It's a Stitch Up

Stash-buster cushion © Suzie Blackman

A cusion cover with knitted front and fabric back in a slip-stitch pattern in several colours. I have used a a zip fastening. If you really like stocking stitch you could knit the back and fasten it with buttons.

This is a great way to use up leftovers from other projects. Each coloured row used no more than 5g of yarn. I used nine different shades of a variety of aran weight wool – Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran in Jet for the main colour and Debbie Bliss Merino Aran, Rowan Pure Wool Aran, Noro Cash Iroha and assorted mohair for the contrast colours.

I discovered the stitch pattern by accident; I was looking up mosaic garter stitch when I came accross a brick pattern on Knitty.com. I added extra rows to to give a more honeycombed effect.

I went for a rainbow effect because my stash tends to be full of bright colours, but this pattern would work equally well with muted colours, and would look great with a lighter shade replacing black as the maincolour.

Size information

This pattern makes a cushion cover to fit a 45 x 45cm (18 x 18 inch) pad.

Yarn & notions

• Approx. 85 m (93 yards) (1 x 50g ball) Aran weight yarn for main colour (MC)
• Approx. 170 m (186 yards) assorted aran weight yarn for contrast colours (CC1, CC2, etc.)
• 51 x 48 cm (20 x 19 in.) stiff backing fabric (corduroy is ideal)
• 1 x 45 cm (18 inch) zip
• Sewing thread

Needles & equipment

• 5 mm knitting needles
• Yarn needle
• Sewing machine
• Sewing needles

Tension/gauge

20 sts 28 rows over 10 cm (4 in.) square in slip-stitch pattern. Tension is not critical as the knitted front of the cushion is stretched to fit.

Instructions

Knitted cushion front

CO 80 sts in MC

Next row (rs): Knit
Next row (ws): Purl
Repeat last two rows once more

Slip-stitch pattern

Rows 1 & 3: In CC1, [k5, sl1p] to last 2 sts, k2
Row 2 & 4: CC1 p2, [sl1p, p5] to end
Row 5: K in MC
Row 6: P in MC
Rows 7 & 9: In CC2 k2 [sl1p k5] to end
Row 8 & 10: In CC2 [p5, sl1p] to last 2 sts, p2
Row 11: K in MC
Row 12: P in MC

Work in pattern, using each contrast colour in turn, until work measures 45  cm (18 in.), ending with row 4 or row 10 of pattern.

Change to MC
Next row (rs): Knit
Next row (ws): Purl
Repeat last two rows once more
Cast off.

Fabric backing

Attaching the zip to the fabric backing

Cut the fabric into two pieces so one measures 48 x 45 cm (19 x 17 1/2 in.) and the other strip measures 48 x 6 cm (19 x 2 1/2 in.).

Fold over and press 1.5 cm (5/8 in.) seam allowance along one of the 48 cm (19 in.) edges of each piece.

With right sides up, place the pressed edge of the large piece along the length of the zip, so that the pressed edge meets the centre of the zip teeth. Tack into place 5 mm (1/4 in.) from edge. Do the same with the smaller piece of fabric along the other side of the zip. Stitch along tacking.

Partly open the zip. With right-sides facing, pin the front of the cushion to the back, stretching the knitted side so that the edges match up. Tack with a 1.5 cm (5/8 in.) seam, stitch.