Fishy Cushion 2

Well, I completed my second fishy cushion described as below:

Side 1
A panel of 4 stripes
1st stripe - 2 rows of 2 reversed fish of double width which the machine automatically placed for me
2nd stripe - 2 rows of 3 fish of double width again automatically placed by the machine
3rd stripe - 2 rows of 4 reversed fish (this is normal size)
4th stripe - 2 rows of 6 fish

Side 1

Side 2
I had to match the colour of stripes of side 1
1st stripe - positioned 2 single motif fish in the centre
Then I positioned 3 fish which were half on stripe 1 and half on stripe 2 as 1 single and 1 double motif

2nd stripe - positioned 2 fish as a single motif with the tail of the fish actually off the needle bed so if looks like the fish is swimming into the cushion.  Also on this stripe is a reversed fish* coming in from the left side.
3rd stripe - positioned 2 single motif reversed fish separately from the left
4th stripe - positioned 1 more reversed fish from the left to match the other fish in this shoal marked *. Finally in the top right I positioned 2 more reversed fish. 

This is 13 fish in total and for each line of fish I used a different colour of wool.  I trimmed the cushion in a shell type stitch in black wool.  With the wrong side facing you pick up 4 stitches, knit 10 rows and then pick up four more stitches to the left on the cushion and knit 10 more rows.  Continue until you have edged all round the cushion.

It took a lot of forward planning of where to position the fish, concentration to knit them all and to remember when to change colours.  Also there were a lot of floats which is ok for a cushion but would not do a garment. 
I did enjoy making my cushions and learnt about buttons on my machine which I had never used before.  I hope the members from NI Machine Knitters Guild will enjoy my talk.  Will keep you posted!

Also Happy St Patrick's Day from Northern Ireland.


Side 2