There are many free tutorials for different styles of this floor pillow / ottoman on various websites - but none of them use handspun. Here is the one I came up with that's a little different than all the others - but still has the same principle.
MATERIALS
- Size 19 circular needles , 32 -40 inches (we will be knitting this floor urchin in the round)
- 200-250 yards of handspun bulky art yarn
- Two bags of polyfill stuffing
- One pillowcase (make sure it matches your yarn in case you see it)
- 1 Yard of strong Cotton Yarn
- Large eye Yarn Needle
PATTERN
Cast on 47 stitches. For a larger pouf cast on 60-80 stitches.
Knit in the Round until your tube is 18 inches long (if you're knitting a larger pouf -knit until your tube is 30 inches long)
Do not bind off. Rather, take your yard of cotton yarn and cut it in half so you have 1.5 feet of cotton yarn. Then loop this cotton yarn through all the loops on your needle using a yarn needle to thread the cotton yarn through. Take a loop off the needle, and put the cotton yarn through it. When all your stitches are on the cotton yarn - pull the cotton yarn tight and tie it into a knot to create the bottom of your urchin.
Turn the urchin inside-out so all the purl stitches are on the outside. If you prefer a knit side, that's fine too. I just thought the purls looked more urchin-like.
Take the two bags of polyfill and stuff them into a standard sized pillowcase. Try to stuff the pillowcase so it's the shape of the urchin you want (rounded without too many bulges of stuffing).
Twist the top of the pillowcase tightly into a flat bun-style knot. Now stuff the urchin with the pillowcase with the bun-style knot as the very bottom part of the urchin.
Take the other 1.5 feet of cotton yarn with your yarn needle and loop it through every other stitch along the cast on edge of your tube. Pull it tight and knot tightly to secure. Cut the ends and tuck them into the inside of the urchin.