YAY – my Happy Circles cushion cover is finally finished! – Okay, to be honest, it has been for over a week now. Unfortunately, it took me a very long time to write the pattern. Like other countries in Europe, we had a terrible heatwave here. The temperatures climbed up to 40 degrees Celsius. And this was definitely too hot for my brain. I found it hard to concentrate on anything.
But now the time has come. Everything is written down and hopefully well explained!
If you have any questions about the pattern (or spot any mistakes), simply email me. You can either use the contact form or email me directly under hookedonhakelmaschen@gmail.com
The Design
The cushion cover is designed for a 50 x 50 cm (20 x 20 inch) cushion. The finished size is about 46 x 46 cm (18 x 18 in). With the size I followed an advice I found on the internet. It said that to make a square cushion look nice and plump, the cover should be about 5 cm (2 in) smaller than the cushion. At first I was unsure whether this would really work. And when I finally put the cushion into the cover to close the last seam, I was pretty sure at first that it had become too small. But everything turned out well in the end. I am totally happy with the result!
The front part of the cover is made up of 16 squares, arranged in a 4 x 4 layout. Each square measures about 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 in). For the back, I opted for a simple square. Mainly single-coloured, with a few small contrasts.
The size is easy to adjust by enlarging or reducing the border of the front piece. The rounds for the back must then of course be adjusted accordingly.
My Colours and Colour Placement
My colour choice was inspired by a cushion cover I got from IKEA some years ago.
I selected five colours from my Stylecraft Special DK stash focusing on yellow-green and blue-green tones.
Originally, I wanted to create a random colour scheme for the design again. This time, however, I failed with the use of the random generator. I didn’t like the results, so I worked out something of my own. The outcome is not really random, but has a similar effect. You can read all about it in one of my earlier posts.
Of course, you can also use different yarns and/or different colours. But please bear in mind that using a different yarn may affect the size of the finished cushion. It may also change the quantity of yarn required.
I am totally happy with the result! And I hope you like it just as much!
Back then I used 15 different colours and created the random arrangement of the colours with a random generator. I was totally happy with the result! You‘ll find all information about it in this post.
Choosing colours for my new project
Although I am using a similar pattern, the colours will be different in my new project. I’m using a colour combination that I’ve wanted to try for a long time.
My inspiration is a cushion I have from IKEA.
A mixture of green and blue tones, with a yellow undertone in the green shades.
For my Happy Circles wall hangings, the random colour placement worked so well, so I wanted to use the same method for the cushion cover.
Well…
Using a random generator
Unfortunately, using a random generator didn’t work out as expected this time.
No matter how many times I started the random generator and regardless of the order in which I entered the colours., they were not evenly distributed. Certain colours appeared more frequently than others.
What happened?
A bit frustrated, I then took a closer look at the topic, and it is actually logical. This effect is known as ‚true randomness‘ and that’s exactly what random.org provides. Without any corrections, repetitions and clusters are not only possible but even to be expected in true randomness.
What I learned is:
A pure random generator aims to be random, not uniform – therefore repetitions can occur that quickly catch the eye and may feel unbalanced in a small colour set. In a larger colour set, however, this same kind of distribution can create an attractive tension that supports the design.
So it wasn’t a mistake of the randomizer, it just wasn’t the right tool for this specific project
That’s why I decided to create my own ‚controlled’ randomness with a more balanced distribution of colours.
Creating my own randomness
My starting point was
The five colours I wanted to use
First, I assigned a letter from A – E to each colour – without a specific scheme, just to make it easier
The sixteen circles I needed to create the squares for my front panel
The layout I planned was a 4 x 4 layout – 4 squares wide and 4 squares high
A – Duck Egg B – Meadow C – Sage D – Pistachio E – Khaki
I decided to start 4 circles with the same colour and 3 circles each with one of the other 4 colours. Makes a total of 16.
So I listed the 16 circles in a table and assigned them the colours A – E. Circles 1 – 4 started with colour A, circles 5 -7 with colour B and so on. This was the colour placement for the first round.
To determine the colours for the second round, I started at circle #1 with colour B (as it had already colour A for round 1) In the following I entered the colours consecutively downwards. To avoid two rounds having the same colour, I skipped the relevant letter in these cases. For example: in circle #6, following the sequence, it should have been colour B for round 2. I skipped this to C as B was already assigned for round 1.
Afterwards I did the same for round 3, starting at circle #1 with colour C.
The final result is shown in the table below. In this way, the colour combination looks much more balanced.
Random colour sequence
The finished circles were then ‚squared’ by adding two more rounds in Cream.
Creating a layout
Similar to my wall hangings, I created the final layout with the random generator.
Very easy, although it sounds a bit complicated when written.
Each of my squares already had a number, defined by the colour arrangement (according to the table above / random colour sequence)
I also numbered the places in a 4 x 4 grid symbolizing the layout (shown as mall grid, upper left in the picture below)
I entered numbers 1 -16, symbolizing the squares into the list generator of random.org and generated a random result
I arranged the squares according to this result in the 4×4 grid, made some changes and voilà …
Below my detailed list of the colours used for the circles for each round and the corresponding layout.
Final colour scheme and layout
Joining the squares
Currently I am working on the join…
For my wall hangings, I had opted for a relatively inconspicuous joining method in the colour of the squares. In comparison, I now use Pistachio, so it’s more of a contrasting colour. And I opted for the Zig Zag Slip Stitch Join.
I really like how this turns out!
After joining, I will probably have to work a few more rounds around the whole panel to achieve the desired size.
However, I’m still not sure what the back should look like. Single coloured or colourful? I think I’m leaning towards single-coloured, but that could still change …
Hooked on Häkelmaschen 