I was very excited when I saw Elly Doyle's Graphic Cushions project in Issue 8 of specialist accessory magazine, Knit Now. One cushion featured mushrooms and the other cute Russian dolls. The Russian doll design was my favourite but gave me a bit of a dilemma. A full-sized nine-doll cushion would (a) take ages, and (b) require the purchase of new yarn. I am currently aiming to knit from stash until I go to Woolfest next week. with that in mind, I decided to make a mini cushion featuring just one repetition of the doll chart.
For the background of the cushion and the bottom of the doll, I used some cream and purple blue-faced Leicester DK I had in stash. Unfortunately, I didn't have a third colour in that yarn so tried a pale pink alpaca DK.
I find that the trouble with intarsia is that it's easy to lose concentration and miss a colour change, especially in the middle. Indeed, I mucked up shortly after introducing the alpaca for the top half of the doll. I tried to pull it back, but that's kind of tough with intarsia. So,I gritted my teeth and started again...
On the second attempt, I took the opportunity to add more background stitches and rows so the design wasn't so close to the edges of the cushion. I also switched to a hot pink Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK for the top of the doll as I found the alpaca didn't work well with the other yarn.
This time I managed to complete the design with only the odd stitch out of place (see if you can spot where :). I used yarn bobbins for the different sections of colour as I find this reduces tangling quite a bit. Afterwards, I pressed and sprayed the front of the cushion by way of blocking.
Having completed the front, I knitted a two-tone back piece in stocking stitch from the leftover blue faced Leicester. I then decorated the doll with a button for her tummy and an embroidered face.
To make up, I back stitched around three sides of the cushion, wrong sides together (I don't see the point of mattress stitch for a sealed cushion). I then turned the cushion the right way out and stuffed with toy filler. Finally, I mattress stitched the bottom edges together.
So, a cute yet challenging stash buster on only two tries...
Melx
