Knit to be square, er, cubed?

While I have always lusted after knitted poufs ala Christien Meindertsma and Pickles, I've never got around to making one. I find myself questioning just how functional these poufs are. Depending on what you stuff one with, can you really use it as a seat? A footstool? Does it get mashed out of shape? When you live in a small space like I do, bringing in a new piece of furniture, not matter how small, takes careful consideration. Enter: the knitted storage cube.

Okay, so it's covered in knitting, not constructed of knitting,

but you know what I mean.

I used to keep my couch-side knitting in a vintage vanity case. It was cute and all, but unless I was working on something small the case was constantly over-flowing. Kind of defeats the purpose of "hiding" your knitting project away, doesn't it? I'd often thought of purchasing a cheap storage ottoman but brown pleather? Boring!


Using this ottoman from good ole' Crappy Tire and some stash Lopi I've made myself a new knitting caddy!

"PATTERN" NOTES: With 3 strands of bulky lopi together (this is stuff I found at a thrift store that I'm sure is a long discontinued colour) I did some experimenting with needle size until I got a swatch of fabric I liked (12mm was the winner if you're curious). I measured the sides of the cube from floor to the overhang of the lid, then multiplied that number by my stitches per inch to get my cast-on number. After that I just knit a big piece of stockinette until it fit around my ottoman. Without casting off, I grafted the live stitches to my first row to make a tube, then hot glued 'er to the cube. Cube tube!

For the lid, I worked the same math magic and knit a square piece of stockinette to measure the same size as the top - this time I cast off. Then with a circular needle I picked up stitches evenly around the edge of the square and knit in garter stitch until it measured the same as the sides of the ottoman lid. More hot glue and Bob's your uncle.

Now I have a place to tuck my knitting away that can hold a whole afghan, all of my needles and notions AND I can put my feet on it. Yay multi-function!