On Wednesday I finished the cupcake cushion and it is exceedingly comfy. I have it on my bed and it is so soft to lie on whilst I read.

For those interested, it is a design from 25 Cushions to Knit by Debbie Bliss

The front panel is a combination of moss stitch and stocking stitch. Easy to do, although I did find that with the yarn I used – Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino – it was easy to put the needle through the strands of yarn, rather than the whole stitch. Not a big problem, just something to watch out for. The actual pattern calls for sewing buttons and beads on, but I decided it would make it uncomfortable to lie on if they were there.

This is the back, the pattern of which I modified quite a lot. Had I been using beads, I think it would have been ok as written, but when I started it just looked odd, so I added the vertical stripes instead and was very pleased that I even managed to knit this fair-isle style using both hands to hold the different colours. At least on the knit rows. Purling was impossible. I just couldn’t do it for some reason, so I sort of devised my own method of hooking the one of the colours around with my thumb, so that I didn’t have to completely drop the first colour. It works for me, so I guess that’s all that matters. Maybe I’ll try and video it sometime in case other people are having the same problem.

I went to John Lewis in Southampton yesterday and bought 8 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky and a Debbie Bliss book – Simply Living, which has a collection of nice patterns including cushions, slippers, jumpers, jackets, blankets and bags. Both yarn and book were half price, so it would have been rude not to buy them! Don’t know what I’ll use the yarn for yet.

Squares, squares and more squares. I’ve been doing lots of work on the blanket and sewing it into blocks of 9. However I realised that there are a few squares I’ve not blogged about.

Reverse Stocking Stitch with cross-stitch heart

I’d done the square itself ages ago, but not gotten around to doing the cross stitch motif. I’m not sure why but I kept putting it off. Anyway, finished it last night. This one didn’t want to block and I couldn’t stop the sides curling in. But once it’s sewn together with the others (it’s a centre piece) it won’t matter.

Moss stitch and diamond square

This is just moss stitch with cross stitches embroidered on afterwards. Didn’t get the quite centred, but couldn’t be bothered fiddling with it. I think it just adds to the character of the blanket anyway!

Dot patterned square

I really like this one. It’s all stocking stitch but with the occasional white stitch. The pattern just told you to strand the white across the back, but there are 5 stitches between each white one, and I didn’t like the big loops it left you with, so I restarted it and wove the white in as I went along.

row 1: K
row 2: P
row 3: K4 in red, K1 in white, K5 red, K1 white etc. finishing with K4 red.
row 4: P
row 5: K
row 6: P
row 7: K1 red, K1 white, K5 red, K1 white, K5 red etc finishing K1 white, K1 red.
row 8: P

The magazine has given a more squares but they were just plain ol’ garter stitch or stocking stitch, so I’m going to look in my Debbie Abrahams blanket and afghan book and substitute them for something a bit more interesting.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you how the blocks are coming along.