These pillows
are made of Tunis wool (see Linen Stitch Afghan and Fruitbasket Afghan) raised
by Gary and Sandy Sojka of Middleburg, Pennsylvania. As with any FHF creation
using buttons, each of these has interesting ones--the Czech Pillow has two
styles of mother-of-pearl buttons, and the Basketweave Pillow features a center
button that is an exceptionally fine example of "goofy" buttons. These are
plastic buttons in realistic shapes made from the late 1930s to the 1950s.
The grape cluster goofy is flanked by vegetable ivory buttons. The Enchanted
Cottage and Aran Forest pillows have handmade wooden buttons from Ecuador
and Czechoslovakia, and the Italian Sampler pillow has a center button of
cold pressed Italian enamel, flanked by coordinating specialty buttons. The
Domino pillow's buttons are mother-of-pearl domes, the Fisherman pillow's
buttons recall cork floats for the fishnet, and the Celtic Knot #1 pillow
has a central Celtic knot button flanked by clear glass and plastic coordinates.
The Basketweave pillow was inspired by pillows shown in Comforts of Home by Erika Knight (Martingale & Company, 2000). The knit/purl design in the Czech pillow was adapted from Eastern European motifs in Alice Starmoreıs Charts for Colour Knitting (Windfall Press, 1992). The pattern for the Enchanted Cottage motif came from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker (New York: Charles Scribnerıs Sons, 1970), and James Norburyıs Traditional Knitting Patterns from Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Italy and other European Countries (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973) was the source of the four different stitches featured in the Italian Sampler pillow. The Aran Forest pillows draw their designs from the Aran Forest Cardigan shown elsewhere in the gallery.
The Celtic Knot #1 pillow is based on a square designed by Dagmara Berztiss for the ³Great American Aran Afghan², and was published in the Spring 2002 issue of Knitterıs Magazine. It is an interpretation of the Latvian moon cross motif. The Fisherman pillow is based on a square designed by Janet Martin for the same series, and was published in the Fall 2001 issue of Knitterıs Magazine. The Domino pillow is based on 9 ³domino² motifs introduced in Domino Knitting by Vivian Hoxbro (Interweave Press, 2002), so named because they are knitted onto one another as one places dominos in a game. The front borders are knitted onto the domino square. After a turning row, the back is knitted from sides to middle and bottom to meet with the sides, which are then crocheted together. The button band was added last, knitted circularly around the top. This was very much a "design-as-you-go pillow and is the most "architectural" pillow in the series.The Basketweave and Czech pillows were completed in December of 2001, and the Enchanted Cottage and Italian Sampler pillows were completed in January and February of 2002, respectively. Aran Forest pillows #1 and #2 were completed in March and April 2002, and #3 was completed in December 2002. Also completed in December 2002 were the Domino, Fisherman, and Celtic Knot #1 pillows.
Detail of
Czech
Pillow
