Knit. . . Hap Blanket, Hydrogen and Hexa-puffs

Here is the finished Hap Blanket, knitted from a pattern by Ysolda Teague. Ravelry link to the pattern here: Hap Blanket. It's a really simple pattern to knit, with a feather and fan lace border knitted around a central garter stitch square.  I talked a bit about the Hap Blanket's origins at the bottom of this post. Anyway, it was an enjoyable and quick knit which has yielded a snuggly and good-looking result - amazing to think that it is almost the same size as my three year epic project "fish blanket" and yet this soft and squishy blanket only took me just over two weeks! I used a discontinued yarn (bought on the cheap!) Cleckheaton Merino Spun, which is a felted single of 80% merino and 20% nylon.

Next up, I am knitting Hydrogen!

Glowing ultrapure Hydrogen - from www.images-of-elements.com

That is to say, I am knitting a 20x20cm square from New Zealand wool, to represent the element with Atomic Number 1, symbol H and relative atomic mass of 1.0079 for the Knitted Periodic Table project celebrating the International  Year of Chemistry. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element and I couldn't quite believe my luck that it was still available to knit, when I went to sign up in this New Zealand-based collaborative project!

Image from www.yearofchemistry.org.nz

All the details are here, but in less than one week all the elements and blank squares have been claimed by knitters around New Zealand and even some from overseas! There's an article about the project from the Royal Society of New Zealand here. The finished Knitted Periodic Table will be displayed at the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Conference at Victoria University in Wellington later this year, and  at selected locations thereafter. I started knitting my square tonight, and also need to knit three black strips to form the "H", as well as embroider on the atomic number.

First few hexa-puffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt

Finally, in this litany of alliterative knitting I have started knitting Hexa-puffs for my latest knitting project - the Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits. It's an ingenious little pattern and if you click on the link there you will see just what a beautiful result can be accomplished! It's a paying pattern but well worth its price for the clever idea - I downloaded mine from ravelry. Talking of  ravelry I have named my project "The Beekeeper's Daughter" on ravelry, owing to the fact that back in the day my dad used to keep bees. . . It is a newly published pattern and just what I was looking for as a replacement simple, portable sock yarn project now my fish blanket is finished. Each hexagon is knitted individually as a little pouch, filled with a little puff of stuffing and then grafted together at the top. Eventually (many months/years hence), when I have got enough hexa-puffs (at least 200!) I will attach them together and voilà - a Beekeeper's quilt will emerge from this hive of activity!

So that's it for knitting activity at the moment. Have also been plugging away on a yarnification project, but more on that elsewhere. I'm still knitting a few rows here and there on the two lace shawls I am currently knitting, but more on those another time :)

Happy knitting, if that's your thing! And if it's not, then hopefully you have something else that gives you as much calm and relaxation as knitting gives me. . .