Lana Grossa Pillow Cover Homeware Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Pillow Cover in Fusione

Project Overview

The Lana Grossa Pillow Cover in Fusione is a sophisticated homeware knitting project designed to create a decorative cushion cover measuring approximately 47 x 47 centimeters. This design combines multiple advanced knitting techniques to produce a visually striking pillow cover suitable for a 50 x 50 centimeter pillow form. The project demonstrates professional-level construction methods and is worked as a single continuous piece rather than separate components.

Construction Method

This pillow cover is worked flat on circular needles and constructed bottom-up, meaning knitting begins at the cast-on edge and progresses toward the bind-off. The front and back panels are knitted in one piece, with markers placed at specific points to indicate where the front section ends and the back section begins. This seamless integration of front and back reduces the number of seams required in the finished piece. After knitting is complete, the cover is folded at the marked fold line and seamed using the mattress stitch technique, which creates invisible seams when worked from the right side. The remaining seam is closed after inserting the pillow form.

Techniques Used

The Lana Grossa Pillow Cover employs several advanced knitting techniques:

• Braided Cable Pattern: A decorative cable motif forms the primary visual interest of the design. The braid cable is worked according to a provided chart, beginning with a wrong-side row. The pattern repeats rows 1 through 9 once, then continues with rows 6 through 9 in a repeating cycle throughout the piece. The 19-stitch pattern repeat is worked between marked arrows on the chart, with additional stitches worked before and after the repeats to complete the full width.
• Intarsia Technique: Multiple colors are incorporated using the intarsia method, where each distinct block of color is worked with a separate ball of yarn. At each color change, the yarns are twisted around each other to prevent holes from forming in the fabric. This technique allows for precise color placement and creates clean color transitions.
• Striped Colorwork: The design features horizontal stripes created through strategic color placement across the cast-on row and maintained throughout the piece.
• Seamed Construction: The mattress stitch is used to join the side seams, creating a professional finish with invisible seams on the right side of the fabric.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The primary stitch structure consists of stockinette stitch as the base fabric, with the braided cable pattern worked as a decorative element. Selvage stitches are maintained on every row by slipping the first stitch knitwise and knitting the last stitch, which creates neat finished edges. The cable pattern itself involves yarn-over and decrease techniques typical of cable knitting, creating the three-dimensional braided texture. On wrong-side rows not explicitly shown on the chart, stitches are worked as they appear, maintaining pattern continuity.

Materials and Gauge

The Lana Grossa Pillow Cover is knitted using Lana Grossa Fusione yarn, a premium blend containing 30% cotton, 26% extrafine Merino wool, 25% baby alpaca, and 19% polyamide. This fiber composition provides both softness and durability, making it ideal for a decorative pillow cover that will receive regular handling. The yarn provides 140 meters per 50-gram ball.

Five different colorways of Fusione are used in this project: Dark Green/Charcoal Mélange (color 16), Petrol/Charcoal Mélange (color 15), Olive/Charcoal Mélange (color 10), Light Grey Mélange (color 1), and Grey/Charcoal Mélange (color 18). Fifty grams of each color are required, allowing for the striped cast-on and intarsia colorwork throughout the piece.

The project is worked on size 5 millimeter needles, specifically a 60-centimeter circular needle, which accommodates the full width of stitches. The recommended gauge is 20 stitches and 21.5 rows over 10 x 10 centimeters when working the braid cable pattern on size 5 millimeter needles. Achieving the correct gauge is essential for the finished pillow cover to measure the intended 47 x 47 centimeters and fit properly on a standard 50 x 50 centimeter pillow form.

Finishing

After all stitches are bound off in their established colors, the knitted piece is pin