When I first learned to stitch, nobody showed me the easy or “proper” way to take a piece of six-strand cotton floss and remove just the two strands I needed. I think I spent more time trying to untangle the rat’s nest my floss regularly turned into than I spent actually stitching. Although untangling Christmas lights can be amusing if you like puzzles, trying to salvage knotted floss is never fun, and when the untangler is an impatient, cranky, and sunburned seven-year-old, the process becomes a headache for everybody within earshot.
Believe it or not, I wasn’t taught the easy or “proper” way to separate floss for another 22 years! That’s when I went to my very first needlework class (at Heart of Cross Stitch in 2000), and the instructor showed us how to separate floss:
First, hold a piece of six-strand floss gently but firmly in one hand (your left hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa) with your fingers near the end of the piece of floss.
Next, grab hold of just one strand with the other (dominant; i.e., your right hand if you are right-handed, and vice versa) hand.
Then, while continuing to hold the rest of the floss with your non-dominant hand, pull that one strand gently but firmly away from yourself. It will slip fairly easily right out of the other five strands.
(I write, “fairly easily,” because, once in a while, the rest of the floss will still tangle up and knot around the strand you are trying to remove … Usually, this tangle can be gently undone, but when it cannot, at least you only have to cut off a small amount of floss to release your strand, instead of wasting a long piece in a tangled mess.)
Repeat until you have the number of strands you want to stitch with, and then recombine them.
All of you expert stitchers know this trick, of course, and you know that the key is to separate one strand of floss at a time.
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If only I’d had a Puffin when I first started stitching! Instead of hopelessly trying to untangle floss through tears, I could have been stitching … Now, thanks to the Puffin, no beginning stitcher ever has to go through this frustration again!
And with a Puffin, you can separate the number of strands you need, instead of doing it one strand at a time. Save time, and stitch more!
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“Puffin” is an affectionate term used to refer to the Puffin Craft Strand Separator (patent pending) from Diane and Cary Zielinsky of Puffin & Company. The Puffin is named in memoriam after Diane and Cary’s beloved cat, as Diane explained so beautifully to me:
The name of the business was selected in memoriam to Puffin, my sweet kitty who was the puffiest and furriest kitty imaginable. We loved her so much we named the business Puffin and Company for her: the rest of the us are the Company.
As we learn on the opening page of their website, Cary Zielinsky is the person responsible for this fantastic invention, with Diane as his inspiration:
Perhaps this situation sounds familiar, wife asks husband to assist in the separation of a single strand from some embroidery floss. Husband holds one end, wife holds the other, but as usual, tangles and frustration ensue.
The loving husband just wants to watch the game, but also wants a happy wife, so he dutifully holds his end. Ah Ha! He says, and voila, a solution that allows his lovely wife to separate strands quickly, easily, and tangle free was borne.
To see the Puffin hard at work, please watch this helpful video starring Diane herself. Basically, the Puffin operates using gravity and the laws of physics … I am prevented from going into more detail by the fact that both gravity and the laws of physics are over my head. Well, actually gravity is beneath my feet, but the good thing is you don’t have to understand how the Puffin works in order to use it successfully. 
Each Puffin is also a piece of stunning art work. In fact, you might just find yourself wanting to collect them all!
My perfect Puffin, as you probably guessed, is either sized Rustic Heart with Kitties. 
There is bound to be a perfect Puffin for you, too, whether you prefer angels or butterflies; dogs, cats, or both; hearts or moons; doves or dragonflies.
Once you have your Puffin in hand, you’ll enjoy separating floss almost as much as stitching. Cotton floss will separate with the ease of silk, and silk floss will separate like … well, silk. Watch out when you first try your Puffin on silk, though, especially after using it on cotton. The additional slipperiness of silk is like an amusement park for Puffins — wheeeeeeee!
The only difficulty I have encountered while using the Puffin is discouraging the interest it attracts from the cats, especially when it sparkles in the sunlight. Of course, they think everything I bring into the house is for them, so maybe I should just get them their own Puffin?
Pictured above is Coeur de la Dove from Puffin & Company’s Covey of Doves Collection, which currently consists of five gorgeous dove-shaped Puffins.
The Puffin is available from a growing list of retailers, as well as directly from the Puffin & Company website. Find your perfect Puffin!
Enjoy a special gift from Diane to help make your Puffin that much more perfect … Through October 31st, 2008, receive $1.00 off each item ordered (no limit!) by entering the promotion code: INN
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