For this Iron Craft challenge, we were to make something for the theme of cozy. In my mind, nothing is cozier than a big bulky knit. I’ve been seeing all these lovely, textural knit throw pillows in stores lately and I love them, but as a knitter, I can’t bring myself to buy one already made. This challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to whip one up.

I love how mine turned out. It was an easy knit and I did it so there were only two edges to seam up. It is big, soft and perfect for cozying up with in front of the fire.

Knit Basket Weave Pillow

*Update 11/27 This pattern was accidentally written to work flat instead of in the round, as it was meant to be. It has now been fixed and should be worked in the round.

Download a pdf of the Knit Basket Weave Pillow Pattern.

These instructions are written for use with a 20″ x 20″ pillow insert, but you can adapt them to fit any size you want. The stitch pattern requires a multiple of 8 plus 3 stitches. I like to make my pillow cover about 1 1/2″ – 2″ shorter in both directions than the insert because the knitting stretches and I like a well-stuffed pillow. So, say I wanted to make a cover for an 18″ x 18″ pillow insert. That would mean I wanted it to be 16″ wide. I would take 16 and multiply it by 2.75, which equals out to 44 stitches. In order to make it work with the pattern, I would only use 43 stitches, 8 x 5 = 40 +3.  So, I would cast on 86 stitches, 43 for the front of the pillow and 43 for the back.

Supplies:

• 318 yards of super bulky yarn (I used 3 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Grey Marble which is lovely.)
• 36″ size 11 circular needle (or size needed to get gauge and length that holds your stitches easily)
• stitch marker
• needle with an eye big enough for the yarn
• 20″ x 20″ pillow insert

Gauge: 11 stitches per 4 inches (approximately 2.75 per inch)

Abbreviations:

• k – knit
• p – purl

Cast on 102 stitches. Place a stitch marker between the first and last stitch to mark rows. You will be knitting in the round.

Row 1: k51, p4, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until the last 4 stitches. p4 (The 51 knit stitches are the back of the pillow.)
Row 2: k51, p4, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until the last 4 stitches. p4
Row 3: k51, p4, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until the last 4 stitches. p4
Row 4: k
Row 5: k51, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until end of row.
Row 6: k51, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until end of row.
Row 7: k51, k3, *p5, k3, rep from * until end of row
Row 8: k

Repeat rows 1 – 8 until pillow measures 18″or desired length. The pillow will look neatest if you end on either row 3 or 7 of the pattern. You may want to slide your insert into the knit cover to make sure you like the fit.

Divide the stitches so that the first 51 knit stitches are on one needle and the remaining patterned stitches are on another (or two sides of your circular needles). Seam shut with kitchener stitch.  (Kitchener stitch finished the edge of the pillow seamlessly, but if you prefer you can bind off and seam the end shut.) Weave in any ends.

Slide in the pillow insert. You can see mine fit quite tightly. There was enough of the cover to fit it easily when I pulled it together, but it was not baggy at all.

Seam the bottom edge shut.

Copyright 2014 Kathy Lewinski JustCraftyEnough.com
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