Monday, March 25, 2013

Small round knitted pillow.


Now, I would be lying if I said that this project turned out EXACTLY how I originally intended... I wanted to make something out of my crushed velvet yarn that I made last month.  At first, it was going to be a knitted pouffe or ottoman, but on realising that I didn't have enough yarn, I pulled it back.  (I just couldn't face cutting metres and metres of fabric again.)

Then it was going to be a floor pillow, but again, after knitting nearly all of the yarn, I realised that I didn't quite have enough for that either. So this is the pattern for my knitted round pillow...  Let's call it a miniature prototype for the lovely big knitted pouffe I plan to make at some point in the future...




Buy Rope Pouffe Online at johnlewis.com
It's inspired by this fabulous Rope Pouffe from John Lewis


Many of the patterns for this kind of cushion usually involve knitting one long length of garter stitch and then gathering up the sides.  I really didn't want that amount of excess fabric, so I worked mine using short rows or partial knitting.



The yarn that I made from crushed velvet fabric was really lovely to work with.  It has a nice stretch to it, which made it a joy to knit with and, as it was so thick I was able to make this in just a few hours.  That's my kind of project!


Having made this, I now know exactly how I'm going to be making my big pouffe... this year, maybe...

Anyway, here's the pattern that I designed.

Pattern for a small round pillow.

Mine is knitted using size 15mm circular needles I could have made it on long straight needles, but circular needles gave me the advantage of being able to fold my knitting in half to get an idea of how my knitting was progressing.  You want the stitch to be quite tight so that the inner pillow doesn't show through too much.

The gauge of my yarn is 5.5 stitches and 8.5 rows = 10 cm square or 3wpi.
You could either make your yarn out of jersey fabric, or ply several yarns to get the desired thickness.

Using size 15mm circular needles , cast on 18sts, starting with a long tail of yarn, which will be useful for gathering later.

Row 1: k15, wrap 1 and turn.
Row 2: k12, wrap 1 and turn.
Row 3: k8, wrap 1 and turn.
Row 4: k4, wrap 1 and turn.
Row 5: k11 to the end, picking up the wraps and knitting together with the wrapped stitches. (For reference, the wrapped stitches are stitches 5 and 9.)
Row 6: k18, to the end, picking up the wraps and knitting together with the wrapped stitches. (For reference, the wrapped stitches are stitches 12 and 16.)

Repeat these 6 rows until your knitting will loop around to form a circle when it's lightly stretched.


For guidance, my cushion used 18 pattern repeats or 108 rows.

Using the long cast on tail, gather up 1 of the side seams to loop the cushion around into a circle.

Crochet the cast on and cast off seams together to about 3/4 of the way down.

Use a crochet hook to further close the first gathered centre if required.
Turn the cushion to the right side. Insert your cushion pad or stuffing.

Continue sewing the seam together, with a crochet hook. Finish by gathering up the second side seam, closing the hole as much as possible.

Some of my other knitting blog posts

  

Virtually No-Sew Knitted Hearts

Giant Rainbow Pillow Knitting Pattern

Bohemian Wreath Knitting Instructions

Craftmehappy Joyful Loop Stitch Wreath Base

How to Knit Curlicues or Spirals
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8 comments:

Brooke xo said...

This is wonderful, I love the pillow so much :)

thanks for the pattern
Brooke xx

Anonymous said...

I just started knitting and I was looking for a simple knitting pattern for a round owl pillow but only found ones for crochet. When I found this I was like great I can use this as my foundation and sew in the eyes, etc. thanks. Tanya

Anonymous said...

Being new to knitting. I just learned the techinque of wrap and turn, but I am not sure about what to do in row 5.

When you say, "k11 to the end..", do you mean knit till you get to the 11th stitch picking up the wraps on your way to the 11 stiche and turn after the 11th stitch?
or
you knit to the 11 stiche to end which would mean you are actually knitting 18 stiches like row 6?

I hope I explained myself well. I know it's probably obvious on what I should do ,but being new it's not.

Kathryn - Craftmehappy said...

Thank you everyone for your comments. it really is very heartening to know that there are people out there!

I'm not entirely sure what you mean... In row 5 you will have just done a wrap and turn, so you will be starting in the middle of the row with 11sts to work to get to the end of the row.
I've been thinking of doing a video to demonstrate the wrap and turn. Do you think this might be helpful?

Anonymous said...

Just finished this pillow it's beautiful and works up fast. Thank you for such a wonderful pattern. I want to use it to cover a round pillow, any suggestions as to what size pillow will fit? (Maybe I'll just take it to the store with me!) Thanks!

Kathryn - Craftmehappy said...

Ooh lovely, I'd love to see it! The pillow size would depend on your yarn, but I would usually go for a pillow form that is an inch or 2 bigger than the knitted piece.

GraceCottage said...

Beautiful!
So how many yards of fabric do you think it would take to make the large pouf?

Maybe 4 times as much?

Thanks,
Lucy :)

Kathryn - Craftmehappy said...

Ooh, that's a difficult one. As you can see, I'm not great at estimating these things. I'd guess at at least 6 times as much, but I'm currently working on an alternative source of yarn for the pouffe. Hopefully I'll have a better idea soon.