Hello You Beauties
How are you pals? This week brings another new knit kit (YAS!) AND even more excitingly it’s one of four launches over the next few weeks (WHAT?! I KNOW!) Keep an eye on your inbox because new sh*t is coming! (I say 4, it’s hopefully 6 new launches but I don’t want to overcommit so we’ll see!)
We’re starting off today with a new cushion kit so I wanted to introduce you and have a chat about which colours I think work well together.
The Diagonal Stitch Cushion Kit
First lets have a chat about the new cushion kit – The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that it’s a pattern from my knitting book Super Chunky Knits. We decided it was high time to start launching some of my favourite projects from the book as knit kits, so that you get everything you need to knit it and Spring/Summer always feels like a perfect time for homeware kits since you can get your knit-kicks without sweating over sweaters.
Like the majority of our kits, it uses our Lauren Aston Designs Super Chunky Yarn and knits up sharpish. In terms of ability, the Diagonal Stitch Cushion is a step up from our Classic Duet Cushion (although they do look amazing together.) It’s perfect for confident beginners as there’s no shaping just basic knit and purl, but it does require changing colour in the middle of a row. The pattern talks you though this and it’s a great stepping stone if you’re considering colour work as it’s a similar yet simple technique but it’s for this reason we put the ‘confident’ in front of ‘beginner’ (*sidenote – If you’re new to knitting or want a reminder of how it’s done then don’t forget the ever-growing Knitting Knowledge page here on the website.)
A lovely quick and easy project, you knit the two panels and then blanket stitch them together. The pattern explains how and has images to assist. You can add a colour pop (we used pewter brown) in a contrasting colour (or if you don’t fancy it, you can sack it off for a normal stitch) but simple doesn’t mean dull, the strong block colours (hopefully) keep it fun and interesting!
When you change colour in the pattern, you also change stitch. This adds a lovely texture and interest to the cushion which I think is part of what really makes home accessories work. The other detail that you may not have spotted is that both sides are opposite – so your colours are on the opposite stitch on the other side….
What’s in the box?
It uses 2 different colours and 2 different stitches (of course if you wanted it all in one colour or one stitch you could easily do that too…) So in the kit you get:
- Diagonal Stitch Cushion pattern
- 2 x 200g hanks of yarn (in your choice of colour/s)
- Optional: 20g Colour pop to sew together
- Optional: 12mm knitting needles
- Optional: 15″x 15″ cushion pad.
- Optional: Tapestry needle
And as always, it’s packed gift-ready in one of our glorious organic cotton LAD Bags 🙂
Pattern
Of course if you already have a yarn stash and some knitting needles you can get cracking straight away with the downloadable PDF pattern…
Download and go...
Let’s talk COLOUR!
As we always say ‘choosing your colour is the hardest part!’ It’s so difficult to narrow it down! And this time you get to choose 2… I don’t know if that makes it easier or harder! So here are just a couple of examples of pairs that work together really well hopefully for some inspiration. If you every have questions or doubts about the colours feel free to drop us an email – we’re always happy to chat colours!
You probably know them better than us by now but here’s what you’ve get to choose from…
Neutrals:
If you’re just after a neutral cushion but still want the mix of two colours then Mink Blush, Pewter Brown and Soft Peach are a great starting point. Here’s a quick list of neutrals that looks beautiful together:
- Soft Peach with Forest, Mulberry or Pewter Brown
- Mink Blush with Granite, Mulberry or Pewter Brown
- Pewter Brown with (either of the above) Navy or Forest
Other nice neutral mixes would be different shades of grey (any combination of light grey, mid grey or granite) and black and white is always a classic.
Brighten it up
One of my favourite ways of combining colours is to go with a neutral and a brighter colour to liven it up. If we stick with our neutrals the same as above so Soft Peach, Mink Blush, Pewter Brown, and we could also throw in Navy. Here are some combo’s to brighten those up…
- Soft Peach with Cinnamon or Emerald
- Mink Blush with Bright Pink or Damson
- Pewter Brown with Mustard or Mint
- Navy with Mustard, Bright Pink, Bubble or Natural White
Again, all the greys look amazing with Mustard, Pinks or Emerald are always dreamy!
All In
If you want to stay away from ‘safe’ colours and have a real pop of tones to draw attention. Start with either a colour that will work in the room it’s for or a colour you LOVE. A few of my favourite combos are:
- Bright Pink with Forest, Candyfloss, or Mustard
- Mustard with Emerald, Bubble or Lilac
A few stand out colour combos I love are Scarlet and Candyfloss, Duck egg and Mint (and/or Emerald), Soft Peach and Cinnamon, Aqua and Light Grey
Cushions are brilliant for adding wild accent colours, they’re a chance to liven up an interior – I tend to go quite neutral with the larger decor pieces like walls and sofas and then go mental on cushion colours because it’s a quick and easy way to bring colour in without the worry of ‘what if I change my mind in a year’…. Because unlike wallpaper, you can just throw a cushion into another room. My cushion colur advice is normally to just go with the colour/s that make your heart happy and don’t be safe.
Forest Green and Bright Pink
Last one because I couldn’t not (DO IT!)…
For more colour options, you can check out the blog from when we launched the 5 newest colours (Mulberry, Bubble, Soft Peach, Mint and Duck Egg) – there’s plenty of visuals there to help you see what works with them…
Take care and speak soon,
