Easy Chunky Knitted Throw Pillow Cases

Usually when I link to patterns, I do multiples. Especially when they’re this easy. This pattern was such a breeze compared with some of the stuff I’ve been making lately. I made these knitted throw pillow covers in about four hours (each).

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I know some people are nice to their throw pillows–they exist for decoration only and are not to be used. Not in our house. If you see a pillow anywhere, it’s meant to be used. These are sitting on our couch and get used every single day. Whether it’s for napping on the couch, watching a movie on the floor, or cats burrowing underneath them for warmth, these things are in a near constant use. They get sat on, stepped on, spilled on, etc.

What I am trying to say is this: considering how we treat our pillows, there is absolutely no way I am going to buy new ones. Not for the prices stores ask for them.

So I thought I would spruce them up a bit by adding some handmade-by-me pillow cases. It’s much cheaper than buying pillows. Though it would be cheaper still if I knew how to sew–yarn is getting expensive, guys. And my area of Atlanta has a truly crappy yarn selection…unless I want to pay $15-$20 a skein, of course. Nope! I think it’s about time to buy, house, and shave my own alpacas. I wonder what my apartment complex’s resident handbook has to say about farm animals….

On the other hand, I wonder if cat fur would make good yarn. They’re certainly shedding enough of it.

Anyway, let’s talk about the pattern (and not all the cat hair you’re about to see)!

This is the first of three patterns I’ll be doing–I have some really nice ones (though slightly more difficult) for the other two pillows. I can’t wait to show you all the finished room!

Here’s what they looked like before:

Fine, but obviously getting ratty. And I’m a little tired of them.

I didn’t do anything special–no pillow case liners or anything. I just knitted the cases and stuffed the pillows inside.

Why I Love This Pattern:

It’s easy, it’s fast, it’s cute. It uses a super bulky yarn with large needles. After spending so much time with lighter yarns and smaller needles, this pattern was so much nicer to my wrists.

You can make these to fit any length pillow, too! You could also add to the width if you know how many stitches you need. FYI, if you do need to add or subtract stitches for width resizing, do it in groups of four. And remember that, using the regular cast on method, your work will increase to 50% of its cast on size. (With other cast on methods? I have no idea, sorry.)

For length, you just repeat the pattern until you reach the desired length. If your pillow is shorter, don’t repeat as much as the pattern says. If it’s longer, repeat it until the pillow case fits. Easy!

Selling Products:

I would love nothing more than to add this pillow case (maybe even filled with a pillow!) to my Etsy shop. Unfortunately, it’s copyright protected and I can’t. The only thing the copyright doesn’t explicitly forbid is making these for personal use or to give as gifts, but I cannot make money from them.

Important Information:

Remember stitch markers! I forgot to add them the first time around and I needed to start all over.

You will be “knitting in the round,” but not in a way that requires fancy cast on methods. Which is why this is perfect for beginners. You’ll cast on, as normal, on circular needles. Put your stitch marker on the very first needle and start knitting. When you come to the end of the row, instead of turning your work around to start again (as you would on straight needles), you’ll just keep knitting in the same direction. The stitch marker is so EXTREMELY important, though. Without it, you won’t know where one round begins and ends. Which will make it difficult to figure out where you are in the pattern and when it’s time to stop.

When you get to the end and bind off, you’ll use the kitchener stitch. It’s not a difficult stitch to use, but you will need to pay attention to it. So be sure to pause the TV when you get to this part.

Skills used:

• knitting and purling in the round
• button holes (increase with yarn over and decrease with knit 2 together)
• kitchener stitch (when binding off)
• sewing (for the buttons)

If you don’t know how to do anything by knit and purl, don’t worry. Everything else is actually really easy to learn and you can find a YouTube video for all of them. If you know how to purl, then you’ve achieved the hardest part of this pattern. 😛

Materials used:

• 16-inch long (hat size) circular needles, US 13 (9 mm)
• three skeins of super bulky yarn (I used Lion Brand’s Wool Ease Thick and Quick)
• yarn needles
• three 1-inch buttons (I used some plain buttons that I found at Wal-Mart, since the Michael’s in my area only sells buttons if they’re in the shape of sparkly pink unicorns–I’m not kidding. But if I’d had the extra money, I would have gone with these or these)
• stitch markers

Still interested? Get your free pattern for the Easy Knitted Throw Pillows.

I wound up needing to repeat the pattern three times (a total of four “rounds” if you want to call them that). The pattern is supposed to be 12 inches x 15 inches. Mine is 12 inches x 20 inches.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask!

I’d love to see how your pillows turn out. Link to your photos on my Facebook page!