Artesano Superchunky Heart Cushion

Chunky love...

I started to covet Artesano superchunky when I saw it advertised in several of the knitting mags. 50% superfine alpaca and 50% Peruvian highland wool knitted on huge 12mm needles. What's not to love?


I duly sent for the pattern book promising "a collection of 20 fun projects and accessories" from Laughing Hens. Many of the projects required three 100g hanks, so I duly acquired three lots of Cerise, Damson and Cranberry.
 I decided to start with the easiest project in the book, Sue Hanmore's heart cushion, for which I settled on the Cerise yarn.

 The cushion was knitted flat on 12mm needles in two halves beginning at the bottom with one stitch and then working both sides separately for the top of the heart.



I particularly liked that you could see it was turning into the right thing before your eyes (I had just binned a three-quarter finished toy knit that took me a considerable amount of time to realise was turning into something that was likely to frighten children).

 

If at this point you're admiring my fab Babushka doll knitting needles, they came from Sail on Baby's Etsy shop and I also have a matching 8mm crochet hook.

 Once I had my two sides knitted, I sewed them right sides together with one ply of yarn and a small overstitch as per the finishing instructions. I was a little skeptical about this joining technique but it does give a proper shape and finish. I left a small gap and then turned and stuffed the cushion, taking care to avoid lumps (stuffing can be surprisingly time consuming). I then sewed the gap closed.

The pattern had a fiddly embellishment made of i-cord with a bobble that I decided I couldn't be bothered with. Instead, I made Lisa Jane Bevan's poppy flower from the same pattern booklet with an 8mm crochet hook. The pattern said a size 8 crochet hook, but that's only 4mm and seemed much too small for superchunky yarn. Anyway, my 8mm version looked fine, so I popped a large pearlised button from my stash in the centre and sewed it onto the cushion.

I really love the cushion and the pattern looks pretty versatile for making heart cushions with other yarn and needle combinations (I'm just making my mum a smaller, felted version with Icelandic Lopi and 5.5mm needles).

I've also got two more superchunky projects to look forward to - I'm thinking I fancy the cabled bag and the bramble stitch hat, but watch this space...

Melx