Shared knit pattern

Cobblestone Cabled Pillow

A 16-inch square pillow cover featuring a chunky rope-cable panel on the front, a garter stitch frame, and a three-button lapped back closure. Knit flat in two panels and seamed on three sides.

Abbreviations

Finishing

Weave in all yarn ends securely on the WS using a tapestry needle, working ends along the garter ridges or into the purl columns of the cable panel. Block all pieces before assembly. Sew buttons after blocking. Seam with mattress stitch on three sides for an invisible join; the fourth side (button band overlap) remains open as the closure.

Notes

CABLE WITHOUT A NEEDLE: To avoid the fuss of a cable needle, slip 3 sts off the left needle, hold them at the front of the work, knit the next 3 sts from the left needle, then carefully pick up the 3 held sts and knit them. Practice on a swatch first. GAUGE: Because garter stitch compresses height and cables pull in width, always check gauge in the cable panel pattern after blocking — unblocked gauge may read much tighter. If your blocked gauge differs from 18 sts × 24 rows per 4 in, adjust needle size: go up a size if too tight, down a size if too loose. BUTTONS: Sew buttons after blocking both the lower back flap and the upper flap; this ensures the button placement matches the actual blocked buttonhole positions. SIZING ADJUSTMENT: For an 18-in square insert, CO 82 sts for all panels (adjusting to a multiple of 8 plus 8 for the frame, then re-check cable layout). COMMON MISTAKES: (1) Losing track of which RS row is a cable-cross row — place a locking stitch marker on the first cable-cross RS row and move it up every 8 RS rows. (2) Forgetting to knit the yo on the following WS row in the buttonhole — treating it as a purl or dropping it creates an untidy hole. (3) Twisting cable in the wrong direction — C6F twists left (front cross). For a right twist use C6B instead and be consistent throughout.