Off the Rails Pillow

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Today I am excited to be participating in the Cozy at Home Crochet Along with CAL Central with my Off the Rails Crocheted Pillow. 

One of my favorite things about making crochet projects for my home is the variety of textures that they bring into a room. So when I was thinking about what kind of project I wanted to make that would fit the "Cozy at Home" theme, I knew right away that I wanted to make something that had a lot of texture. 

The texture in the Off the Rails Pillow comes from alternating rows of plain double crochet with rows that have post stitches. The post stitches are worked off center from each other giving it sort of staggered lines instead of straight, which is where the name comes from. 

I used Red Heart Super Saver Ombre for this pillow. I love the extra element that the ombre effect of the yarn gives, and the blue matches my living room perfectly, but I think it would look great in a solid color as well. The finished pillow is 14 inches square. 

How to Crochet the Off the Rails Pillow

You will need:

• 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver Ombre (I used True Blue)
• H crochet hook (5 mm)
• 14" pillow insert
• yarn needle
• scissors

Instructions:

*Note: the turning chains do count as your first stitch on all rows. I typically do a ch 3 turning chain for dc stitches, but because the post stitches pull the rows down so they are a little shorter I found that a ch 2 worked better for this project and didn't leave the gap that the ch 3 did. If you prefer to use a ch 3 just add one ch to your starting ch and each turning ch. 

Pillow Front

ch 48

Row 1: dc in 3rd ch from hook (first 2 count as first dc), dc in each ch to the end (47 dc)

Row 2: (right side row) ch 2 (counts as first stitch), [fpdc in next stitch, dc in next] repeat to end (47 dc- 23 fpdc, 24 regular)

Row 3: ch 2, dc in each stitch across (47 dc)

Row 4: ch 2, [dc in next stitch, fpdc in next] repeat until there are 2 stitches remaining, dc in last 2 stitches (47 dc- 22 fpdc, 25 regular)

Row 5: ch 2, dc in each stitch to the end ( 47 dc)

Rows 6-28: repeat rows 2-5 until you have 28 rows, you will end with a row 4

finish off front, set aside

Pillow Back

ch 48

Row 1: dc in 3rd ch from hook (beginning ch 2 counts as a stitch), dc in each stitch to the end (47 dc)

Row 2: ch 2, hdc in each stitch to the end (47 hdc)

Row 3: ch 2, dc in each stitch to the end (47 dc)

Rows 4-28: repeat rows 2-3 until you have 28 rows, ending with a hdc row

Do not cut your yarn, continue on to the next step of assembling your pillow

Assembly

Place the front and back together wrong sides together (so the side with the raised post stitches on top)

The dc rows on the back should line up with the dc rows on the front and the hdc rows on the back should line up with the post stitch rows on the front.

Ch 1, with the front side facing you sc evenly around the pillow working through both layers, 1 sc in each stitch along the top and bottom, and as evenly as you can along the sides, I found I worked about 3 stitches for every 2 rows (1 for every hdc/post row and 2 for every dc row). Once you have 2 or 3 sides done you will want to put your insert between the two layers and finish stitching around. It is ok if you have to kind of stretch the pillow cover around the insert, it looks better when it fits snug around the insert.   Join with a slip stitch to the first sc.

ch 1, work reverse sc around the sc round to finish, sl st to first stitch to join, finish off, weave in ends

If you are unfamiliar with the reverse sc (aka crab stitch) this video might help: 

Be sure to check out all of the other Crochet Along projects that are part of the Cozy At Home CAL.