Honey Lemon Pillow with Cables

I cooked a turkey for the first time yesterday. I'd never cooked a whole bird before, not even a chicken, and I was so intimidated by the process. I made a huge bird to feed 20 friends, and it was so big that we had to cut the legs off to get it into the oven. And as soon as we jammed it into the oven, Keith Googled "How to put out oven fires." Just in case. Thanks, sweetheart! To make this long story short, it turned out moist and delicious, even sans drumsticks. I was so proud! But I exhausted myself wrestling that 28 pound monster into a brine solution, onto my roasting pan, and into the oven. Now I just want to curl up on the sofa with coffee and Gilmore Girls. And this pretty little pillow.

This pillow cover came off my needles a few weeks ago, and I love the bright bit of chartreuse it adds to my den. I didn't originally intend for this yarn to become a pillow. I was knitting it into a ribbed top, and I kept the half-finished piece on a table the corner. Every morning, I'd walk into the room and feel so happy when I saw that invigorating pop of citrus color. So when I didn't like the fit of the top, I frogged it and turned it into a pillow. Thank you, Serendipity.
This was my first knitting project with cables. Huzzah--I can officially knit cables now! They were time-consuming, but so much easier than I expected. If you're intimidated by cables, don't be. If you're comfortable with knitting and purling, cables will make sense, too.
The honeycomb cable pattern comes from Wendy Bernard's Up Down All-Around Stitch Dictionary. You guys, this is the best knitting book I've ever owned. Wendy presents more than a hundred stitch patterns, with instructions for knitting them bottom-up, top-down, and in the round.* If you're a beginning knitter who wants to make a dozen scarves that aren't all the same, this book is for you. If you're an experienced knitter who's found that Holy Grail perfect-fit sweater pattern and you want to mix it up a bit, this book is for you. And if you want to write your own patterns, these stitch patterns are a great place to start. I was so excited about this book, I even wrote Wendy a gushing fangirl thank you letter. And she promptly wrote back. You guys, she's not just a knitting genius. She's also nice.
Emboldened by all the inspiration I found in Wendy's book, I wrote the pattern for the Honey Lemon pillow myself. This cushion cover will fit a 14 by 18 inch pillow perfectly. The pattern I wrote is here on Ravelry, if you'd like to try it. Of course, you'll need to buy Wendy's book to get the Honeycomb pattern. Because Copyright. But I promise, it's worth it. Oh, and since I don't have a lot of experience writing out patterns, if you see something that doesn't make sense, please let me know. Here's what you'll need:
Yarn: 3 skeins of Patons Classic Wool in Lemongrass Needles: Size 7 and a cable needle Skills: Knit, purl, cable, and mattress stitch Book: Up Down All-Around Stitch Dictionary
Okay, it's time to drift off to sleep in a post-turkey haze!
* Wendy has even written a pattern for knitting adorable polka dots. Yes, really. I'm just saying.