Project Notebook: <3 Pillow

I have a new project over at Craft Bits that I wanted to share with you. It’s a fun one for Valentine’s Day or any time you want to bring a little love (and brightly colored yarn) to your home.

I call it the <3 Pillow because the heart design on the front was inspired by that symbol. But it you look at it the other way it just looks like a regular heart.

Because of the super bulky yarn used to knit this project, it really doesn’t take a lot of time, and the colorwork is pretty simple, too (though it’s almost like stranded intarsia, because the easiest way to do it is with two strands of the accent color and one of the background).

I also made my own pillow form for this one, with a bit of upcycling, out of an old towel and some quilt batting I had lying around.

My daughter loves it, mostly because it’s bright (I mean bright) pink. I hope you’ll love it, too.

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I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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