A Couple Of Cushions

Firstly thank you for your kind comments, Sally the rabbit is well on the road to recovery now, has even put on a little weight, and is settling into indoor life.  It's actually been really nice having her about and I think I will be looking at making it permanent.

Ok, after my absence, it's back on track with a couple more Christmas makes to share with you.  Firstly I made a couple of ripple cushions.  One for my brother and his family and one for my sister and her family.  They were both very similar and I actually forgot to get pictures of them before I sent them off.  Luckily my brother lives close by so I got a couple of snaps of it when I popped over for my niece's 1st birthday.  The light was fading and even taking it outside wasn't much help, so the pictures aren't brilliant and the colours are not completely accurate.

I loved these cushions and found it very hard to let them go. 

Details:
Pattern: Stripy Wave Cushion by Nicki Trench from Cute & Easy Crochet
Hook: 4.5mm
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK
Shades: Gold 1097, Denim 1098, Lilac 1093, Cream 1019, Lime 1010

I also neglected to weigh the cushion cover before sending it off so I can't calculate the cost.  It wouldn't have been much as it's not expensive yarn.  Plus, I already had it, so it was a bonus to get it used for a project.  I do plan on making myself one when I have the time so I will weigh it and calculate costs then.

I had to alter the pattern slightly to account for the different weights of yarn.  The pattern calls for aran weight and the Patons Smoothie is DK weight.  I just added an extra pattern repeat to the width and continued the rows until it came square.  I also added buttons holes and buttons to allow for an opening so the cover can be removed and cleaned.  At regular intervals along one side on round 2 of the edging I chained 2 and missed 2 stitches to create the button holes.

It irked me considerably though, (maybe too much!) that the pattern actually makes a different cushion from the one in the pictures in the book.  The pattern puts more dc rows around the border.  Now I know some people may say it's only a minor difference and that I'm nit picking, but I think if your writing a pattern and accompanying it with pictures, you should at least keep true to the pattern and display a picture of the true finished product.  Or change the pattern.  I preferred the cushion cover in the pictures so pulled back the extra rows to make the slimmer border, and crocheted into the inner loops only on joining to make the decorative edge, something else it also fails to mention in the pattern. 

The second cushion was one I made for Bella Bee's father for his birthday, which is not long after Christmas.  I find it a little difficult to make something that's solely male.  If it's a family gift you can get away with it being slightly feminine.  So I needed to make a cushion 'man up'.  I did actually make him a cushion the year before, but it was sewn, and had a Doctor Who Tardis on it.  So it was pretty safe.  I plan on sharing all my sewn cushions from last year soon, but there are some on my Flickr account if you want to see them before I post about them.  This year I had to man up a crochet cushion.  It's basically going to come down to the colours.

You wouldn't have thought simply picking out more masculine colours would be that hard but for some reason I struggled with it.   Choosing colours is not my forte.  This was the second attempt, after completing the first half of the cover in one colour combination before loosing faith,changing my mind and ripping it all back to start again from scratch with a slightly different combination.

Details
Pattern: Round Striped Cushion by Nicki Trench from Cute & Easy Crochet
Hook: 4.5mm
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK
Shades: Teal 1058, Cream 1019, Slate 1088

Again I failed to weigh it before joining up the two sides to make up the cushion with the pad inside to calculate a cost.

I had to add 2 extra rounds to account for a 18" cushion pad rather than the 16" one stated in the pattern.  I had also attempted to add a couple extra rounds to include buttons holes and buttons making it possible to remove the cushion pad and therefore making it easier to be able to clean the cushion (I aim to be practical).  However, it didn't look right on the round cushion.  I lost patience and time to try and get it right and just wanted to finish the damn thing by this point.  So that was put to one side for another time, and I joined the cover to fully enclose the cushion pad.

And there we have a couple more of my Christmas makes.  I still have a couple more birthday makes to share, and then I should be up to date. 

Well we're on half term this week.  So they'll be a bit off extra entertaining to do.  Hopefully it won't be too wet so we can get out of the house occasionally.  And Bella Bee has a gymnastic camp a couple of afternoons this week so that should take the edge of some of the energy reserves.  I always enjoy having her home in the holidays.



Peace Out x