Collingwood Knitting Pattern

Collingwood Pillow with Australian Aboriginal Flag & Black Lives Matter Banner

Refer to Colour-Coded Knitting Charts on Microsoft Excel: Collingwood Knit Pattern.  

Every odd row is a knit stitch and every even row is a purl row.  Where you can see the numbers starting across the top is a knitting row.  Follow the colour changes and just look behind your work to try not to tangle the strings too much, hope you can understand, I’m still getting a hang of this style similar to Fair Isle.  

For the Collingwood Pillow, start with casting on 53 stitches (these make the columns across).  You will make 59 rows in total for each side of the pillow following the knitting chart using stocking stitch (this includes the row that is knitted with the numbers labelling what number row it is).  I used a small travel pillow (the ones you often are provided when flying).  

For the banner or bookmark/handle(s), start with casting on 62 stitches, and follow the chart to make 10 rows with the colour changes.  Remember BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!

As shared on Ravelry…

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/collingwood-pillow

I used Value Ball Stashes 8 ply in Marigold, Black and White (50g balls 3x, although none of the balls were used up entirely). Also, I used Yellow Lincraft Esther Yarn I believe it was polyester but you may choose a more suitable one like acrylic or even wool if you want something warm. A more darker yellow might look even more distinct.  The red yarn was an 8ply acrylic ball from a discount store (Cheap as Chips or Reject Shop). Again I would have preferred a brighter red for the Aboriginal Flag.  I acknowledge we stand on the Kaurna/Indigenous Australian Lands :), hence I couldn’t help but add the Aboriginal Flag to this design!  I suggested using the AFL Panda 12 ply but you may need larger needles for that. I’ve previously used that yarn and found it to be quite insulative & thick, hence very highly recommended.

The last page provides a special that Black Lives Matter.  You can use that for a bookmark or if you’d like, you can even make two handles with the words, extend the pillow pattern a little longer and turn it into a bag or document sleeve.  To make the bookmark I’d recommend using 3-4ply yarn for a normal sized novel, but if you often read newspapers or you’d like to make a banner feel free to use the 8-12ply yarn.  

You may find it helpful to iron the product at the end as stocking stitch tends to curl up a bit.  I also found it difficult to keep the tension the same especially when changing colours – sometimes I found myself pulling one of them too tight when doing so. Hence, it may be a good idea to give it a little more space on colour change to accomodate for the usual springiness throughout the piece.

Thank you & all the best with your projects!