Puff Star Afghan Hexagon

Wow! The last couple of months have been zipping by, and I am so happy to finally be able to share one of the projects I’ve been keeping under my hat. I’m participating in the 2021 Stitch & Hustle Blog Hop: Puff the Magic Stitch. A big thank you to WeCrochet.com for providing the yarn for this blog hop and to Michele of Stitch & Hustle for organizing the hop.

My design is the Puff Star Afghan Hexagon. You can have so much fun mixing up the colors for the various elements of this fun hexagon, the final round is a Jay-Go edging that makes it easy to join your hexagons together to create an afghan of any size. I’ve included the amounts of yarn needed for the A, B, C & D colors as written, so if you want you can use these hexagons as a scrap busting project. If you do scrap hexagons I recommend using a single color for the Jay-Go Rounds to tie your afghan together.

Puff stitches are a great textural element to have in your crochet toolbox. They are especially nice because they create a texture on both sides of your fabric. If you haven’t ever made puff stitches they can be a bit tricky. My mom would have said, “You have to hold your mouth just right.” The most important thing to keep in mind is that you want all the loops you pull up to be the same length, that way your puff stitches won’t get wonky.

My favorite style of puff stitch has an extra step at the end that captures all the puff stitch loops and makes a clean “top” for the stitch. For this pattern the majority of the puffs are made using 4 yarn-overs and the first puff stitch in Round 2 and 4 are started with a chain-2 then 3 yarn-overs.

Be sure to scroll down after the pattern for links to more fun free patterns featuring the puff stitch and to find out about the great yarn giveaways that are part of this blog hop.

This pattern is also available for purchase as an Ad PDF download in my Ravelry shop. The PDF includes stitch charts for the entire hexagon as well as a stitch diagram of the Join-as-you- Go technique.

Puff Star Afghan Hexagon Pattern

Pattern Details

Skill Level: Intermediate

Materials:

Yarn – We Crochet “Brava”, Worsted weight, category #4, 100% premium Acrylic (100 g; 218 yds)

The colors I used for the hexagons are shown above and starting in the left top corner are: Mint (C28438), Seashell (C28447), Marina (C2843), Tidal Speckle (C29246), Tranquil (C28454). Then I used Asphalt Heather (C28411) {not pictured} for joining my hexagons together.

I had one ball of each of the hexagon colors and have been playing with using each of them for the various A, B & C instructions. For one hexagon the approximate amount of yarn needed for each Color is:

• Color A: Rnds 1, 2 & 4 = 8.5 g (19 yds);
• Color B: Rnds 3, 5, 7 & 8 = 8 g (18 yds);
• Color C: Rnds 6 & 9 – 7 g (16 yds);
• Color D: Rnd 10 = 5 g (11 yds).

Hook – I-9 (5.5 mm)

Notions – yarn/tapestry needle, stitch markers

Finished Size: 10 inches from point to point and 8.5 inches across middle between sides.

Gauge:  First 3 Rounds in pattern = 2.75” across middle between sides

Special Stitches/Abbreviations:

BegPuff (Beginning Puff Stitch) – Ch 2, [Yo, insert hook into indicated place, yo, pull up a loop to needed height] 3 times, yo pull thru 6 loops on hook, yo pull thru final 2 loops on hook {like making a single crochet}.

Puff (Puff Stitch) – [Yo, insert hook into indicated place, yo, pull up a loop to needed height] 4 times, yo pull thru 8 loops on hook, yo pull thru final 2 loops on hook {like making a single crochet}.

CL (2 Double Crochet Cluster) – [Yo, insert hook into indicated place, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull thru 2 loops on hook] 2 times, yo, pull thru remaining 3 loops on hook.

sc2tog (Single Crochet 2 Together) – Insert hook in first indicated st/sp, yo, pull up a loop, insert hook in next st, yo pull up a loop, yo, pull thru all 3 loops on hook.

hdcVst (Half Double Crochet V-stitch) – (hdc, ch 1, hdc) in indicated stitch or space.

V-st (Double Crochet V-stitch) – (dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated stitch or space.

Pattern Notes:

Starting with an adjustable slip knot this afghan block is worked in concentric hexagonal rounds.

All rounds are worked with right side (RS) facing except round 6. Round 6 is worked with wrong side (WS) facing so the cluster bobble stitches will push to RS of fabric.

When skipping stitches chains count as 1 stitch each, unless otherwise stated.

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Instructions

Rnd 1 (RS): With Color A, ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook, slip st to first sc of Rnd. (6 sc)

Rnd 2 (RS): BegPuff st in same sc as join, ch 3, [Puff st in next sc, ch 3] 5 times, slip st to top of BegPuff st. Fasten off Color A. (6 Puff, 6 ch-3 sp)

Rnd 3 (RS): Change to Color B, With RS facing join in right hand side of ch-3 sp with a slip st, ch 1, (3 sc, ch 2, 3 sc) in same ch-3 sp, [ch 1, skip next st, (3 sc, ch 2, 3 sc) in next ch-3 sp] 5 times, ch 1, skip next st, slip st to first sc of Rnd. Fasten off Color B. (36 sc, 6 ch-1 sp, 6 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 4 (RS): Change to Color A, with RS facing, join in any ch-1 sp with a slip st, BegPuff st in same ch-1 sp, [*ch 1, skip 1 st, dc next st, ch 1, skip 1 st, (Puff, ch 3, Puff) in next ch-2 sp, ch 1, skip 1 st, dc next st, ch 1, skip 1 st*, Puff in next ch-1 sp] 5 times, Rep from * to * once, slip st to first Puff st of Rnd. Fasten off Color A.  (18 Puff, 12 dc, 24 ch-1 sp, 6 ch-3 sp)

Rnd 5 (RS): Change to Color B, with RS facing join in ch-1 sp to left of center Puff on one side, ch 1, 2 sc in same ch-1 sp, skip next dc, 2 sc in next ch-1 sp, skip next Puff, [*(2 sc, ch 2, 2 sc) in next ch-3 sp, skip next Puff*, (2 sc in next ch-1 sp, skip next st) 4 times,] 5 times, Rep from * to * once, (2 sc in next ch-1 sp, skip next st) 2 times, slip st to first sc of Rnd. Fasten off Color B. (72 sc, 6 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 6 (WS): Change to Color C, with WS facing join yarn in first sc before ch-2 sp at point, ch 1, [(sc, ch 2, sc) in next ch-2 sp, skip next st, sc next 2 sts, CL next st, sc next st, CL next 2 sts, sc next st, CL next st, sc next 2 sts, skip next st] 6 times, slip st to first sc of Rnd. Fasten off Color C. (48 sc, 24 CL, 6 ch-2 sp)

Note: At this point your hexagon is looking a little ruffly, don’t worry we are fixing that in the rest of the rounds.

Rnd 7 (RS): Change to Color B, with RS facing join in second sc before ch-2 sp at point, ch 1, sc in next 2 sts, [*(sc, ch 2, sc) in next ch-2 sp, sc in next st, (sc in next st, sc2tog using next 2 sts) 3 times*, sc in next 2 sts] 5 times, Repeat from * to * once, slip st to first sc of Rnd. (48 sc, 18 sc2tog, 6 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 8 (RS): Ch 4, dc in same st as join {counts as first V-st of Rnd}, skip 2 sts, [*(hdcVst, ch 2, hdcVst) in next ch-2 sp*, (skip 2 sts, V-st in next st) 3 times] 5 times, Repeat from * to * once, (skip 2 sts, V-st in next st) 2 times, slip st to 3rd ch of beginning ch-4. Fasten off Color B. (12 hdcVst, 18 V-st, 6 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 9 (RS): Change to Color C, with RS facing join in second ch-1 sp before ch-2 sp at point, ch 4, dc in same ch-1 {counts as first V-st of Rnd}, skip 2 sts, [*V-st in next ch-1 sp, skip next st, (dc, ch 2, dc) in ch-2 sp, skip 1 st*, (V-st in next ch-1 sp, skip 2 sts) 4 times] 5 times, Repeat from * to * once, (V-st in next ch-1 sp, skip 2 sts) 3 times, slip st to 3rd ch of beg ch-4. Fasten off Color C. (30 V-st, 12 dc, 6 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 10 (RS) Jay-Go Rnd: Change to Color D, with RS facing join in ch-1 sp of second V-st before ch-2 sp at point, ch 1, sc in same sp as join, [*ch 3, skip 2 sts, sc in next ch sp*, Repeat from * to * until work in ch-2 sp at point, ch 3, sc in same ch-2 sp] 6 times, Repeat from * to * until reach last V-st before beg of Rnd, ch 3, skip 2 sts, slip st to first sc of Rnd. (42 ch3 sp, 42 sc)

For first Hexagon of project work Rnd 10 as written, when joining to another hexagon change the ch-3 sps to (ch 1, slip st, ch 1) working the slip st in the corresponding ch-3 sp on the side or sides of hexagon(s) you are joining to.

Finishing

Weave in all tails and block gently.

If desired, you can work a border of sc around the outside edges of your finished afghan, place 2 sc in each open ch-3 sp and 1 sc in each side of point joins.

In addition to all the fun free patterns using the puff stitch, you can enter to win giveaways of all the yarn needed to make groupings of the patterns available in the hop. The Giveaways start today and go thru October 8, 2021. You can learn more about the blog hop and giveaway by visiting the Stitch & Hustle blog post.

Follow any of the links below to check out the other patterns in this Blog Hop.

• Maryjane’s Puff Socks by ACCROchet
• Yuba Cowl by The Unraveled Mitten
• Snowbank Infinity Scarf by Desert Blossom Crafts
• Olivia Puff Stitch Hat by Oombawka Design Crochet
• Polka Dot Puffs Cowl by Salty Pearl Crochet
• Strut Your Puff Cowl by The Loopy Lamb
• Puff Stitch Stripes Blanket by 5 Little Monsters
• Crochet Sunburst Bag by Designs by Phanessa
• Talara Hooded Duster by Crystalized Designs
• Plush Puff Pumpkin by Moogly
• Pufftastic Bandana Cowl by Underground Crafter
• Aqueduct Puff Stitch Mittens by Hooked for Life
• Azalea Puff Stitch Hat by The Stitchin’ Mommy
• Gables Wrap n’ Shawl by Stitch & Hustle
• Winter Minty Wrap Design by 2 Bossay Knits by Michelle Renee