Materials:
Yarn: 90 to 100 yards (or meters) fingering or baby weight acrylic.
Sample shown is Lion brand Jamie, which is wrapped in a sparkly thread
that is a bit scratchy, not recommended unless you're looking for that
stimulating loofah effect!
Needles: 16-inch circular or double points in a large size, say US
10 (6mm) or larger.
Pattern:
Cast on about 100 stitches. The stitch pattern needs to be worked on
an odd number of stitches but this can be adjusted at the end of the first
row, so no need to count precisely. Join knitting into a circle, being
careful not to twist the stitches around the needle. Place a ring marker
at the
beginning of the round.
Tubular Turkish Stitch Pattern
Rnd 1: *yo, k2tog* to the last stitch; yo, k1, yo.
Rnd 2: *k2tog, yo* to last 3 sts; k3tog.
If you cast on an even number of stitches, when you come to the end of Rnd 1 you will have 2 stitches remaining instead of one. Instead of (yo, k1, yo) work these as (yo, k2tog, yo). You now have an odd number of stitches and can proceed with the pattern as written.
Work in the Tubular Turkish stitch pattern until the tube is 6 to 8 inches (15-20 cm) long. Bind off very loosely, leaving a good long tail.
Assembly
Fold
the tube so that the cast-on and bind-off edges are together, knit side outward.
Thread the bind-off tail through a blunt needle. Working from the inside of
the tube, along the open edge, stitch the two sides of the tube together about
every fifth rib all the way around and pull the
stitching yarn tight. This will pull the tube into a pleated circle
as shown in the photo at the left.
Now continue stitching, pulling the loose loops of the pleats together snugly into the center on both sides of the puff. Fasten off the end and bury it in the middle, and trim off the excess.