Before We Begin

It’s summer… woohoo! So what to knit? I can’t think about socks for at least another 2 months, when I’m no longer strutting about in my flip-flops, my neck isn’t cold so a scarf is out… pretty much it’s been to warm to knit anything to wear, so I’m going for something for the home.

Cabelishious Cushion Cover… was devised when I looked across at my sofa and thought it needed a pop of colour. And why Cables? Selfish reasons alone, I LOVE THEM…. So I threw together some of my favorite cables from Barbara G. Walkers amazing stitch catalogue, and blended them together with my favorite stitch, moss stitch.

Using my Aran weight yarn, I decided a vibrant red would really liven up my green sofa, because I simply love colours that clash, but with many shades to choose from you can create beautiful subtle cushions that blend harmoniously with any living room/bedroom or study.

2 x 100g of Easyknits Aran weight yarn is exactly the right amount to knit this gorgeous pattern up.

Try not to worry about the cover fitting your cushion, I picked a 30cm square cushion, and found that with a little manipulating when blocking I could easily get my cushion cover to the required size, using 4mm needles helps in this regard as it gives you a thicker, stretchier fabric to play with. For my tension I found that 2.5 repeats of the edge cable gave me exactly the right size cover when blocked, and also gave me a symmetrical design with three bobbles running up the sides of the cushion.

NOTE ABOUT CHARTS – Both charts are read as follows, odd number rows (wrong side rows) are read left to right, and even numbered rows (right side rows) are read right to left. Also please use individual keys for each chart as some stitches and instructions differ.

Cast on for Front

Using 4mm needles, cast on 81sts. I prefer a cable cast on to give a stretchy edge for blocking the cushion cover to fit your cushion.

Begin Chart Repeats

The charts are worked in the following sequence:

MOSS x 6 sts | EDGE CABLE | MOSS x 3 sts | CENTRE CABLE  | MOSS x 3 sts | EDGE CABLE | MOSS x 6 sts

And it’s as simple as that, well, it’s a fairly complex cable pattern to follow, but I find that taking my time and reading each stitch type twice before knitting it helps, you’ll soon have them all committed to memory and be able to get through the pattern nice and quickly.

Cast on for Back

Because the back of our cushion is plain, and the cable patterns on the front tend to pull the stitches in tightly together, we don’t need as many sts, I suggest you check your tension here, I knit fairly loose, so I was able to loose 10 sts in my back panels, you might knit tighter and need these extra sts, but fear not, blocking will make sure it’s a nice snug fit in the end.

Using the same 4mm needles, cast on your required sts according to your tension, I cast on  71 sts for my cushion.

Knit all right side rows and purl all wrong side rows until you reach just past half the front pieces height, then add 5 rows of moss stitch for a nice textured edge.

Repeat exactly the same, knit another piece to just past half way, then add the moss stitch border, but this time add three button holes, evenly spaced across the piece.

Making up

Soak your pieces of your cushion in some luke warm soapy water ( if you have wool wash that would be great, if not a little dish soap would be fine ) then gently wring them out, lay them flat on a blocking board if you have one, I find the spare beds mattress is an ideal blocking board. Pin out the pieces to just slightly wider than your cushion itself, and leave to dry (I pinned front and back out to 34cm using a ruler to make sure that all pieces were square).

Once dry, pin your front piece and two back pieces together, right sides facing, make sure your moss stitch borders on your back pieces are overlapping and the button hole piece is under the plain piece (when you turn it the right way it will be in the correct position), sew the pieces together using a double strand of the same yarn for a nice neat edge, and sew on the buttons of your choice under the button holes on the plain band of your first back piece, I went for a toggle as they remind me of my first duffle coat as a child, make your cushion personal to you.

CHARTS

EDGE CABLE

CENTRE CABLE