Fun Fur Cha Cha

Made these pillows for the girls this week --

 

I used Lion Brand Fun Fur "Tropical" for the one on the right, and Patons Cha Cha "Vegas" for the other.  (I wanted to have a similar colorway for the two, but different enough so that the girls could tell them apart.)  The sherbet-osity of the colors is pretty poolside, all right.

My covers were worked in double knitting (K1, sl 1 p-wise) over 50 sts, coming out to be about 7 inches wide by 17 inches long.  This looks improbable on the needles, but it's very stretchy sideways.  I transferred the stitches to two needles, separating the two sides, stuffed the pillow in, then cast off very loosely with the 3-needle method.  They could be made flat, of course, and sewn together around the edges, but I'm lazy and this way avoided any seams at all.  I also get a kick out of double knitting.  It's not rocket science, but you do have to pay attention, because if you accidentally purl a stitch instead of slipping it purlwise, the fabric won't open in the middle for you to slip the pillow inside.

(Thanks for the idea, Meriel!)

Comments

[Kay]

This is so clever. I knew about double-knitting but never thought to use it for small bags and cushions. The sewing up of small items is not only tedious, but it can detract from the look of the finished thing. Thanks for the most excellent tip! xox Kay

[Lorna Proctor]

Thanks for your informative site! I want to knit a layette for a friend using a Phildar pattern which is 10 years old.....Can I buy Phildar in HK, or could you suggest an alternative yarn??

Thanks

[Jeanne]

Lorna, I sent an email that bounced, so I'll cut-and-paste it here just in case -- I'm sorry, but I don't live in Hong Kong any more. The list of shops that I wrote up (in the Photo Albums section of my blog) has a brief description of what I found, although I don't recall Phildar yarns in particular. If you are there, I would try Cheer Wool in Wan Chai, Paris Cotton Singlets in Causeway Bay, or Double Knit in Mongkok first. Any of these would probably be able to recommend a substitute if you can show them the pattern that you have.