Spiral Cushion

This very simple yet sunny pattern, is made by crocheting a flat circle in the round with added slip stitch detailing.  It's a perfect weekend project that will brighten up any space!

• Yarn
• Scissors
•  A stitch marker
• Crochet hooks
• Beads
• A darning needle
• A round cushion

Any type of yarn can be used for this project along with the yarn manufacturers recommendation of hook size.

This project works best if you use two different shades of yarn that contrast with one another.

I've used Cottonell by Wölle rödel. Its a dk weight cotton that comes in some fabulous shades. Creative cotton would also work great for this project. For this project I've chosen a very vibrant pink along with a rather zesty lime green.
As recommended on the label of my yarn, I am going to be using a size 4 crochet hook for the main body of my cushion.

I found that buying a circular cushion from the shops was a little tricky. They really are not as common as you may think.

I had to turn to buying my circular cushion online. I went for a small cushion with a diameter of 40cm, although the pattern can be adapted to fit any sized round cushion. I bought mine from ebay and a quick search for "round cushion inserts" will give you a few options. 

Alternatively you can order round cushion inserts online from some of the following shops.

• Dunelm 
• The cushion warehouse

ch = Chain

ss = Slip Stitch

sc = Single crochet (UK double crochet)

hdc = Half double crochet (UK half treble crochet) 

(From now on, all crochet stitch abbreviations are written in US termonology.)

For the main cushion body we are going to be working in a continuous round. which means we will need a stitch marker to indicate where each round begins/ends. 

Lets begin!......

Start by making an adjustable ring and ch1 (this chain 1 is to secure the adjustable ring a little. It does not count as a hdc). 

10 hdc working through the centre loop of the adjustable ring (10 stitches)

Pull the adjustable ring tight.

You should now have 10 hdc clustered

together, they should almost form a full circle.

2 hdc into each of the 10 stitches (20 stitches)

Once you have done your first hdc of round 2, go ahead and place a stitch marker on that stitch. This indicates the start of the round.

Once you have finished round 2 (2 hdc in every stitch) you should arrive back at your stitch marker.

Go ahead and remove the stitch marker:

2 hdc in next stitch (after you have made the first of the 2 hdc's, go ahead and place your stitch marker on the first stitch) 

1hdc in the next stitch

*2hdc in the next stitch, 1hdc in the next stitch.* repeat between * * 8 more times

From now on, always use your stitch marker as an indication of the first stitch in each round.

*2hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc into the next 2 stitches.* repeat between * * 9 more times.

*2hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc into the next 3 stitches.* repeat between * * 9 more times.

*2hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc into the next 4 stitches.* repeat between * * 9 more times.

*2hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc into the next 5 stitches.* repeat between * * 9 more times.

As you can see by looking at the instructions for the previous rounds, once you have completed the "2hdc in next stitch" the number of hdc's into the following stitches always increases by 1 for each round.
I've highlighted this number in      so you can see the number and pattern that I'm talking about. 

so for round 8, we will do:

*2hdc in next stitch, 1 hdc into the next 6 stitches.* repeat between * * 9 more times.

Continue working further rounds with this same pattern until your circle is the same diameter as your round cushion.

You can always place your cushion on top of your crochet circle to see if it's big enough.

Once you are statisfied that your circle is the correct size to fit to your cushion, we will go ahead and finish of  your circle....
Complete the round that you are working on...

sc in the next 4 stitches, ss in the next 4 stitches. You can go ahead and fasten off.

That's our first circle complete!!! You then want to go ahead and make another, so that we have two completed circles. One will be the base of your cushion and one will be the top of your cushion.

Once you have your two circular pieces finished we can go ahead and add the spiralling detail to them both.

For this part of your cushion you should change to a slightly larger crochet hook. I used a size 4 (mm) crochet hook for crocheting the main circles of my cushion. I then went up a whole hook size to a size 5 (mm) for the spiralling detail. You will notice as we start to slip stitch into our work that the slip stitches become tight and our work will start to warp. I have gone up in hook size so that the slip stitches are a little looser and hopefully will not warp the work quite so severely.

For the spiralling detail; start by turning your circle over so that the tail end of the adjustable loop is facing you.

Go ahead and tie your other/contrasting yarn to the tail of the adjustable loop.

Flip the circle so that the neat right side of your circle is facing you.
From now on we are going to be working through the holes that spiral around and around our crocheted circle. (I've highlighted them below so you can see where I mean).

Place your hook through the centre hole of your crocheted circle.

Pull your new yarn through the centre of your crocheted circle, so that you have one loop on your hook.

Go ahead and place your hook through the first spiral hole and pull another loop of yarn through. You should now have two loops on your hook.

Pull the loop that you just created through the first loop (making a slip stitch).

Continue making slip stitches, spiralling around and around.

Keep making slip stitches (ss) until you run out of holes to slip stitch into. Once you get to the last round of your crocheted circle ss into each of the hdc's that are on the last round of your crocheted circle.

Go ahead and fasten off.

Perform the slip stitches in a spiral onto your second crocheted circle and you should end up with two circles that look something like this:

You can then go ahead and sew in any ends that hang from your two circles.

As mentioned earlier, adding the  spiral of slip stitches to your circle will make the circle warp.

So you will want to block or steam your project at this stage. I just gave my crocheted circles a quick steam with the iron. (WARNING!!! be carful if you are using acrylic products that you do not melt your work. It's best to place a tea towel over the top of your project when you are steaming)

Finally we can go ahead and stitch our two circles together.
Place both circles on top of each other (with the slip stitch sides facing outwards). With the same colour yarn that you used for the slipstitches, sc into the outside round of both of the circles (joining the two circles together.

Throughout this last round, I added some (optional) beads to my project. Every now and then I would add a bead to the single crochets, so that I had evenly spaced beads running along my sc join.

Pull the loop on your hook so it is nice and large. This gives you a little more yarn to work with.

Place a bead onto the end of a small crochet hook.

Using your small crochet hook, pull your loop of yarn through the bead. (alternatively you can thread the loop through your bead using a needle).

Transfer back to your regular crochet hook and continue to single crochet your two cushion sides together.

Don't forget, that before the two circles are completely single crocheted together, remember to place your cushion in between.

Continue to bead and slip stitch all of the way around the two crocheted circles, closing up the gap and and completing your cushion.

Sew in any extra ends and we are all finished!!!

I hope you had fun making your Spiral Cushion! As always.... if you have any question or problems please do not hesitate to get in touch.