Chain 1

One of my first major projects was making two pillow cases to cover these huge, orange SU pillows that Michael inherited from Grandma Massenzio.  

I found the pattern in a Better Homes and Gardens Simply Creative Crochet magazine from 2005.  

The cool thing about this pattern is that it had a special stitch called the "jiffy stripe pattern."  This means that instead of working your yarn through both loops, you use one loop instead to make a raised pattern. 

From what I can remember (this was like 4 years ago) I was a rebel and decided to not pay attention to the pattern thus making my jiffy stripe be raised on the right side and the wrong side of the material.  A crochet no-no.  Too frustrated to rip it (ribbit) out, I continued like nothing happened.  The guilt of this has now caused me to completely take apart any work I start that has even the slightest mistake.  

Even though these pillow covers are not the showcase of the living room there are two beings that do enjoy the hell out of the softness of the yarn I used (Lion's Brand Suede and Jiffy) - Phish and Chips.  They take turns perched atop the pillows and do the things that cats do: rest their eyes, meditate, think how awesome my crochet skills are and how far I have come.