Throughout the week, I worked a pillow cover with honeycomb stitch on the front side and the staghorn cables on the other with UNIVERSAL YARN Thula. Yesterday, I finished the top and bottom pieces of the back side, knitted in staghorn cables. Because this is an envelope-style pillow cover, the back side is made of two overlapping pieces. I need a lot of overlap as the insert is quite puffy and the honeycomb side is much less elastic than the staghorn side. I made each piece the same way with the cast-on edge on opposite sides. This means that when the two pieces meet, the cables will cross and run in opposite directions. I chose the staghorn cable stitch because it’s the bottom half of the honeycomb shape. How cool is that!
Now that I’ve got the bottom piece finished, I’m stitching the three pieces together and inserting my pillow. I prefer a snug fit, but I must allow for the uneven elasticity of the two sides and the puffiness of the pillow insert I’m using.
And here’s the finished product! I love how the continuous ribbing elongates the staghorn cable shape and how the cables run in opposite directions for the back side of the pillow.
Here’s the staghorn cable side of my pillow cover (back).
Below is the honeycomb-stitch side (front) I made earlier this week with the pillow insert. I love how Thula holds its shape with this stitch, as the honeycomb shape just pops! While the hole in the center closed just fine where I started, I did add a few reinforcement stitches just in case there was a weaker spot for the puffy insert to catch on. I like this pillow cover so much, I think it needs a mate!
The honeycomb stitch side of my pillow cover in UNIVERSAL YARN Thula in the Delphinium Colorway.
Thank you for joining me this week as I played with UNIVERSAL YARN Thula in a cable pattern. I started with the honeycomb stitch, working in the round from the center out. Using needles from my KnitPro Ginger Special Deluxe Interchangeable Needle Kit made for an easy start in the round.
A final word about the gauge
The gauge for the honeycomb stitch required more stitches per inch compared to the staghorn side of the cover. The staghorn side was worked flat in two pieces, inspired by the top and bottom halves of the honeycomb stitch. The cables on the top and bottom pieces run opposite each other, meeting with continuous ribbing on the overlap. After working with Thula a few times, I can see it has great stitch definition in both cable and lace stitches!
I’m using the KnitPro Ginger Special Deluxe Interchangeable Needle Kit and UNIVERSAL YARN Thula to make a pillow cover this week.
