Does this garden chair look familiar? I am referring to the ubiquitous plastic seat that is an icon of backyard comfort and practicality.
Do you know the kind of chair I am talking about? They mostly come in white, but sometimes they are green or brown. The plastic garden chair is affordable, durable, and tends to be more comfortable than you expect. It is little wonder they are in gardens across the world.
Thanks to the Knitted chair project you can join the ranks of people who are embracing these ubiquitous garden chairs.
Decide not to add the cheap chairs to the trash heap the moment that they become dingy and yucky (which we all know is about 5 minutes after you buy them), but instead, make them artistic, warm, inviting reflections of you.
For this, I think I could be convinced to learn to knit.
Deciding to give the project a try is easy. The pattern can be downloaded from the Knitted Chair project website, and when you have created your own masterpiece, you can share it with other readers.
Images by yuvee
I have these exact plastic garden chairs and had thought about covering them with fabric, chintzy sort of, the old-fashioned kind with frill round the bottom. This thought was initiated by a sudden influx of my embroidery group meeting and we needed one more chair. When I had finished, no-one would have known the difference – and I would add a fitted cushion to sit on and a frilly one for the back. In the end we managed with a bedroom chair dug from the attic.
However, very sorry but I prefer the plastic chair as it is for the garden. It is an excellent design, good for the back and very well washable with a pressure hose. I add two cushions in bright red jersey (from my stash of remnants I could not resist buying in the past), one cushion for the back and one to sit on. They really look bright, cheery and welcoming.
It is still winter here so I cannot get them out to photo but I assure you they look a million times less dreary than the knitted, whiich if nothing else are an excellent joke.
Hmm. On the one hand, if knitting is your passion or therapy, and your friends all have warm sweaters, this may be an excellent canvas to express your art. On the other hand, it is higher maintenance than power washing the chair. I have a few of these chairs, but I have never used them – the proportions are wrong for me and they wobble. Knitting won’t fix that. Knitting could add a splash of sophisticated color to a dull area, but I’d rather something permanent. Have you seen the outdoor felt? Try Birgitte Hansen feltmaking.com http://www.feltmaking.com/content/view/139/ shows a driftwood chair with felt that is gorgeous and actually looks comfortable. There was a park with gnomes felted to the trees, but I can’t find it.
You could knit a hot tub cover, or a grill cover. But I would be more likely to use a vinyl tablecloth. Hoseability is good.