Monday 14 September 2015

Marble Chunky Cushion

Rainy greetings dear friends and readers :) Well, it's raining at the moment, and it was raining first thing this morning, but in between it was warm and sunny and then a bit windy. Typical British weather I guess! My flowers from last week are still going strong, gotta love chrysanthemums :) But this gerbera was very wilty looking, so I popped it in one of my little starbucks bottles .... (http://emeraldcottage.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/spring-vase-cosies.html)


... doesn't it look sweet :)

Its been a busy week here, getting everyone back into the swing of the school routine, and we had Little Tomboy's birthday over the weekend, so of course lots of partying, celebrating, and eating cake! No cake pictures though, I don't make their cakes, they prefer to choose from the supermarket. Don't feel bad for me, I am well over it!

Craft-wise my week was quiet. Happily though, I managed to finish a WIP - hurray! Always good when a project that's been sitting around for ages finally gets completed. However it was a crochet project with my old nemesis James C Brett Marble Chunky. I've blogged about this yarn before, I love it to look at, it comes in a giant ball of super squishiness, but I most certainly DO NOT love crocheting with it. I find it too fuzzy and splitty. It's probably just me though as I know loads of other crocheters who seem to enjoy using it.


Its a fabulous yarn in terms of colour-changing and self-striping, love those blues and yellowy-greens. I decided to make a very simple cushion cover with it, in a nice dense double-crochet v-stitch. This cushion was my crochet-whilst-waiting-in-the-car-on-the-school-run project, a really easy pattern, as it was barely a pattern at all. I always find with these variegated yarns that there's no point to much of a pattern as it can often get a bit lost in the noise of the colour changes.


We recently updated our decor in the front room and have curtains and a rug that have bluey-green tones, so this cushion works really well in there. (The throw cushions that came with our grey sofa are purple and brown, rather strange default cushions to give if you ask me!)


It's a very simple envelope style cushion cover, and I joined the sides with a double-crochet seam. After the joining here's how much yarn was left ....


Pretty good usage of a skein I'd say!
For the envelope fastening I used a couple of wooden buttons, I seem to remember that they came free with an issue of Simply Crochet a couple of years ago.


The "button-holes" are just a loop of 5 chains at the appropriate point along the final row.


I love how the cushion looks against our sofas.


My assistant was on hand to carry out a cuddle test.


She gave it a really good squidge ....


.... and I'm pretty sure it passed the snuggle-cuddle test :)

Til next time,
Jillxxxxxx

28 comments:

  1. It's lovely! Did it only take one skein? I'm always at a loss at how to finish the back of a crochet cushion, so as a consequence don't make them! Love the colours in yours though -perfect for fall nesting!
    Jenn

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    1. Yes, just one skein, although it does come in a massive 200g. But at about £5 it's pretty good value despite the splittiness.

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  2. Worth crocheting with - it is stunning.

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  3. A whole cushion out of one skein ?!? Great !
    And the cushion looks fantastic !
    PS - as for the weather : it looks as if Belgium is a British colony ;-). Same weather here, sunny one minute, next minute rainshowers... (I already miss summer and autumn hasn't even started yet...)

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  4. Aw it's great! Looks super squishy, I'd be surprised if it didn't pass the test! I've never used this yarn, but certainly been tempted by the colours :) x

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  5. Your cushion is just beautiful and since I'm a newish reader I hadn't seen your starbucks cozy. I love it and will have to make some. I have some of the bottles in the cupboard because I like to use them just as you have. Thank you! We have a cool fallish day here in the Pacific Northwest U.S. We desperately need rain so I'm not complaining. Not one little bit.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  6. Your cushion looks lovely and squishy and soft! I agree with you on working a simple pattern with variegated yarns and let the colourways do all the work. We've had a full weekend of rain here too, but today we are back to summertime weather of 30C. Lots of crafting happened for me through the rain days though. Have a great week!
    Wendy

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  7. What a pretty cushion, love the colors. Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comment:-)

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  8. Bravo on finishing and it turned out fabooo! I have a few WIPs that I need to put my attention to finishing. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  9. Love your sweet daisy - and just love your cushion! Great job & such pretty colors. It looks so soft too. Xo

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  10. Your gerbera looks great in your vase. And love that squishy cushion, oo, did you panic at any time that you would run out of wool?
    Enjoy your week
    Caz xx

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    1. Lol yes, as the width was in no way calculated, I just did it the size of my cushion. Soooo lucky!

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  11. The cushion looks very smart in it's new stripy cover. :-)

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  12. You have made we want to make one of these lovely cushions. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  13. Beautiful cushion, love the colours, I remember the buttons I still haven't used mine either. They certainly compliment the yarn nicely. It must be the season for cushions I am busy replacing the lounge cushions too.

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  14. That's a gorgeous snuggly cushion!
    And yes, the Sophies garden cushion was a CAL pattern... ;-)
    Love from Mirjam.

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  15. The colours in your yarn are very pretty. I bet there were a few deep breaths towards the end when you realised how little you had left x

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  16. That does look like a lovely snuggly cushion! The colours are so pretty too.
    Helen xox

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  17. Blooming good use of a skein of yarn!

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  18. Your posy looks very sweet indeed, and your pillow is pretty perfect, Jill :) I have not made an envelope pillow case before and very much like how yours turned out. You inspire me to try one day! xx

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  19. Really love the cushion my friend. Even though you do not like working with the yarn it turned out beautifully. Love your squish assistant.
    Meredith

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  20. You will be pleased now that you persevered with the awkward yarn, the cushion looks fab. Obviously very cuddly too! X

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  21. Love the cushion and the yarn is gorgeous!

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  22. Well done on a lovely cushion and judging the yarn length perfectly!
    x

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  23. Love this cushion, Jill. Blue and green is my favorite color combination.

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  24. Your cushion is really gorgeous. I love the colours. I've only used the marble chunky for knitting and it didn't split. I hate it when yarn splits, especially when crocheting. I'm crocheting a rug using Drops cotton and it is splitting a lot! I suppose you only get what you pay for.

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  25. Congrats on finishing your WIP! The cushion turned out wonderfully - glad it gets so much cuddly love already!

    Take care
    Anne
    Crochet Between Worlds

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  26. That definitely looks like it passed the snuggle test! And it looks perfect on your sofa. I've just been catching up on your Summer too, really beautiful photos from your trip to Northern Ireland, bet it feels so long ago now sadly, specially in this wet, cold weather we're enjoying.

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Thankyou so much for visiting, and for taking the time to leave me a comment :) I really really love getting little messages, I read and value every single one, so thankyou again, and have a great day :)
Jillxxxxx