Something for Home

At the beginning of the summer, I sat down and made a list. I love lists. No really! I. LOVE. LISTS. What a better way to start of a season with a lovely little list of things I'd like to accomplish during those few months?  I'm very happy to report that I have already completed more than half of the items on it including making this...

I have had my eye on this pillow pattern, called Popping Pansies, since I first saw it this winter in the Spring 2011 issue of Debbie Bliss Magazine. I knew this pillow was destined to live on my denim couch. And now, many months later, ta da!

The pattern suggests using Debbie Bliss' Rialto yarn. But the other day I was in my local Joann Fabric's store and noticed that nearly all of Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation yarn was on sale. When I say "on sale" I mean it was dirt cheap ( a store associate told me that the company was discontinuing certain colors). Knitting with this yarn has been something I'd wanted to try for a while, so it seemed like now was a good time! The Bamboo Ewe yarn was quite nice: soft, smooth and available in so many beautiful colors too. However, I won't deny that even though this yarn is 55% viscose from Bamboo and 45% wool, it had an acrylic-feel to it. Not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.
FYI: when wet-blocking, the knitted fabric grew a little, so I had to reshape the pillow carefully.

I also used a tiny bit of Mission Falls wool for the white parts of the flowers- a decision I am regretting because those white centers "pop" way too much ( I think the yarn weight- although listed as worsted- was a bit heavier than the Bamboo Ewe). Not to worry, my toddler will flatten that out in now time. Hopefully, she won't also pull off the buttons on the back (which are from my Grandmother's button stash she passed down to me)

Overall, I am happy with the outcome.

And doesn't it look quite at home on my couch?

What do you think?