I’ve had a few skeins of Noro Silk Lite yarn (the same as used for my first ever real knitting project) in my stash and I couldn’t decide what to do with them. While I love the magnificent colours of Noro yarns, I found this particular colourway a little too much, especially when it comes to pink shades. So I knew I didn’t want to use it for garments, but I had no idea what to do with it. I thought about a throw or another granny squares bag – but in the end, I decided that this yarn was just perfect to try entrelac knitting.
I’ve been thinking about trying entrelac for a while now, but I was convinced it was something complicated and tricky. Good news: it’s really easy, there is nothing super advanced about it, although it certainly requires some patience.
The pattern for this cushion cover is free on Loveknitting.com. It’s clear enough to learn entrelac from it without any additional tutorials, however when I saw my first row looking like that:
I was sure that something was wrong and I had to consult the VeryPink Knits video to check it. As it turns out, this is exactly what the first row of entrelac knit should look like! The second row is where the miracle begins to happen and the project starts looking like it should:
And then there’s a lot of knit and purl rows which as very short, as each rectangle and triangle is knitted at once, and we move to the next one after finishing it. This could get tedious quickly, but watching the new colours appear in the project kept me interested all the time.
Work in progress, both sides of the cover:
And this is what the wrong side looks like (before blocking of course) – I think it’s pretty cool too!
And finally, the finished cushion cover ๐
As the pictures show, my stitches picking is not the best looking ever, but in fact as the work progressed, it improved a lot. I think the basic thing to remember, which is not mentioned in the pattern, is to always slip the first stitch. As soon as I added this “modification” to my knitting, it started to look much neater, so closer to the edges the cushion looks nicer than in the central part (unfortunately).
Well, since after finishing the cushion I still had almost a whole skein left, I removed the pinkish and purple parts and used the red-blue-green shades to knit a hat for myself. It’s very simple, but that’s how I wanted it. The pompom looks a little poor, because I didn’t have any more yarn for it left, but I like the final result and it will work well with my scarf ๐
If I find a similar colourway of Noro (or other brand) in the future, I’m definitely going to buy it. I love this colour combination and I feel great in it ๐
Looks awesome! The colorway looks great with entrelac knitting.
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I think Noro yarns are made for entrelac, I love how the colours change ๐
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Ooh I’ve never heard of entrelac, but it looks so good! Maybe I’ll give it a go
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It’s such a cool technique, really worth trying!
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I love entrelac. I made a garter stitch version of an entrelac afghan for my brother’s friend’s daughter a few years back in her favorite colors (light blue, neon green, and variegated rainbow…she was about 9 or 10 at the time), and she loved it. Once I finish (and hopefully sell) my current afghan, I’ve decided I’d like to do a garterlac afghan…in the colors of Neapolitan ice cream.
Your cushion looks awesome, and I couldn’t tell that you had any neatness issues. I’ve personally never knit anything that required stuffing.
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I haven’t heard about garter stitch entrelac, it sounds awesome! And afghan like that must be beautiful… as for stuffing, this time I skipped that part and just used an Ikea cushion ๐
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Yeah, a lot of craft stores also sell pillow forms that can be used as cushions and you can knit or crochet covers for them in accordance with the dimensions. I’ve never used pillow forms or fiber fill.
Garter stitch entrelac isn’t that hard, especially once you get the second tier going…the main adaptations I make is that when I make a tier from the wrong side, I have to pick up and PURL stitches on the edges (a little tricky, but not impossible), wrong side tiers are worked in Purl Garter stitch (purl every stitch in every row) and the decreases are purl 2 together…that way the work looks a little normal on the right side. The garterlac isn’t so hard once you get the hang of it.
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Thanks for the info! That’s something to try in the future ๐
It’s the first time when I used a ready pillow, usually I sew them and stuff with fiber fill (I have a lot if it from the time when I used to crochet amigurumi). But this time I was too lazy ๐
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You just provided me the motivation to try entrelac. Wish me luck!
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Oh, that is awesome! Thank for letting me know ๐ Entrelac is much easier than it seems and so satisfying when you see the progress. Good luck!
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I’m hoping to find a YouTube video to learn. I’m on a mission. โบ
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Very Pink Knits video is what helped me. I don’t have a link but if you check her channel for entrelac knitting, it should be easy to find.
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I just reviewed your post and that link is there actuallt. Will check it out. Thanks! ๐ Stay tuned.
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