Bryce is going away to college. He’s also our cat whisperer. He’s got an apartment with a couch, so I’ll make him this pillow that looks like our kitty Cloud.
I could make this with the leftovers from the Terrazzo Afghan but I’d need more Ferris Wheel. Or I could use some stash yarn that’s more like the Whirl that is the suggested yarn. Scheepjes Catona is another option but I’d have to buy more of that too.
I’ll start with a swatch with the Ferris Wheel/Pound of Love to see if I like it and to learn some of the techniques.
July 28, 2024
I have 35g ball + a full 85g cake of the Ferris Wheel. This yarn would not be hard wearing enough for a pillow, so, if I was to do this pattern in that yarn, it would have to be a wall hanging and I’d have to do only the front.
The swatch is also teaching me about the symbols Natalia uses on her charts for the plethora of special stitches she uses. (Which is what makes this an advanced pattern.)
LB Swatch complete: 21 sts = 5” with 3.75 mm hook
I’m trying to decide if I want to swatch again with the fingering cotton yarns. They would be a lot harder wearing but more fiddly.
New skills:
I will use the foundation cord technique for the first round of all my mosaic projects going forward.
I did the joined dc on the first and last dc rows of this swatch just to practice it, but I won’t bother on the Cat Mosaic because it will either be inside a pillow or against the wall.
The special stitches weren’t hard at all, it’s just the unfamiliar symbols on the chart that make it seem confusing. I’ll definitely be using both the chart and the written out instructions simultaneously for the Cat Mosaic. I like how, in the swatch at least, she gave hints like the last of a series of stitches will be in an sc, and I assume she’ll do the same in the larger pattern.
The picture of the back is showing the connected dc at top, vs not in the next Ferris Wheel row below, plus Natalia’s clever way of using stitch markers and floating the yarn along the back so that the swatch can be unraveled.
August 10, 2024
I restarted this today after doing surgery on the cakes I have to get two new cakes I made on my ball winder that go medium gray to black, and white to tan.
I swatched again because my first start, with just three rows, was over 15” instead of 14” and I just have enough yarn. I went down to a 2.25mm hook to get gauge. I’ve now finished the first 6 rounds.
The pillow form I bought was waiting for me when I came home from my California business trip. It is 16” square but I think that is perfect since the cover will stretch.
Lastly, when I restarted, I switched to doing the alternative round 1 for making a pillow with a zipper at the bottom. That will make it easier to remove the cover to wash, which will undoubtedly be necessary since there is a fair bit of white in it.
August 18, 2024
It’s Sunday night and I just finished round 42. I did 9 rounds today. I need to do about 3 rounds per night and 9 each day on the weekends if I’m going to be finished in time to send the pillow off with Bryce when we move him in to college on the 31st.
September 9, 2024
I didn’t finish in time for when we moved B into his dorm, but he got it tonight for a day late birthday present! I love how this came out.
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