Pattern:
This is a great way to practice cabling without having to worry about gauges, exact size, etc... I picked 2 cable stitches, added in an arbitrary number of reverse stockinette in between each cable, and started knitting! Once I was done, I made a custom pillow-form using some white cotton (it will show through the knitting, so don't use fabric that will mess up the overall beauty of your knitting!)
Because I wanted to concentrate on practicing the cables, I decided to knit a big square, and fold it in half to make the pillow (I seamed up the other 3 sides). The cables run the whole length of the pillow, and remain vertical when the fabric is wrapped around the pillow form.
Note: This pattern is VERY forgiving- BE CREATIVE!. Some suggestions on alternatives:
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Make the Pillow Smaller or Larger- just add/decrease an appropriate number of stitches.
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Use different cables of your choice.
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Use a different background stitch- i.e. Moss Stitch, Seed Stitch, etc...
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Add more cable panels- you could even make a mini-Aran project- a great way to swatch before starting your sweater project!
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Use circular needles if you prefer.
Materials:
These are all really rough estimates. Feel free to use
whatever needles and yarn make sense for you!
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Straight Needles, size 8 or size appropriate for your yarn
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Stitch markers- 8 or so
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3-4 balls mohair blend yarn (approx. sport weight- I knitted with 2 strands together throughout)
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Cable or Double Pointed Needle, appropriate size for your project (i used DPN size 5)
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Cloth to make pillow form (since I didn't know the exact size of my finished cover, I needed to make a custom-sized pillow form)
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Pillow Stuffing- 1 large bag, or enough for your finished pillow
Stitches:
Pick 2 (or more!!) cable stitches. For mine, The background is reverse stockinette stitch. The two side panels are MAW Bull Braid and the center panel is MAW Annemessex.
How Many Stitches to Cast On?
C1 = # of stitches for cable 1
C2 = # of stitches for cable 2
E = # of edging stitches in reverse stockinette
Total:
(E + C1 + E + C2 + E + C1 + E) = XXX
Instructions:
- Cast on XXX stitches (see above)
- Knit in Reverse Stockinette Stitch (Purl) for E stitches, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit Cable 1, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit in Reverse Stockinette Stitch (Purl) for E stitches, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit Cable 2, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit in Reverse Stockinette Stitch (Purl) for E stitches, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit Cable 1, Place Stitch Marker
- Knit in Reverse Stockinette Stitch (Purl) for E stitches, Place Stitch Marker
The Pillow is now divided into 7 sections.- Continue knitting Reverse Stockinette (E stitches), Cable 1 (C1 stitches), Reverse Stockinette (E stitches), Cable 2 (C2 stitches), Reverse Stockinette (E stitches), Cable 1 (C1 stitches), Reverse Stockineete (E stitches) until fabric is desired length for pillow.
- Bind Off.
- Use finished knitting as template to make pillow form.
- Stuff pillow form, close up all seams.
- Fold knitting in half, sew up each side seam.
- Put pillow form in knitted "pouch". Sew up top seam, making sure all cable sections match. Weave in loose ends- don't worry about the loose ends on the inside- no one will see them! just make sure they won't unravel!)
I had a lot of fun knitting this pillow, and I hope you will too! Please, feel free to email me with any questions you have about this pattern. I will be happy to help!
