Kite Tails

The inspiration for this design came to me while I was flipping through a quilting book at my mother’s house. My mother is a talented quilter. Throughout my childhood beautiful fabrics, quilts and quilting books, surrounded me. So naturally, as a knitter,  I have come to love the look of knitted items which are quilt- inspired. 

Here is the picture which first sparked the idea. Aren't those gigantic triangles and hand stitched lines gorgeous?
 

Kite Tails is a pillow cover with a trifold construction and buttons/buttonholes in the back for closure. The front panel features a classic triangle patchwork motif (also known as flying geese to you quilters out there), reminiscent of kite tails, worked in stockinette stitch in two similar tones of color with a contrasting color background.  

The back panels are worked in two different rib stitch patterns in one of the darker colors from the front. This pillow cover is worked flat and the sides are seamed with a generous overlap. 

 

My Kite Tails was made with Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherd's Wool yarn. I first came across this yarn at a yarn festival last March and immediately fell in love. For the past six months I have been knitting a vest with it (on and off- the pattern is giving me problems). Every single time I have picked up my needles to work on that tricky fair isle vest, I sigh and tell my husband how much I adore this yarn. 

Stonehedge Fiber Mills describes it as a worsted weight yarn with 4 ounces and 250 yards to each skein. I find it to be more like a light worsted. They are extremely generous skeins at 250 yards! The pillow cover pictured was made with Navy, White and Frosty Blue.

These crisp classic colors are perfect for my home. I'm constantly drawn to all things blue (one peek into my living room and you would see what I mean). Even last week, at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival, I kept picking up squishy skeins in beautiful shades of denim and midnight blue (and sometimes apple green). The simple and repetitive intarsia motif lends itself to be worked in a variety of color combinations. Stonehedge Fiber Mill has an enormous collection of colorways, plus these hefty skeins are sold for a very reasonable price too. You can buy them here, here, or here.

This week I will put together some fun color combinations of yarn for this pattern and post them on the blog. Dig through your stash! Maybe you already have a few skeins just waiting to be made into a pillow for you home.