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Pill-O-Ghan
by Beverly Kanvik, Madison Wisconsin
This pattern is reprinted after many, many
requests from the Machine Knitters List with permission from Beverly Kanvik,
one of the most talented and sharing Compuserve Machine Knitters I know. If
you share it with your knitting friends, please make sure Beverly's name is
on the pattern
.
A Pill-o-ghan is a machine knitter's answer to the "Quillow", which is a
quilt that folds up and is stored in an attached bag. The afghan is done in
panels with the pillow/bag attached to the center panel. Stitch World
patterns 537 (970 owners use pattern # 524) and 480 (970 owners, pick out a
nice garter carriage pattern in Stitch World and use it) are used with a
garter carriage but if you don't have a garter carriage, you can use a tuck
stitch pattern for an equally nice pill-o-ghan (but the size will be
different which is OK).
This is how I did my pillow, garter st around the borders and plain
knit for the pillow, making a blank slate for an embroidery design. I
embroidered a wreath with my embroidery machine in the middle. I used this
design for the 2 teenage grandaughters.. I made one like this for each of
my grandaughters and liked it so much I made myself one.
. This
is my afghan, I made it with Bramwell's Roselan. The pillow looks like a
different color but it isn't (guess it's the way it's laying on the couch).
I made all of mine a little shorter because they were for little girls.
For the very little girls I embroidered little doll designs and their
first names next to the doll so that they could take them to nursery
every day if they wanted to.
MATERIALS: Millor Piropo or like-weight yarn (about 45 ounces)
SIZE: Afghan is about 48" wide by 60" long. Pillow/bag is about 15" by 18".
CENTER PANEL: Cast on needles left 56 to right 57. With G-Carriage set at T 9.1, k 40 r of SW pat. 537. Change to T 10.2 and SW pat. 480, and k 475 r. Change to T 9.1 and SW pat. 537, and k 40 r. Remove both end sts onto a safety pin. Change to T 9.3 and SW pat. 480, and k 278 r on remaining sts.
Latch tool bind off.
SIDE PANELS: (Make 2) Cast on 80 sts. At T 9.1, k 40 r of pat. 537. Program pat. 480, changing the 1st needle position to Green 1. At T 10.2, k 475 r. Change to T 9.1 and pat 537, and k 40 r. Remove end needles to safety pins and latch tool bind off remaining sts.
EDGE PANELS: (Make 2) Cast on 20 sts and at T 10, k 554 r of pat 537. Place right end needles on safety pin. (On 2nd panel, place left end needle on pin.) Latch tool bind off remaining sts.
FINISHING: Block all pieces. Using the hairpin lace method, seam panels together by removing the pin ( being sure that all pieces are facing the right way). To do hairpin lace, remove the pins from 2 panels. unravel 2 loops from one panel onto a latch tool. Then * unravel 2 loops from the other panel and pull those 2 loops through the loops on the hook. Repeat from * to end, and pull yarn end through the last st. Repeat for all panels and run in ends. Fold the pillow/bag in half with the wrong sides together. Pin side seams. Hold with side with opening facing away from you (i.e., the RIGHT side of the afghan is facing you). Begin at any corner and do the Worm Trim around all sides of the pillow/bag. When you are working on the sides that need to be seamed, pick up both edges and hang on the machine. When you are working on the fold, be sure to pick the sts across a row so that your trim is not crooked. When you are working on the open edge, put the trim on the single open edge only.
WORM TRIM: Starting at corner, pick up and hang 3 edge sts onto 3 needles. At St T 9, k 8 r on those 3 sts. *Pick up the next 3 sts along the edge and hang on SAME 3 needles; k 8 r. Repeat from * around pillow. Check often that the trim does not cause the edge to ripple. If it does, skip a st before you pick up 3 new sts.
Lay afghan with wrong side facing up. Fold side panels onto center panel. Fold up from bottom and stuff into pillow/bag.
When the afghan is in use, you can stick your feet inside the pillow- bag for added warmth.
Enjoy!
