Lilac Pillow

This is another pillow I made as a gift. My other sister wanted one for her bed so she picked these yarns to fit her color scheme. The green is very bright, so I used it only for the seams. It gives the whole pillow a little "pop" without being overpowering. Unlike the other pillow, I crocheted this so the stitch rows ran along the short side of the pillow. This gives the color balance my sister wanted and allowed for the thin grey stripes across the pattern.

This was a more challenging pillow to put together. My sister picked the colors she wanted from different weight yarns. The lilac was light, the white was medium, the grey was bulky and the green was super bulky. Because of this, I ended up double-stranding the lilac with white. Most of this pillow was done in half-double crochet. The exception is the grey stripes and the lilac at either end done in single crochet.

There are really only three true seams in this pillow. I stitched the last seam through the center crease of the fabric, just to keep the green piping consistent on all four sides. I didn't do this on the other pillow because I sewed it closed with the same yarn and the seams were much less visible.

Some notes on the yarn - they were all 100% acrylic except for 20% mohair in the green. The white feels soft in the skein but it crocheted into a heavier fabric than I expected. The lilac was soft and pleasant to work with. The grey was thick, soft and heavenly, although a little fuzzy. I like the texture it gave the stripes - dense and soft. The boucle, as I think I mentioned before, is a fun yarn but it's loopy and unravels in a hurry. It's nice for the seams because it gave texture without a lot of stitching and it's a nice contrast to the precise stitches throughout the rest of the fabric.

Details:
Yarn:
White Stripes - Red Heart "Soft White" (one skein)
Lilac Stripes - Double stranded with Red Heart TLC Baby "Powder Lilac" (half skein) and white
Grey Stripes-Lion Brand Jiffy "Silver Heather" (half skein)
Seams - Lion Boucle "Lime" (half skein)
Hook: 5mm H8
Stitch: Half-double crochet through most, single crochet seams. Stitches run with the short dimension of the pillow.
Pillow: Joann Fabrics "Soft n Crafty" 14x28in