Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we?

There's a herd of knitters out there, a really huge herd. And there are trends and themes and stories that circulate in the knitters. Now I might not be the kind of knitter who switches from coffee to tea because the Harlot posts about tea (but then, I was already there), but I did get seduced by the cute little new pattern that's all the rage: The Beekeeper's Quilt.

The Beekeeper's Quilt is a woolload of hexagons, tied together to make a quilt. The hexipuffs are knit in the round, so they're 2-sided, and they're lightly stuffed, making them quilt-like and squishy. To me, the appeal is making an epic-sized knitting project in tiny bits. Because you're making little hexagons, it's an extremely portable project. It's go-anywhere do-anything kinda knitting project. Other blankies have been popular for the same reason, but this is the one that sucked me in.

Some knitters jumped right in and made a bazillion without hesitation. Me, I've been dithering over this, in between other projects. This next photos is an example of much dithering:

From left to right,

• column 1: knit as pattern directs on size 4 needles.
• column 2 and 3: knit as pattern directs on size 6 needles
• column 4: top, knit with casting on 24 stitches, bottom, knit with casting on 22.

I find myself favouring the size of the size-6 hexipuffs, but I worry that the fabric isn't dense enough to keep the stuffing in and the fabric neat. But every time I look at the size-4-hexipuffs, I'm displeased with the aesthetics of their tiny-ness.

Oh, and my blanket has a theme:  Every puff will be somehow related to Doctor Who. I'm planning a Spotter's Guide, to identify each puff's story.  Here's the first installment.