Campfire Cushion
Excerpted from How to Knit in the Woods
By Shannon Okey

This is a great project for low-light knitting by the campfire; once the initial seed stitch rounds are done, you can knit and knit to your heart's content without worrying about patterns. Of course, if you want to add stitch patterns, this is the perfect blank canvas for any solid, nonlace pattern you like! For the ultimate space-saving camping accessory, don't sew one side closed. Instead of stuffing with polyfill or a pillow form, put clean T-shirts or other laundry inside when it's time to sleep.

Finished Size: 15" x 10"

Materials

* 2 skeins of Blue Sky Dyed Cotton from Blue Sky Alpacas (100% organic cotton; 150 yds/137 m; 100 g) in color 603 Thistle

* U.S. size 8 (5 mm) circular needle, 16" (41 cm) long

* Yarn needle

* 16 oz (450 g) of polyfill or appropriately sized pillow form

Gauge: Not critical

Note

Blue Sky also offers nondyed naturally colored cotton in several beautiful, muted shades, ranging from palest beige to sage green and even several nutmeglike colors. No bleach or dyes are used in processing.

Special Stitches

* Seed Stitch

* Row 1: *K1, P1*, rep across row.

* Row 2: *P1, K1*, rep across row.

* Rep rows 1 and 2.

Pattern

* CO 90 sts and join rnd, being careful not to twist sts.

* Knit seed st for 10 rnds.

* Knit St st until pillow measures 12".

* Knit seed st for 10 rnds.

* BO.

Turn pillow inside out and sew one end closed with yarn needle and length of matching yarn. Turn RS out. Stuff with polyfill or insert pillow form, then stitch second side closed. Or, don't stuff it at all and instead use extra clean clothes from your bare-bones camping trip as stuffing.

Excerpted from How to Knit in the Woods, Skipstone 2008