Love texture, you'll love the Tilted cushion!

Hello! I’m back today to show you the second pattern* I have in issue 110 of Knit Now, which is on sale now.

My Tilted cushion is a gorgeously squishy textured cushion cover, fastened with big buttons across the back. The texture is created using offset garter ridges on a stocking stitch background, so the cushion is easy enough for even a beginner to complete.

The Tilted cushion is knitted as a single strip, which is seamed at the end and fastened with buttons and buttonholes that are knitted at the start and end of the main body of the cushion.

The cushion is knitted using Deramores Studio Chunky, which I hadn’t used before, but will definitely be using again. The yarn is 100% acrylic, machine washable and has a fantastic plump rounded structure that really makes the stitches pop.

The great thing about knitting with chunky weight yarn is that it knits up really fast - you could cast this on today and you’ll definitely have time to make a few before Christmas. The pattern is printed in the supplement that comes with issue 110 of Knit Now magazine, which features plenty of patterns knitted in chunky weight yarn, so even if this pattern isn’t your cup of tea, then there are plenty of other quick and easy options to choose from.

The pattern is available in issue 110 of Knit Now, which is available now. If you live outside the U.K., or can’t find a copy can buy one online, or you can purchase a digital edition.

Want to queue or favourite the pattern on Ravelry? The pattern page can be found here.

*Missed my post yesterday? You can find that here.

New design: Snowflake cushion

I showed you a preview of this design last week, and here it is in more detail: my Snowflake cushion.

I have always been fascinated by snowflakes, with their perfect six-fold symmetry, and each one being unique. In keeping with this, the snowflake on this cushion cover has six long arms, which was something of a challenge, as the shape of knitted stitches is better suited to shapes with two- and four-fold symmetry, but I'm pleased with how the design turned out.

Snowflakes have six-fold symmetry. Image from Splash on Pixabay, used under Creative Commons CC0.

The Snowflake cushion is knitted using the intarsia technique, as it features long stretches of the stitches in the same colour, but if you wanted to save yourself a few ends you could strand the regions where the colour changes are frequent (in general, I'd work sections with colour changes up to every 3-4 stitches using stranded colourwork). I would strongly advise using yarn bobbins for this design - in some rows I required 18 bobbins - otherwise you'll get in a tangle. Remember to keep the bobbins close to your work, only unwinding yarn as you need it. But intarsia is not a complex technique if you take it slowly.

Take it slowly and yarn bobbins will stop you getting in a tangle

The cushion cover is knitted in Drops Alaska, a rustic, aran weight 100% wool yarn that is very good value (and Drops often have 25% discount deals, which are worth looking out for), and perfect for intarsia as the yarn is quite grippy, making for neat colour changes and ends that stay put when they are darned in. The Snowflake cushion could also be knitted in any plied wool or wool/acrylic blend yarn, such as Stylecraft Life Aran, which is one of my favourite yarns for homewares. The cushion cover is knitted in an envelope style, fastened with four 4cm wooden buttons.

If you wish to make your own Snowflake cushion, the pattern can be purchased via Ravelry or Love Knitting.