January 2013 - Knitted version added
The pattern now contains three variations

• Crochet hexaflexagon
• Crochet hexaflexacube
• Knitted hexaflexagon

There are six photos of each cushion

A hexaflexagon is a curiosity, usually made in paper.

Version 1
The original hexaflexagon was one of the items made for events we attended during MathsYear2000. It is a crochet version of the paper hexaflexagons we have made with hundreds of kids over the years.

It isn’t the most comfortable cushion in the world but it is great fun. I can absolutely predict what will happen when it is presented to a group of kids (or adults!). First, it is used as a frisbee (It is quite aerodynamic.) One person will put it on their head and it isn’t long before someone discovers that a slight tug will pull it over the head and it will sit snuggly round the neck, like a ruff.

Eventually they investigate its strange properties and discover that this flat cushion has six faces.

The cushion with the black hexagons is the one I made in 2000 and I have re-photographed it to show how well it has stood up to this treatment. It has been handled by thousands of people.

In addition to the main yarn you will need small amounts of 9 noticeably different yarns. You can use any yarns of your choice though they should all be the same thickness. The crochet is very basic so you may wish to make the pieces in a different way. It is padded with triangles cut from a sheet of polyester wadding. The original was made with inexpensive acrylic DK yarns.

Version 2
The Hexaflexacube was added in September 2008. Although the construction is different, there are still six different faces, each intended to look like a cube. There are obviously three different colour combinations but, if you look carefully, you will see that the positions of the colours change.

Version 3
The knitted hexaflexagon is similar to the original crochet version. The coloured triangles are larger so you will need slightly more yarn in each of the nine colours.

Three of the colours never reach the centre, regardless of how you flex the cushion.

The patterns for all three versions are included in a single Ravelry download by following the link at the top of the page.

YouTube video showing folding of Hexaflexagon and Hexaflexacube.