DIY Challenge - Patina & Paint

This months DIY Challenge is inspiration for warming your home this winter. For me, I like all the things. Texture, smells, warm and fuzzy, a nice fire in the fireplace and a good cup of hot tea! So when our hostess Terrie from Decorate and More With Tip issued this challenge I was excited!

In December I hosted a Queen’s party where we made these loop yarn wreaths. Super easy, fun and tons of texture. I had a ton of the yarn left over and decided to see if I could find something to do make with it.

I quickly stumbled upon a video tutorial from It’s Always Autumn. She’s great at sharing how to make this pillow! It looked easy. She said she made her’s in an hour or so while watching TV. Perfect! Or so I thought.

Now, before I get started, I want to say that Autumn is in no way responsible for my inability to create this pillow in an hour or so.FIVE DAYS people!Five days of hand knitting, pulling it out because I dropped a stitch, lots of cursing, more knitting, more pulling out…You get my drift.But, I DID finish it!With that said I will show you how I made it, but if it doesn’t make sense, or I loose you, please click on the link above and watch Autumns video.

1. To start your pillow you will want to cut open the last 2 loops on the strand to make a tail. At the end of the project you can tie it off or just weave it in. Also, when you get to the end of your ball of yarn you will cut open the last loop to create a tail which you will tie to the beginning of the new ball of yarn. This creates a continuous strand to knit with.

We will start by making the back of the pillow. For the back, count out 24 loops with the tail to the right. Make sure that your loops point up and are as flat as possible. Although Autumn didn’t do this, I found it helpful to mark the end of my row with a clothes pin.

Now, take loop 25 and pull it through the back of loop 24, pull up. Then take loop 26 and pull up through the back of loop 23. Continue to do this all the way across the row.

Once you have reach the end of the first row, you will do the same thing in reverse, going from right to left. Continue going back and forth until you have made an 18 X 18 inch square.

Now you will want to bind off your 18 inch square. At the top of the pillow on the end of the last row, cut the next two loops to make a tail. Go back to the beginning of the row and take loop 2 and pull through loop one. Then loop 3 through loop 2, 4 through 3 etc. Continue until you are at the end, tie the last loop to the tail that you had made

Let’s make the top of the pillow! You will start by making a tail, just like you did for the back except you will count out 26 loops – tail to the right. Again, just like the back the 27th loop will be pulled from the back through the 26th loop. Instead of pulling up, you will pull down continuing pulling loops until you get to the right side.

At the end you will have a row of loops that will be pointing down and the original loops pointing up. Now go back through the same original loops and pull that row down. Give the two down loops a good tug down every 5 -6 loops, these 2 down loop rows are what creates the loopy texture. When you get to the end of the row, turn around and go through the same to the top loops, pull a third row of loops, this time pull straight up. You will have 1 row of loops up and 2 rows down. Each row that points up gets 3 rows pulled through it. 2 down1 up. Continue like this until you have an 18″ square. Bind off just like you did the back side.

Now Tie the back to the front. Lay back of pillow and the front of the pillow wrong sides together. Cut about 1 yard length of the yarn, snipping the loops at the bottom to create a string of yarn. Use the yarn to sew around 3 edges of the pillow together. To sew it together, tie one end to a tail and sew around the binding on both pillows.

Before sewing the 4th side, insert an 18″ pillow form. Then sew the 4th side shut. If you have any extra tails of yarn, simply tuck them inside the pillow.

Just like Scarlet O’Hara I’ll just say this: As God as my witness I will never make one of these again! However, I sure do like how warm and cozy it looks in my living room!
Now please join me in visiting my fellow DIY Challenge bloggers. I can’t wait to see how they warm up their homes for winter!