The Cactus Garden Pillow set captures the spirit of the American southwest. Inspired by the landscapes of the San Juan mountains near Durango, Colorado and the beautiful canyonlands, mountains, and mesas of the Four Corners area of the United States.

This pair of pillows is worked in the mosaic crochet style, inspired by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir’s beautiful Havana Afghan (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/havana-afghan-cal)

Two pillow patterns are included in this set: a Diamond Pillow with the diamond motif centered, and an X Pillow. The X Pillow is the same as one pattern repeat of Part 1 of the Cactus Garden Blanket pattern.

These pillows are designed for dk, worsted, or aran weight yarn that works well with a 3.5 mm or 4 mm hook. Lion Brand Vel-Luxe yarn, Lion Brand Mandala yarn, and Caron Simply Soft yarn were used in the sample pillows.

Each row is worked in only one color of yarn. Odd rows are worked in Yarn A (Lion Brand Vel-Luxe yarn in the dusty pink X pillow and in the gold Diamond Pillow). These rows form the diamond pattern. Even rows are worked in Yarn B (Caron Simply Soft yarn in Taupe in the X Pillow and Lion Brand Mandala scraps in Peacock in the gold Diamond Pillow) and form the background or main color.

Each pillow is about 16 by 15 inches (40 by 38 cm) to fit an 18-inch (46 cm) square pillow form.

Each pillow requires about 492 yards (450 meters) of yarn: about 246 yards (225 m) of Yarn A and about 246 yards (225 m) of Yarn B.

This is an intermediate level pattern that requires chain, slip stitch, single crochet, and double crochet stitches. US terms. US and metric measurements given.

Video tutorials are available on the Pretty Peaceful channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ_v3cP2scq5SOBDRt6S8-A

Join the Facebook group for the Cactus Garden crochet-a-long, Pretty Peaceful People: https://www.facebook.com/groups/492055481562505/

The Cactus Garden Blanket crochet pattern is available here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cactus-garden-bl...

Pattern copyright 2019 by Susan Kennedy. Please feel free to sell finished items made from this pattern if you give pattern design credit as “Cactus Garden Pillow Pattern by Susan Kennedy of PrettyPeaceful”. Not for commercial use. Please do not share screenshots, instructions, or photos from within the pattern. Please share the link to the pattern PDF instead!

Please use #cactusgardenpillow and tag @prettypeacefulcrochet to share your creations!