Knit Pillow for Fox Love

 'Fox Love' is a hand-knit bolster style pillow, knit with 100% wool for the cover and stuffed with acrylic fluff to make the latest folk art pillow designed & created by Minaz Jantz.

Our property is the crossing to the lake edge so all the wildlife such as deer, raccoons, skunks, & our favorite fox will go for a drink, dip, and a possible bird snack. Living around wildlife is a reminder that all critters are part of the food chain.

The cable stitch is a fun knit stitch to do and leaves a wonderful rope texture on the surface. It was not enough to just have the cable stitch pattern as I wanted to embellish the cable with PINK wool in an embroidery stitch called duplicate hand stitching for knitting. 

Using the embroidery duplicate stitch allows for creative embellishments AFTER the cover is completed. I can use various types of wool and tapestry yarns to get the stitch design to stay flat. Below is a great video on how to do this stitch on anything that is knit.

The first step to figuring out the duplicate embroidery stitches is to roughly draw out some graph lines on scrap paper to draw in my simple shapes for a pattern. Love to use the duplicate embroidery stitch when done right but to rip out the stitches when done wrong is to remind oneself to get the pattern right the first time as it is nasty to undo the stitches.

Picked two colors of blue (denim & bright blue) in the Patons Bulky classic %100 wool. I use knitting needles and crochet needle size smaller than recommended so the pillow cover will be a tighter surface. The ends of the bolster pillow are crocheted circles using the bright blue wool with pink chain stitches in 3 circles at the end of each bolster. 

For bouncy pom-pom tassels, it was irresistible to use a brilliant pink (medium 4 worsted) acrylic yarn. The pom-poms were attached to the inside circle before stuffing with a button to tie the tassels tightly to hold them more securely without stretching the crochet ends and give them support to stay upright. 

This funky cute pillow, 'Fox Love' could be showcased cheerfully on any chair or bed! It will certainly be a keepsake for years to come and would make the perfect gift for a foxy lady or young person.

Be smart as a fox! Minaz