Ever since I saw a knitted Pouf (or Puff) from Pinterest, I was so inspired and wanted to knit one for my fireplace this Christmas. Here is the free knitting pattern on a knit pouf that you can make for your home too.
I want colored cord or rope and not the natural color clotheslines I used for the crochet Giant Doily Rug and knit Floor Mat. So, I began to search around for colored cords, and coincidentally Bobbiny contacted me at the same time to introduce their colorful ropes. I quickly jump in to test out their ropes and made this beautiful knit pouf.
Needed me to say how I like the ropes? It is simply fantastic, especially since there are 34 colors to choose from. The ropes are so inspiring; more craft ideas are buzzing incessantly in my head.
Back to the knit pouf details, it is about 20″ in diameter and 14″ in height, but the dimensions depend on how much you stuff the pouf. The more you stuff to stretch the pouf, the more you will get a bigger pouf. You can stuff it with some cheap duvets or a similar stool bean bag. If you like a more rigid heavy-knit pouf, you might stuff it with old blankets, old clothes or towels, etc.
The pouf knitting pattern calls for garter stitch short row construction, which gives a nice curled shape that looks like a ball after you have completed knitting. Don’t get freaked out when you see the word “short row;” it is not as difficult or as complicated as you might think.
A short row just means to insert extra rows invisibly in the middle of the knitting. It is simple to do a short row with garter stitches, you don’t have to wrap and lift any stitches to prevent hole formation in the stockinette stitch short row, all you need to do is pull the cord or rope tight enough.
There are links to all necessary external YouTube videos for you to watch and refer to. I have also created a diagram to explain how this pouf’s short rows look.
Grab some ropes and start making a knit pouf today.
What’s Next
- Start knitting and share your completed handmade on Facebook and/or Instagram. Remember to tag us, @craftpassion, so that we are able to see them.
- Pin it to Pinterest for future To-Knit List
- Share with your knitting groups for a knit-along event.
- Browse more free knitting patterns to make.
Knit Pouf Ottoman Pattern
Time needed: about 4 evenings, depending on your knitting speed
Difficulty: Avid Beginner / Intermediate.
Description: This pouf is knitted by using garter stitches and short-row construction. The short row between the rows is 2 sts.
Knowledge: Must know how to Long Tail Cast on, Knit Garter Stitch, Basic Short Row knit in garter stitch, Basic Knit Bind Off, and Horizontal seam. (click each to watch the video on YouTube)
Pouf Dimension
Approximately: 20″ diameter x 14″ height (it depends on how you stuff and stretch the pouf)
Tools & Materials
1. Bobbiny Cotton Braided Ropes or cords, 5mm diameter, Color: Wine Red, Quantity: 4 skeins (100 meters each) [or 5 skeins if your knitting tension is a little looser]
2. Knitting needle: 8mm
3. Crochet hook, 4mm
4. Sewing thread and needles (for joining ropes)
5. Scissor
6. 2 to 3 queen-size duvets or a bean stool or anything you think can be stuffed (e.g. old blanket, old towels, old clothes, etc.)
Abbreviations
K – Knit
st(s) – stitch(es)
[number] – number of stitches remaining on the left needle after you have knitted the required sts in the pattern at the end of each row.
Garter Stitch Gauge: 8 sts x 12 rows to 4″ x 4″ [10cm x 10cm] square
Pouf Knitting Pattern
Worked from side to side. Long tail cast on 62 sts. on 8mm knitting needle.
Row 1: Knit all stitches, turn
Row 2: Knit 44 sts, turn. [18]
Row 3: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 25 sts, turn. [18]
Row 4: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 27 sts, turn. [16]
Row 5: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 29 sts, turn. [16]
Row 6: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 31 sts, turn. [14]
Row 7: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 33 sts, turn. [14]
Row 8: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 35 sts, turn. [12]
Row 9: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 37 sts, turn. [12]
Row 10: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 39 sts, turn. [10]
Row 11: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 41 sts, turn. [10]
Row 12: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 43 sts, turn. [8]
Row 13: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 45 sts, turn. [8]
Row 14: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 47 sts, turn. [6]
Row 15: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 49 sts, turn. [6]
Row 16: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 51 sts, turn. [4]
Row 17: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 53 sts, turn. [4]
Row 18: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 55 sts, turn. [2]
Row 19: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 57 sts, turn. [2]
Row 20: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 59 sts, turn. [0]
Row 21: Pass 1st stitch to the right needle, tighten the rope, knit 61 sts, turn. [0]
Repeat Row 2 to Row 21 (1 segment) until you reach Row 201 (total 10 segments), loosely bind off.
Cut off the rope, leave a long end for weaving the seam.
The completed knit piece resembles a ball shape, where the 1st & last row is the vertical line and the sides are the top & bottom of the pouf.
Assembly:
Seam up the first row and the last row with horizontal seam method, stop joining at half way. Close the gap of the pouf bottom by stringing the rope to the purl stitches. Pull as much as possible to close the gap and tighten, hide rope.
Fold the duvets to about the size of the pouf, insert them into the pouf nicely. You can stuff the pouf with a stool bean bag of similar size.
Continue to join the seam and close the gap of the top of the pouf.
Remark:
1. Due to the chunky rope, I used basic no wrap short row knit for this garter stitch pouf. The wrap method and other short row methods are not suitable in this pattern because it will make a bulky stitch. As long as you pull the short row stitch tight enough, it won’t leave any ugly big hole on your pouf.
2. Use circular knitting needle if you have, otherwise, you may use normal knitting needle as I did.
3. Use crochet hook to do the joining since the rope is thick.
If you are new to short-row construction, I hope this diagram will help you to understand.
Click the link to see a larger diagram.
Basically, short row construction in this garter stitch pouf means that you knit more rows at the middle stitches than the sides’ stitches. By skipping knitting the sides’ rows, you need to use the short row method, it is this simple.
I used Bobbiny braided cotton rope for this project. Bobbiny has a good number of color choices on the ropes. Scroll down to get the coupon code which entitles you a 10% discount on all items in Bobbiny.
Since the rope comes in 100m length in each hank, you will need to join the rope as you knit. You may just knot the ends together and hide them in the pouf, but it could leave some visible bumps to your pouf.
Otherwise, you may sew 2 ends together as shown in the pictures.
Long-tail cast-on 62 stitches on the needle to begin the knitting.
Begin the cast-on at 100″ from the rope end, this will give you sufficient length to cast-on all 62 stitches with some extra length for weaving to close the gap during assembly.
Knit the pouf as per the knitting pattern given above.
The top picture showed the progress after completed Row 21, this is 1 segment. You need to do 10 segments for the pouf.
The bottom picture showed the pouf after completed a few segments. The pouf is starting to take shape as a ball.
This is the pouf after completed 10 segments and loosely bind-off. Leave sufficient rope for assembly.
Perform the horizontal seam to join the first row and the last row.
Stop joining at halfway.
Close the gap of the short row side where you have already done the horizontal seam.
Pass the rope through the purl stitches only, pull the rope as tight as possible to close the gap. Fasten and hide rope.
This is the closer look of the gap, which is going to appear either at the top or bottom of the pouf.
Stuff in your duvets or similar size of a stool bean bag.
Continue to join the seam together and close the gap of the other short row side. Fasten and hide rope.
The pouf is completed. You can see the obvious short row pattern of the 10 segments.
Kathryn
Thursday 21st of March 2024
Hello!
You mentioned in this post that further down you would explain how to add more rows/make the pouf larger. I’ve read your post multiple times and cannot find where you explain how to make it larger????
Kathryn
Sunday 24th of March 2024
@Craft Passion,
In the paragraph right above “What’s Next” Maybe I read it wrong:
“I have also come out with a diagram to explain how to go about with the short row and adding more rows for this pouf.”
Craft Passion
Friday 22nd of March 2024
I've read my post several times, but I still can't seem to find the exact place where I said that. Could you tell me which line it is?
Suzanne Estes
Sunday 20th of March 2022
When you pass the stitch to the right needle, do you do it purl or knit wise?
Craft Passion
Tuesday 22nd of March 2022
Pass the stitch according to the stitches you are going to perform in this row. For example, if you are going to knit this row, then you do it knit-wise. In this pattern, since we are doing with all knit stitches, so you pass it over in knit-wise.
Linda Jimenez
Wednesday 26th of May 2021
I love this pouf pattern and hope to get one done soon.
What I love even more is how you have done your pages so that it is not only easy to get the pattern for printing but also make it easy to omit some pictures that I might not need. I have never seen this set-up before. If you don't mind what do you use to accomplish this?
Linda
Assila
Thursday 2nd of July 2020
Hi! I cant wait to try this but unfortunately I only have Medium yarn with me - do you think I could use yarn and follow the same process? I'm new to knitting so hopfully that's not a silly question
Craft Passion
Thursday 2nd of July 2020
You may use a few strands of yarn to knit, make a test gauge to measure if the size is similar.
Mandana
Sunday 22nd of July 2018
Hi dear,
I really need to make a pouf, and I am looking for an easy way and pattern, can you help me please. here it seems very complicated to me. Or is there a video available to watch.
Best regards, Mandana