The latest in my popular series of Christmas Treat designs is here! Featuring gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and candy canes this adorable cushion cover is the perfect addition to your festive home décor.

Method:
Featuring a stranded colorwork front and a plain envelope back fastened with buttons, this cushion cover is both cute and practical. Worked in one piece, with one row buttonholes, a steek, and mattress stitch to finish, it also provides knitters with a chance to practise many of the skills needed for a colourwork cardigan on a much smaller project.

Photo tutorials for mattress stitch and using a sewing machine to reinforce the steek are included with this pattern.

Please note the colorwork design in this pattern is charted not written out. You need to be prepared to read and work from charts in order to enjoy knitting this design.

Size:
This pattern is written in one size to fit a standard 18” (45 cm) square cushion pad.

Yarn:
You will need at least two contrasting colors of any DK yarn containing a high percentage of wool and with which you can get tension/ gauge. Woolly yarns are more suitable for steeking because the fibres naturally want to stick together.

Solid colors work best for this design because you want to be able to see it clearly from across the room, but you can use as many (or as few) colors as you like (cushion cover shown uses four). Be creative, have fun, the steek means there are no ends to weave in! The amounts of each color required will depend on how many colors you pick and where you choose to use them. As a guide for the cushion pictured, I used the following quantities of Yarnsmiths Merino DK:

MC – 3208 Bottle Green approx. 285 metres (312 yards)
CC1 – 3040 White approx. 80 metres (87 yards)
CC2 – 3110 Bright Red approx. 105 metres (115 yards)
CC3 – 3074 Rust approx. 30 metres (33 yards)