In which a pillow is finished

2014 is just cranking out things...finished things, with great enthusiasm.  Very exciting.

And by that I mean very very exciting.

My next finished project is a lovely pillow that will be left at my Aunt Betty's house this weekend.  She lets us stay there when we visit my parents and it's a lovely little house.  My dad and his sisters grew up there, and I spent a lot of my time there between the ages of 1-6 (and a good bit afterwards too).  My grandmother kept me while my mom went to college, and the fact that the chinaberry tree where the swing was hung is no longer there is one of the "wrongest" things I've ever seen.  (and that thing has been gone for many a year now).

Betty has lovingly fixed up the house and made it very comfortable indeed.  I love staying there because it really is so peaceful and quiet.  The first time I stayed there with David and the girls the memories of all the fun things we used to do just poured out and we talked all night.

I could do without the coyotes, but that's a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

And now, for the pillow.  I paid homage to my family's quilting heritage by making one side a "log cabin" block.  This one is done in the courthouse steps style.  I would have made one more round of bars, but I was quickly running out of the red and didn't think I would have enough to finish it all the way.

In order to do this side of the pillow, I cast on 10 stitches and knitted for 20 rows and bound off.  Then I joined the yellow, picked up 10 stitches on the side and knitted for 19 rows.  Same on the opposite side. At this point, I had along rectangle, so I picked up on the long side with the red--30 stitches, knit for 19 rows and bound off. Red again on opposite side, then yellow on the other sides.  I finished off by picking up 50 stitches along the top and bottom in red and knitting 19 rows.  It came out the perfect size to fit over a 14" square pillow form. (yarn Berroco Comfort Worsted, size 9 needles).

For the other side, I wanted something slightly different.  I don't see the point of a single sided pillow, and if I'm going to knit both sides I want them to both be pretty.  SO, I cast on 101 stitches placing a marker after the first 50.  Then I worked in garter stitch making a miter square by knitting to 2 stitches before the marker then knitting 2 together, knitting one, then knitting 2 together and knitting to the end of the row.  Knitting back on the "wrong side."  I used the red from the front, a slightly darker red and a variegated white and tan, alternating the white and tan stripes with the lighter red and darker red stripes.  So, it went like this: dark red, white/tan, light red, white/tan and started over until I finished.  I really love the look of this side.

While my method of doing the mitered square doesn't form quite as smooth a decrease line as doing a double decrease, it does keep me from having to count and possibly mess up because my marker is always right in front of the center stitch on the right side.

Because the edge where I carried the yarns was so messy, I wanted to put a border on.  So, I picked up stitches along each edge, knitted back and bound off.

And voila!  Sew the side together, insert pillow, close up top and you're done.  A 2 sided fun little pillow that can be flipped over for instant home deco fun!