New design: Rainbow Unicorn cushion

One of the things I've been really keen to do this year is to republish some of my most popular magazine patterns, and the one I'm releasing today was absolutely at the top of my list: the Rainbow Unicorn cushion.*

Unicorns have been everywhere for the past couple of years, and this is my cheerful take on the trend. The cushion, featuring the silhouette of a unicorn's head, is knitted in a bright rainbow palette of self-striping yarn. The unicorn motif is added using a combination of intarsia and stranded colourwork in order to maintain the stripe pattern across the whole unicorn head. If you can't get hold of any rainbow striped yarn, of course you could work the unicorn head in a single colour, or devise your own stripe sequence and use several balls of yarn.

The pattern also works in a single colour

The cushion is 43 cm (17.25 in) square, designed to fit an 46 cm (18 in) square cushion pad with 3 cm negative ease. The cushion is knitted in one piece and fastened with six 18mm (0.75 in) buttons across the back on a ribbed button band. Half the back is knitted, then the front, then the second half of the back and the side seams are then stitched. 

Instructions for the intarsia section are provided both as a chart and as written instructions.

The sample was knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran, which has unfortunately been discontinued (there is still some available from Love Knitting* if you're quick, but not in the rainbow colourway). There are quite a few self-striping yarns on the market at the minute that would also work: Caron Cakes** (which is lovely to work with), Lion Brand Lanscapes** (which comes in amazing saturated colourways), Bernat Pop** (again, lots of nice bright colourways), and Knit Picks Chroma (the Pegasus colourway would be beautiful).

Fancy picking up a copy of the pattern right away? You can find it here. From now until 11.59pm BST Thursday 26th July 2018, the pattern has 25% off, no code needed.

*This pattern was first published in Issue 4 of Essential Knits.
**Affiliate links.

New design: Unicorn cushion

Unicorns have been everywhere for the past few years, and I have finally embraced the trend with my latest design, a unicorn cushion.

The cushion features a rainbow striped unicorn head on a neutral background. The rainbow stripes are created using a single ball of self-striping yarn (West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran*), which results in a striking effect for little effort. To maintain the stripes throughout the design, the yarn is stranded across the central blank areas. If you'd prefer a non-rainbow striped unicorn, simply chose one of the non-striping shades of the yarn.

The cushion cover is knitted in one piece, seamed at the edges and fastened with 6 buttons. I had a little fun with the buttons and used rainbow shades to match the rainbow stripes!

Want to knit your own? The design is included in the latest edition (issue 4) of Essential Knits, which is available now in newsagents and supermarkets, or you can order a copy online.

It even made the cover!

As ever, I would love to see your finished knits, so why not add a project on Ravelry**, tag me on Instagram (@vikkibirddesigns), or send me a message (use the contact me link)?

*Sometimes called West Yorkshire Spinners Essential Aran. Affiliate link. You'll need three balls for the background colour and one for the unicorn.

**You need to be a member of Ravelry to add a project.

Yarndale 2017: What did I buy?

I'm pretty certain that when I said I was going to Yarndale, no one expected me to come home empty handed. And I didn't. Here are the things I picked up at this year's Yarndale.

First up is the Extermiknit bag from The Knitting Goddess. I had been admiring this bag since it was launched a little while ago, and have even had one in my shopping basket on the The Knitting Goddess site for a few weeks. When I realised they were going to be available at Yarndale I made a point of buying one. The bag is fab. Nice and sturdy, good thick fabric, and an excellent design. I'm really excited to start using this bag.

I didn't need more project bags, but I was picking up a unicorn one from For the Love of Yarn for a friend, and as there were still plenty in stock, I got one for myself as well. These unicorns are really cute, and the bag is a good size for a sock project.

I have wanted a sock ruler for ages, and knew that Rosie's Moments stock them and would be at Yarndale. This little device makes it easy to measure sock lengths while you're knitting as you can put the ruler into the sock and stretch the sock out. I used it last week for the first time and am really pleased with it. The sock ruler features both EU and UK sizes, and cm and inch measurements, and I think it's going to be really handy.

The sock ruler in use

I looked at a lot of yarn while I was at Yarndale, but kept coming back to the Ripples Crafts stall. They had a huge selection of colourways and bases and I totally fell in love with this deep pink Donegal Nep aran. This is definitely going to become a hat.

I noticed the Pond Street shawl pattern on the Baa Ram Ewe stall - they had a sample hanging on the front of one of their boxes and it was beautiful. I thought for a long time about buying the kit, but went for it, and in the colours that were used in the shop sample. I think this is going to be a pretty quick knit, so I'm hoping to get it knitted before it gets properly cold!

I made one other purchase at Yarndale: a very boring ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply. I'm planning on using it for heels and toes on a lot of pairs of socks!

For years I said I didn't like pink, but this haul seems to suggest otherwise! I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I bought at Yarndale. Hopefully I'll be able to share some projects knitted from it in the near future.

Did you go to Yarndale? What did you buy?