Crochet and Flower Loom Cushion

I will confess to staying up last night until I had finished this cushion.

This is the first round item I have crocheted and regular readers will know that I am trying to teach myself.  I made this up as I went along and experts may well spot mistakes but on the whole yours truly is a bit chuffed with this!  I started by looking on YouTube and found some clips showing how to crochet in a circle.  I was going to make some dish cloths. I used 100% cotton wool and kept crocheting.  I was on holiday so I could not buy any more as I could not find a wool shop.  I decided to stop once the circle looked right on a chair.  began the back and then.....ran out.  So the back has to colour rounds added on the edge.  I like it.

I then waited until I got home to carry on. 

I did start to crochet some flowers but saw my flower loom and changed my mind.  There is a tutorial for using a flower loom if you have not tried it before.  Glover make a range or buy a child's flower loom kit (I did this to try it out and then my Mum gave me her looms)  They are ideal for making in front of the TV in the evening.  Thank goodness for CSI Miami/New York/Las Vegas!

You need plenty of loops and then careful stitching together so that it does not fall apart when it is taken off the loom.

I thought that it needed perhaps a bit more detail on the front so a few hand stitches in wool using french knots and chain stitch were added.  I decided to make each section look different.

I crochet a flower to go on the back.  I am going to make some more of these.  I used the instructions featured in issue three of Mollie Makes, so not my usual pattern,I did get a bit muddled.  I like the final shape, it just took a bit of doing.

My projects are usually fairly well planned but on this occasion the thought of needing a round cushion pad had not registered with me so I had to make one and I think that it could have been a bit bigger.  I needed to really stuff it out but I think that more width was needed.

Many cushions go flat with use (in our house anyway) so it will take a bit of time before this cushion will meet the same fate!

So, using two not entirely identical circles, a cushion pad that is not quite the right size,some way of putting it together was needed.  I stitched and stuffed the cushion pad but did not stitch up the opening.  I then pinned the two crochet circles together.  A bit of fiddling about was needed here.  Using wool and a 4mm crochet hook I decided to literally crochet the cover together using single crochet.  I used green wool for this.

Then before crocheting the gap up I put more stuffing in the pad to really try and make the cover fit better, then stitched up the pad and crochet the rest of the cover opening.

Swapping to pink wool and edging was needed.  So using pink and 4mm hook again I chained 4 and then popped the end into the 3rd/4th chain along to give the loop.

It looks better with just this bit of edging.

This is not perfect (I am not even sure it is entirely round) but I really am pleased with this.  I actually enjoyed the "what shall I do now" approach to this cushion, in fact that is what made it one of the most enjoyable things I have made for some time.

What next?

Well, I did buy a pattern from Sarah London to make a Granny Square tunic.  Definitely a dark winter evening project.  Also maybe another woollen item where some embroidery an be included.

I am off to find the ideal spot for my new creation.

xx