the Gnome, the Heart...