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15/07/2020

Not all hexagons are equal


I should be out working today - getting a garden looking at it's best for a 'socially distancing garden party' tomorrow, complete with lights and suitably spaced outdoorsy furniture...... it is raining .... so I am hanging on until this afternoon when the weather has promised to improve - fingers crossed!

Any way, that means I can indulge myself in a little down time - with a coffee and blog catch up.


Something I have held off sharing was this beehive hexi-lapghan as it was meant (originally) as a birthday gift for the beginning of June and it caught me by surprise how long it took me. 
I didn't have a pattern - just an idea - so as it grew (but not big enough or fast enough) more and more hexis had to be made. They were a joy to do - only took a few minutes each however, weaving in the ends slowed down progress.
The blankie was taken on a few road trips so I could weave in ends then too.
Laying out the colours was fun, I happily allowed some repeats to run through the random placements and then the marathon started...... connecting all the hexis together 
The flat 'zipper-stitch' (a sort of slip stitch that collected loops from two hexis) looked good but was
rather a slow method of connecting.
  
Then, as the blankie grew, I could feel that it was far too lightweight to have made a suitably snuggly laphan to be warm. So I rummaged around in my rather meagre fabric stash and found a lovely piece of cream fleece - PERFECT!
Once I had zipper-stitched all the hexis together and crocheted a single row around the perimetre, I then wove in another gazillion ends, washed and blocked it - what a difference that made! 
 
 Stitching the yarn to the fleece proved to be careful and slow work - but worth it.

Oops, 'imposter hexis' making an appearance!
The blankie was pinned and stitched to the fleece, followed by a decorative stitch around the edge of the hexagon shapes and finally I cut the fleece to echo the shape as the crochet blankie.  
The final hurrah was to add a small bee token to the lapghan, it took so long to arrive in the post that I was finally able to hand the blanket over a mere month and a half late!
What did discover was not all hexis are equal, some are more magnificent than others and some are ...well -  sort of token hexis of indiscriminate shape that almost border on free spirits!
Hexagons have only two ends to weave in which in theory sounds easy peasy but when there are nearly 200 hexis to do..... then all the zipper-stitch starting and ending ..... I suspect that is where the majority of the time doing the wip was spent.
Stitching on the fleece fabric was the best thing I could have done, it added warmth and weight and visual 'solidity' to the finished hexi-lapghan. 

I have just looked out the window and it is still dull and wet and cool - but at least the rain seems to have lessened - I may still be able to get out today (wearing a full set of waterproofs I hasten to add!) 

Have a lovely Wednesday xxxxxx

18 comments:

  1. Wednesday over now here, but your hexi story reminds me of a lovely day spent with DD & family on probably the only day we've been able to get together since March & now in lockdown again for the rest of the year maybe. She brought over 187 crochet squares of many different colours to try & sort a nice placement of said colours & now she is in the process of sewing it together and she's back at work after school holidays. Well she is at the moment, but with all the chaos happening here, it might be work from home again. I love the colouring of your rug & well done for such a beauty. Enjoy the rest of the week. Take care, stay safe & huggles.

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    1. It looks like we might be having a mini-lockdown soon - there has been a localised flare up again :(

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  2. Gorgeous rug.....just like a honeycomb and lovely combination of colours. It looks warm and cuddly....nothing better than a soft huggable rug. I do feel for you...all those ends. I love crochet but when it is a blanket the tiresome task of getting rid of the ends is a total pain!! As for the cakes well I tired to skip past that photo....but it seemed to invade the corner of my eye and i couldnt resist looking. I could almost smell them...yum! I am on a perennial diet unfortunately! Enjoy your garden party :-) keep well Amanda x

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    1. Nice to see you again Amanda! Welcome back to blog-land :D thank you for your comments x

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  3. What a marathon your hexie blankie has turned out to be. But it looks great. I too have attached fleece to the back of a crochet blanket I made for Beloved but only tied it here and there! I too am not a fan of sewing in ends but it is something one has to live with in order to produce a unique work of art! Nice cakes too!

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    1. It was your previous experience with a fleece backed crochet blankie that encouraged me to do it to this one - as I mentioned, crochet alone felt too 'lightweight' so the fleece definitely improved it's blanket worthiness x

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  4. That is wonderful and well worth the work you have put in.

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  5. Wow! its wonderful and the cakes look yummy too

    Julie xxxxx

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  6. I like the way you've extended the fleece outside the hexis. It makes the blankie look extra special.

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  7. Love the bee and honeycomb connection. Bet lapghan was well received. It is beautiful. Well done. xxx

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  8. It's beautiful, a true labour of love. Its looks very cosy, I do hope it was well received.

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  9. That looks nice and snuggly..worth the effort

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