Colour Block cushion - turquoise

My inspiration for the first colour block cushion came with a visit to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire this summer. Built of stone in the 15th century with stone stairs, stone walls and floors the house could have been gloomy and dark but instead the rooms of this family home were bright and cosy.

I love colour and colour combinations wherever you see them in nature, in clothing, gardens or interior designs. Creamy curtains with a large print of bright colours in one room of the castle made me see how the combination of turquoise, taupe and white would make a bright fresh looking cushion. Once home I searched for a double knit wool in the right colours and hit on Sirdar Snuggly.

Choosing teal, taupe, white and orange when the wool arrived the combination of teal and white looked better without the taupe or orange and would keep the cushion looking fresh and modern.
I designed a very pretty round motif earlier this year which I’ve used in many different ways. In this cushion I’ve used it to make a square motif. I experimented with the two colours trying a white centre and a turquoise surround and then a turquoise centre with a white surround which was my choice. Either combination looks good and creates a very different look for the cushion.

I experimented with the panels. The small motifs looked too much on their own so I made a long thin strip of them and made a couple of textured panels to go alongside. From there the obvious solutions was another bank of the motifs and the design was complete. For the panels I chose a very simple textured stitch. I’ve become a bit addicted to textured crochet recently. It creates a lovely Arran style knitted finish and it’s very therapeutic to make.

As so often I finish a design before I think too much about how to finish it, if a fastening is needed and whether to add an edging. For this cushion design I had a mind to use the centre of the motif for buttons and a simple crochet loop to create a fastening. When this was done I was very happy with the finished look and decided an edging would spoil the simple fresh modern look.

How to adapt a crochet pattern

One of the things I love about crochet is its flexibility and the good news is you don’t have to be an experienced crocheter to change and adapt patterns. Although changing a pattern is not advisable for clothing. Adapt patterns to make your projects distinctive and to add a ‘wow’ to your crochet projects. Here are my favourite ways to do this:

• Change the yarn thickness of a cushion pattern to a bigger or smaller weight yarn. Change your hook size to create a bigger or smaller cushion. Using thicker yarns gives less definition than finer ones, but creates a lovely chunky feel.
• Add two yarns together to create your own blend of yarn to create a tweedy effect.
  
• It’s particularly easy to adapt patterns if the pattern uses motifs. For example change the actual motif of your pattern or mix and match motifs. This will work if the additional or changed motifs have the same finished size as the original pattern motif and you use the same yarn and hook.
• Add extra rows of dc’s (sc’s) ot tr’s (dc’s) to crochet cushions or throws to make a larger cushion.
• Add rows of flowers as you go along or on top of your work. This works well with bags, cushions and throws. Keep to the original size of the pattern and you will be OK.
  
• Change the colours of a pattern or add more colours. If a pattern has motifs use multiple colours or one colour for the centre of all your motifs for a completely different effect.
• Simply changing the main colour of your design from light to dark or subtle to bright will dramatically change your finished project
• Add picots to the edge of a cardigan or scarf. This won’t affect the pattern but will make it look special and finished.
• Add beads and buttons to the centre of crochet flowers if using a pattern with flowers.
  
• Replace standard buttons with hand crafted wooden buttons or crochet your own buttons
• Add a different edging to clothing, cushions and throws than the one in the pattern.
• Crochet on top even simple chains will highlight a specific area using a different colour.
• Instead on one big motif make 4 small ones that finished make the same size as the original pattern.
• Use shells or popcorns instead of groups of trebles (dc’s) adding chains or leaving spaces to get the balance of your pattern right.
• If using a motif pattern that stitches motifs together change this by crocheting motifs together using dc’s (sc’s) or slip stitches.
  
• If a pattern has groups of trebles (dc’s) and dc’s (sc’s) crochet into back loops only to create a pretty ridge effect this works on garments as well.
• If using motifs make the last row all the same colour to create a background look.

Louisa Harding Azalea

Crochet Brooch

A soft 100% cotton DK print yarn, Louisa Harding Azalea comes in a choice of subtle blended colours, including heather and rusty purple subtle blends with multiple colours per ball. Azalea has a an elegant drape effect which you can see in the cascade scarf I made. Used in combination with a Bergere de France Ideal wool based yarn the result was a lovely soft drape tweed scarf.

On its own I created this lovely flower brooch with Azalea in a heather blend. The brooch would work equally well on a headband. For the scarf I used 4mm hook and for the brooch a 3.25mm hook.

Azalea is perfect for beautiful warm weather knits and stunning shawls. As you would expect from a cotton yarn, it has fantastic stitch definition.  Azalea is machine washable.

Cascade Crochet Scarf

Louisa Harding Azalea is a DK Blend and 100% Cotton. The ball weight is 100g (3.5oz) and the yarn Length is 240m (262 yds). Tension: 22 stitches, 30 rows to 10cm/4" for knitting and 22sts 10 rows 7.5cm's/3"crochet.


Readily available in yarn retailers and on line from Wool Warehouse Louisa Harding Azalea is a lovely addition to the Louis Harding range.