Man
In A Maze Pillow & Tote Bag
PATTERN DETAILS
RELEASE DATE:
September 2002 -- The pillow version of this pattern originally
appeared in Alpaca Magazine’s Summer 2002 issue.
DESCRIPTION:
This is an 18-inch square sofa pillow cover or tote bag worked in three
colors. The designs come from ancient, traditional Native American designs
of the southwest United States.
On one side is a square version of the usually circular Man In A Maze
pattern of the native peoples of southern Arizona (Tohono O’odham and
Pima). This "maze" is actually a labyrinth, since it has no
branches or dead end paths as a maze does. There are many variations of
traditional labyrinth patterns, including from the nearby Hopis and from
Europe, the Mediterranean, Russia, India, China, Zulu Africa, and Peru.
The labyrinth can represent the path of life that we walk – long and
with many twists and turns that we cannot see beyond until we reach them.
Labyrinths have become popular again in western cultures, and following a
labyrinth’s path has come to be widely used as a contemplative practice
in the United States in recent years.
On this pillow, the triangle designs surrounding the maze and the folded
lightning bolt pattern (my name for it) on the other side are taken from
designs found on the soles of 900- to 1,100-year-old yucca sandals from
the Ancient Puebloan peoples (also known as Anasazi) of the Four Corners
area, primarily from northeast Arizona. The sandals are now part of
archeological collections, and drawings of the designs have been made
available by archeologists who, among other reasons, wanted the woven
designs to remain available to textile artists of today. Indeed, many of
the designs found on those ancient sandals are still found on ceramics and
woven textiles (blankets and baskets) of the Southwest today.
The folded lightning bolt side is worked primarily in stranded color
knitting, in which strands of two colors are carried across the row, with
the unused color "floating" across the back. The maze side of
the pillow is worked in intarsia color knitting, in which a separate
strand of yarn is used for each section of color across the row, and the
strand of unused color is dropped and left hanging whenever another color
is to be worked.
The pillow cover
is worked in one rectangular piece which is folded in half with seams
around three sides. It is made to permanently cover a pillow, since the
pillow form is inserted before the seams are completed. The tote bag
version has a fold at the bottom and 2 side seams.
The design elements are differently placed on the maze side of the tote
bag versus the pillow. Instead of design bands at both bottom and top, the
button side of the tote bag has a second band placed at the top (so that
the button doesn’t obscure the man) with reversed colors.
SIZE:
About 18x18 inches square.
SKILL REQUIRED:
Intermediate to advanced.
MATERIALS:
-
YARN:
Sport weight or DK weight Alpaca or other soft, comfortable yarn
that you’d like to lay your head on. I used America’s Alpaca (110
yards in a 1 3/4 oz. skein) by The Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North
America, Inc. (their yarn says DK, but I find that it knits up more
like a sport weight yarn).
-
Main
Color (MC) – About 350 yards of a medium-to-dark
color for the pillow. At least 50 more yards is needed for the
strap and edging if you make the tote bag. I used dark red for the
pillow and a heathery cocoa brown for the tote bag.
-
Contrast
Color 1 (CC1) – For the pillow, you’ll need about 110
yards in another medium-to-dark color that is a strong contrast to
MC. About 50 more yards is needed for the strap and edging if you
make the tote bag. I used a heathery cocoa brown for the pillow
and a dark red for the tote bag.
-
Contrast
Color 2 (CC2) – About 300 yards of a pale color that is in
sharp contrast to both the MC and CC1 (I used 3 skeins of cream)
for the pillow or the tote bag.
-
NEEDLES:
Two Size 4 circular needles or size to give gauge – one should be
about 40 inches long, the other should be at least 20 inches long.
Although the body of the pillow/bag can be knit on straight needles,
you will need the two circular needles to complete the I-cord edging
as shown in the picture. If you choose the easier ending option for
the pillow, you only need a shorter circular needle or straight
needles.
-
MISCELLANEOUS
-
Darning needle for weaving in ends
-
At least
14 small safety pins or other removable stitch markers
-
For the
tote bag you’ll need about 1/2 yard of woven lining fabric,
matching thread, and a decorative button about 1.5 inches in
diameter
-
For the
pillow you’ll need an 18-inch pillow form
GAUGE:
Please note that the gauge is different on the two sides. The row count is
what differs.
-
Intarsia
gauge – about 25 sts per 4 inches and about 34 rows per 4 inches
(for the maze side).
-
Stranded
gauge – about 25 sts per 4 inches and about 27 rows per 4 inches in
stockinette stitch (for the folded lightning bolt side). Notice that
these stitches are almost square in their dimensions.
Be SURE to make
individual gauge swatches, one in stranded and one in intarsia methods and
BLOCK the swatches before your final measurements. This is particularly
important for the stranded swatch because carrying the unused color across
the wrong side of the work can make your stitch count differ significantly
before and after blocking. If your intarsia gauge matches mine, but you
get more stitches per inch in your stranded swatch than I did, you may be
carrying your unused color TOO tightly. If so, try to loosen up on the
floats of unused color across the back of the work.
If YOUR gauge matches the stitch count, but doesn’t quite match the row
count, don’t worry. You can adjust the height of your pillow cover by
adding or subtracting CC1 border rows on either side or pattern rows on
the folded lightning bolt side. NOTE: always add or subtract an even
number of rows so that the directions for the I-cord edging work out.
Remeasure your gauge regularly, and also measure your work as it proceeds.
 maze
side of tote bag & pillow
inside of folded lightning bolt side
inside of maze side
strap attachment of tote bag
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