Serendipity cushion

I just spent a week with hard flat wooden seats as the only sitting options. Oh my sore tailbones. A cushion would have made my week more comfy.

In the clean up after this event, I nearly threw out the few handfuls of cotton flock left over from a futon remodel. No! this could be cushion stuffing! Then I remembered a scrap of lovely wool embroidered upholstery cloth I’ve had in stash for many years. That had resisted all attempts at inclusion in other projects. It wanted to be it’s own thing. So I assembled the cotton into the shape of this cloth and made it into a baby futon with a bit of old sheet that was lying about.

By itself, this cotton made a sad, flat, baggy cushion. I wondered if I had much in the way of feathers left from previous custom cushion insert games. I did! It was the short end of a feather pillow, already roughly closed and…. the right shape! So that went in too, making the cushion slightly overstuffed.

I made a bunch of tassels from left over tapestry wool in stash, picking up the colours of the embroidery

The backing is heavy cotton offcuts from a butterfly my grandmother worked many years ago. It’s a good match for the weave and weight of the ground of the embroidered cloth. My stash doesn’t run much to heavy cloth, so piecing the bits of this was worth it.

Cushion! The multiple tassels per corner were inspired by the extreme tassellation of some 16thC bags.

It’s only little, and quite narrow, but it’s enough to give my poor tailbones a softer experience and can be used even on little stools. Fits nicely on my “Waldo” stool (one of a series of these made by a good friend).

Possums in the toes of her socks.

Sung of course to the tune of “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes”.

Sock pair #32 of my knitting. Finished at Rowany Festival and handed over unblocked. Toes are a possum merino blend. Rest is Phil Folk Sock 100 which was much fun to knit. It’s two ply. One ply has the rainbow variagation, the other moves through neutral shades. Wendy Johnson’s toe up slip stitch heel pattern.

Gelato donuts

I liked the tie dye makeover of the orange top so much I went and did another. The resulting impression is so different. Less badass, more spun sugar.

I had a winter white Country Road jumper that was looking a bit tired. It’s hard to refresh whites in wool. So instead I’ve been thinking to overdye it.

The colours came out more muted than I had hoped for me. Silly me didn’t check the fibre composition! It turns out to be only 43% protein fibre. No wonder it came out so pastel. At least the circular patterns nicely reflect the knitted-in polkadots.

The whole confection

Badass Tiedye makeover

I made this vivid orange top last year out of lovely soft merino fabric. I found though that it was so bright I almost never wore it.

So today I tortured it with elastic bands and popped in a blue dyebath.

Woo hoo! I really like how it came out. Both more and less subdued. A bit badass I reckon. Let’s see if I actually wear it now.