When I was choosing the theme for my newest little monkey’s nursery, I fell in love with this gorgeous navy, gray and green bedding set. In the spirit of keeping things simple and inexpensive, I bought the bed skirt and some off-brand coordinating sheets and changing pad covers. I wanted to add an accent pillow for the rocker to help tie everything together, but the pillow that came with the set was $52.

FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS.

It was really cute, but who has that much money to spend on a decorative pillow? So instead, after making Henry’s Baby Blanket in his nursery colors, I decided to just make a coordinating pillow. I’m giving you the pattern for it today!

As you can see, the pillow only includes 2 color blocks (as opposed to Henry’s Baby Blanket, which uses 3 different colors of blocks). There just wasn’t room for 3 of them on a 12″ pillow without them being reeeaaally skinny. I opted to leave out the green color simply because I figure that when Henry grows out of his nursery, the pillow will be easier to coordinate with a different decor later if it doesn’t have the green in it.

So, if you’re making the baby blanket for someone in their chosen nursery colors, now you can blow them away with a coordinating accent pillow!

 

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HENRY’S ACCENT PILLOW

Level: Easyish

Size: 11″ x 11″ (stretches to fit a 12″ square pillow insert)

Hook: H (5.0mm)

Yarn: I used about 325 yards of Cascade Longwood (from Jimmy Beans Wool), a lighter #4 worsted weight yarn. Here’s my breakdown, and the colors as assigned in the pattern:

COLOR A (White): Cascade Longwood – 01 White (about 135 yards)
COLOR B (Gray): Cascade Longwood – 02 Frost Gray (about 95 yards)
COLOR C (Navy): Cascade Longwood – 40 Midnight (about 95 yards)

You’ll also need: Yarn needle for weaving in ends, 12″ pillow insert

Gauge: 11 rows of ribbing (as instructed in the “first ribbing” section of the pattern) should measure 2.5″.

Abbreviations Used:
   ST/STS (stitch/stitches)
SL ST (slip stitch)
SK (skip)
CH (chain)
SC (single crochet)
HDC (half double crochet)
   SC+HDC (this just means to put a single crochet and a half double crochet in the same stitch)
HHDC (herringbone half double crochet; see “special stitch” below)
BLO (back loops only)

Special Stitch:
HHDC – Herringbone Half Double Crochet. Here’s how you do it:

HHDC: Yarn over, insert hook into stitch. Yarn over, pull loop through stitch AND through first loop on hook (this is similar to a slip stitch motion). Two loops remain on hook. Yarn over and pull through both loops.

(If you need additional help, Moogly has an excellent video tutorial here. Please note that while her video considers the CH2 at the beginning of rows as a stitch, the pattern below does not.)

Notes:
(1) This pattern is written in American Standard Terms.
(2) Starting CHs do not count as stitches.
(3) Pillow is worked in one piece (with color changes). In other words, the ribbing at the bottom is not created and sewn on separately.
(4) You need to make 2. I switched the colors for the color block sections on the second side so that the sides of the pillow would be slightly different (on one side, the herringbone section is gray and the SC+HDC combo section is navy, and vice versa on the other side).

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

SECTION 1: FIRST RIBBING

To begin: With COLOR A (white), CH9.

Row 1: SC in 2nd CH from hook and in each remaining CH. (8)

Rows 2-48:  CH1, turn. SC in BLO of each ST across. (8)

– – – – – – – – –

SECTION 2: BODY OF PILLOW

Body, Row 1: CH1, do not turn. SC evenly down the long edge of the ribbing, putting 1SC in each ribbing row (each peak and each valley). (48)

Switch to COLOR B (gray), fasten off previous color.

Row 2: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

Rows 3-12: CH1, turn. HDC in 1st ST. (SK next ST, SC+HDC in next ST) across until 1 ST remains. SC in remaining ST. (48)

Row 13: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

Switch to COLOR A (white), fasten off previous color.

Rows 14-15: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

Switch to COLOR C (navy), fasten off previous color.

Row 16: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

Rows 17-26: CH1, turn. HHDC in each ST across. (48)

Row 27: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

 

Switch to COLOR A (white), fasten off previous color.

Row 28: CH1, turn. SC in each ST across. (48)

– – – – – – – – –

SECTION 3: LAST RIBBING

In this section, we will be creating the second ribbing by making vertical ribs and attaching them with slip stitches to the last row of the body as we go. We’ll be referring to “Row 28” quite a bit; that’s the last row of the body of the pillow we completed, and that’s what the ribbing will be attaching to. 

With hook still in your last stitch from Row 28, CH9.

Last Ribbing, Row 1: Turn work and SC in 2nd CH from hook and in each remaining CH. SL ST in the first SC of Row 28, then SL ST in the next SC of Row 28 as well. (8, plus the 2 SL STS along Row 28)

Row 2: CH1, turn. Skipping over the 2 SL STS you put in Row 28, SC in BLO of each of the 8 STS of the ribbing to create another row of ribbing. (8)

Row 3: CH1, turn. SC in BLO of each of the 8 STS of the ribbing to create another row of ribbing. SL ST in each of the next 2 STS of Row 28. (8, plus the 2 SL STS along Row 28)

Row 4: CH1, turn. Skipping over the 2 SL STS you put in Row 28, SC in BLO of each of the 8 STS of the ribbing to create another row of ribbing. (8)

Repeat Rows 3-4 all the way along Row 28. (You should end up with 48 rows of ribbing, which is the number of stitches in Row 28).

– – – – – – – – –

EDGING

Explanation: We need to put a SC edging around the entire pillow. Ideally, we want this to be a perfect square, so we need to make sure that we are putting 48 stitches along each side. The sides with the ribbing are easy; there are 48 rows of ribbing, so we’ll just put 1 stitch in each ribbing row (each peak and each valley). The other two sides are comprised of 44 rows (28 rows in the body + 8 stitches in each ribbing section), so we need to make sure we’re adding 4 stitches to get to 48. To do that, we’ll put 1 SC in each row of the pattern (including one in each of the 8 ribbing stitches) except for the color blocks. The color blocks are each 12 rows tall, so we’re going to put 14 stitches along each color block (just eyeball it the best you can). To get around corners, we’ll simply chain 1.

Here’s a visual:

So, to do this, keep your hook in the final stitch you completed in the second ribbing section. CH1, and SC evenly around the entire piece according to the directions above. When you get back to the beginning, join with a SL ST to the first SC you made.

Fasten off and weave in all ends.

 

– – – – – – – – –

SEWING THEM TOGETHER

Keeping your pillow insert handy, hold the two piece together exactly how you want them to be arranged on the pillow. Pick a spot on the edging and join COLOR A through the same stitch on both pieces. CH1, then SC evenly through both layers around the entire pillow, putting (SC, CH1, SC) in each corner. Once you’ve completed about 3/4 of the perimeter, stuff your pillow insert inside. Continue to SC the rest of the way around. Join with a SL ST to the first SC.  Fasten off and weave in ends.