Blue Sky Fibers th Street Pillow Cushion Knitting Pattern

Blue Sky Fibers 13th Street Pillow

Project Overview

The 13th Street Pillow is an intermediate-level knitting project designed by Elinor Brown that creates a finished 12" x 12" decorative cushion cover. This pattern demonstrates advanced knitting techniques including charted colorwork, steek construction, and pick-up stitches, making it an excellent project for knitters looking to expand their technical skills.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a complete pillow cover with a knitted face and back panels. The pillow face features a charted pattern worked in two colors, while the back consists of two panels that are knitted directly onto the front using picked-up stitches. The two back panels meet approximately two-thirds up the pillow and are secured together with buttons, allowing for a functional closure and easy removal for washing if desired.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Steek Construction: The pattern employs steek techniques to create an opening in the knitted fabric. Steeking involves cutting the knitting after securing the cut edges, which allows the pillow to be opened. The pattern notes that edges must be secured by hand sewing, machine sewing, or crocheting chains on either side of the cut to prevent unraveling.
• Charted Colorwork: The pillow face is worked from a chart using two colors of yarn, with the first 9 stitches of every round designated as the steek stitches. Three full repeats of the chart are worked, plus one additional round of the first row.
• Pick-Up Stitches: The back panels are created by picking up and knitting stitches along all four sides of the completed pillow face. This technique begins at the bottom right corner with 64 stitches picked up across the width and 45 stitches along each side, totaling 218 stitches for the back panels.
• Circular and Flat Knitting: The pattern uses both circular needles for the main pillow face and double-pointed needles as needed, allowing for seamless in-the-round construction and the flexibility to work flat sections.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The pattern utilizes fundamental knitting stitches including knit, purl, and ssk (slip, slip, knit) decreases. The main design element is created through a charted pattern that incorporates two colors of yarn. The steek stitches are maintained as edge stitches throughout the colorwork section, and the back panels are worked in stockinette stitch after the set-up row establishes the stitch placement.

Materials and Tools

The pillow requires Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight or Melange yarn, with 3 hanks each of two colors (6 hanks total, approximately 660 yards combined at 110 yards per 50-gram hank). The pattern shown uses Peppercorn #816 and Cornflower #800.

Needles required include:

• Size 5 (3.75 mm) circular needles in 29" or 32" length for the main pillow face
• Size 5 (3.75 mm) double-pointed needles for smaller circumferences
• Size 3 (3.25 mm) circular needles in 29" or 32" length for the back panels
• Size 3 (3.25 mm) double-pointed needles as needed

Additional supplies include stitch markers, a tapestry needle for finishing, and three to five 5/8" buttons for securing the back panels together.

Pattern Difficulty and Skill Requirements

This pattern is rated as Intermediate level, reflecting the complexity of techniques involved. Knitters should be comfortable with in-the-round knitting, reading charts, managing multiple colors, and understanding steek construction before beginning this project. The pattern assumes familiarity with picking up stitches and working decreases.