Jussi and Johanna Tonttu are back! This delightful cushion cover makes a fun addition to your winter décor bringing comfort and a touch of enchantment to your home.

The latest in my popular series of Tonttu designs features a stranded colorwork front panel depicting the adorable gnomes and motifs based on traditional Finnish patterns (Talvitontut means “winter gnomes” in Finnish).

Method:
Featuring a stranded colorwork front and a plain envelope back fastened with buttons, this cushion cover is both charming and practical. Worked in one piece, with one row buttonholes, a steek, and mattress stitch to finish, it also provides knitters with a chance to practise many of the skills needed for a colourwork cardigan on a much smaller project.

Photo tutorials for mattress stitch and using a sewing machine to reinforce the steek are included with this pattern.

Please note the colorwork design in this pattern is charted not written out. You need to be prepared to read and work from charts in order to enjoy knitting this design.

Yarn:
This pattern was designed with Cygnet Pure Wool Superwash DK. You will need at least two contrasting colors of any DK yarn containing a high percentage of wool and with which you can get tension/ gauge. Woolly yarns are more suitable for steeking because the fibres naturally want to stick together.

Solid colors work best for this design (because you want to be able to see it clearly from across the room), but don’t be afraid to experiment! You could use just one main and one contrast color for the entire cushion, make each motif band with different background colors and the same contrast color, or use three colors as in the cushion pictured.

Be creative, have fun, the steek means there are no ends to weave in! The amounts of each color required will depend on how many colors you pick and where you choose to use them. As a guide for the cushion pictured, I used the following quantities of Cygnet Pure Wool Superwash DK:

MC – 208 White approx. 104 metres (114 yards)
CC1 – 298 Cranberry approx. 175 metres (191 yards)
CC2 – 2150 Tartan Green approx. 260 metres (284 yards)