Ella Rae cosy double knit yarn review

Ella Rae was created in Australia and I think the colours of this yarn reflect the bright light of Australia. The brand has a reputation for creating simple and classic designs using a range of yarns. Ella Rae is soft, machine washable and excellent value for a 100gm ball. The content of this double knit (light worsted) is 75% acrylic and 25% wool and a 100gm ball is around 195 metres.

Ella Rae comes in many different colours including 9 bright blends that use the same dyes as the plain coloured yarns. All the colours are bright from pink, orange to turquoise and lime green. There is also a white to tone things down. I use a hook size 3.75 with Ella Rae cosy.

Ella Rae would be good to use for soft cozy scarfs and lovely for baby and child garments. I used it for a pretty brooch. Despite all of this I have to say this is not my favourite yarn, it has a tendency to split and I find the finished colours a bit brash. I tried it with other yarns of the same weight and it just didn’t look right. If you want bargain soft yarn with a wool content this could the one to go for.

Buy it from.....yarn.com or knittingwoolandyarn.co.uk

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.