English Botanical Pillows

Posted on | November 30, 2011 | 3 Comments

I’m a huge fan of Abigail Borg’s textiles and was overwhelmed when I opened a newsletter from her this morning. Holy cow beautiful, I adore her English style with a modern twist. The new Laburnum and Yarrow cushion covers are available in a light and dark colorway. The teal Yarrow pillow jumps off my screen; making me dream of my den renovation being complete and decorating with beautiful textiles.

Category: pillows, textiles

Handknit Cable Pillows: Make or Buy

Posted on | November 3, 2011 | 24 Comments

I love cables and made my first cable knit hat last spring. Since then I’ve been hooked and dreaming of making euro size pillows for my bed. I started with a garter stitch set because I thought it would be a super easy project…I still haven’t managed to finish. Turns out garter stitch is really, really boring and euros are really BIG. So maybe I should start smaller? I could knit a front cable panel and back with wool fabric, slightly easier and faster?

Above my sister’s chair with a beautiful little gray hand knit cable pillow she received for her birthday. A much more doable size, right?

Or I could buy one which is the lame way out but I’ve been finding so many hand made options at reasonable prices. Have you seen these pillows from Ruth Cross? I’ve drooled over her work since 2008. The three pillows below are hand knit lambswool, so tempting. On etsy I found hand knit wool cable covers and patterns available for download.

The nice thing about knitting your own is that you can choose the color and the yarn. I’ve come across much lower priced cable pillows in big box stores but many of them are made of acrylic which I’m not a fan of. If I knit my own I can go crazy with a really beautiful wool yarn in any color I choose.

Since this cable obsession has been a long time in the making I’ve also gathered a few books. If you’re knitting a panel with a fabric backing you really don’t need a pillow pattern but just a guide for cables. Experienced knitters always recommend to me the old Harmony Guides; which can be found at used book stores and the library. Harmony Guides: Cables & Arans is a newer version but I hear complaints it’s just not as good as the oldie but for me it was really useful. I also picked up The Very Easy Guide to Cable Knitting which offers large samples of many different techniques with nice photos. Enjoy!

A close-up of the gray cable pillow by Emily on the chair.

Ruth Cross, hand knitted lambs wool pillow with stag horn button fastening, about $85.

Ruth Cross, hand knitted lambs wool with stag horn button fastening and feather, custom order (2 week lead) and available in a number of colors, about $229.

Ruth Cross, hand knitted lambs wool pillow with stag horn button fastening, about $85.

Hand knit using 100% wool with wool backing, $125, Precious Knits on etsy.

Chain link pillow pattern by Precious Knits, $5, available for download on etsy and raverly or purchase it already made for $69.

Category: diy, pillows

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