Friday, November 27, 2015

Neck Pillow

You know, those 'U'-shaped pillows that you use when you're traveling. Coincidentally, they're also called travel pillows. Well, I wanted one to sleep with in my bed. See, I can't sleep lying flat anymore. I broke my arm this past Father's Day and if I try to sleep lying flat on my back, that shoulder and arm will complain. Loudly.

So, my darling, loving husband fixed the mattress by placing old sofa cushions under there to raise it up enough so I don't have to sleep in the recliner anymore. But now I can't get my head comfortable. Then I thought about it and came up with a solution. You guessed it, a neck pillow. Since I like to knit and crochet I started looking for a pattern. There is one at Lion Brand that was close to what I needed, but it was too flat-looking. Others looked like dog bones. I didn't want a dog bone to sleep on. So, like always, I started thinking about how to create what I wanted, and the answer just came to me. Socks!

Toe-up socks start off with a provisional cast-on and then you make short rows to form the toe (Well, some of them do.), just like making a short row heel. Problem solved. So, I grabbed up a long circular needle and began knitting. I made a short row 'toe' and I am now knitting up one side of the pillow like it was a big, bulky sock. When I get to where I like how it looks, I'll make another short row 'heel', then make the back of the pillow, another 'heel', then down the other side, where I'll make another 'toe'. Whatever you want to call them, they're all made the same and I believe I'll have a neat little neck/travel pillow when I'm done. Oh, and for convenience sake, it's easier to stuff it as I go with all of those angles that will be in it. And since its construction is identical to socks, I'm calling it the Socks Neck Pillow.

Oh, and I'm translating it to crochet too. Good thing I'm making two of them, the husband will probably want one anyway.

The only way I'll probably finish them both is to work on them alternately. It'll also help alleviate the boredom or working in one stitch all the time. Maybe I'll make up some more decorative ones with different stitches later, I need these fast so sc and knitting around is the fastest.