Monica Knits

This square, pink and fuchsia, striped pillow features diagonal and perimeter piping that artfully frame 4 quadrants embellished with crochet diamonds. The pillow was designed by Margaret Prokopyshen and the crochet diamonds by Elizabeth Hiddleson.

Pattern Source
"Multipurpose Motif," in Original Crochet Designs, Volume 3, by Elizabeth Hiddleson (1979, p. 12) for crochet cotton in size 20 or 30.

The striking, square pillow features pink and fuchsia diagonal stripes, a bias trim, piped edge and a central, round, white cotton doily which mesmerizes and captivates the viewer. Last month I photographed this elegant pink pillow, designed by my mother-in-law Margaret, but didn't include the pattern details. Now that I finished unpacking 97 moving boxes (last week), I have time to add to the article.

Margaret, made a set of 5 extraordinary, distinctive pillows for her living room and they are a wonderful tribute to both her sewing and crochet skills. I had not thought about combining sewing and thread crochet in quite this manner, but this is a wonderful way of showcasing crochet and adding elegance to a room. Both she and Walter enjoyed them for many years and they now serve my husband and me as a daily reminder of them.

Pattern Details
The Filagree Luncheon set pattern includes both placemats and a centerpiece. The pillow embellishment (see photo) uses the placemat pattern and measures 14-1/2" in diameter with size 30 cotton.

Pattern Source
The Canadian Spool Cotton Company, copyright 1944, pattern # 7132, "Filagree Luncheon Set". I have made a number of doilies from this booklet, and the instructions are thorough and straightforward.

This handy, accordion motion tool makes fast work of calculating a pleasing button spacing, without having to crunch numbers. In just a few seconds I marked the button centerlines and began attaching the buttons for the lacy leg warmers. It works as advertised and stores very compactly.

The tools that I use for projects are listed here. Knitting and crochet needles have their own separate blog entries. I will add to this basic list, as I reference tools in projects.

MarkersStitch Markers: I use two types of split ring markers, one type (white in the photo) that I really like but haven't been able to find anymore. The small white, split-ring markers are very useful when knitting and marking fingering and sport weight yarns and when using small diameter needles. The green and orange markers locking stitch markers are better for larger diameter needles, when you want to hold a few stitches at a end of the row for completion later, to temporarily hold a dropped a stitch, or for marking increases and decreases. The green and orange markers are Clover Locking Stitch Markers (#353).