Let’s start by chanting 3 Oms: Ooooooooommmm, Ooooooooommmmm, Oooooooooommmm…
My Om Eye Pillow was just published in the Winter 2008 issue of Knotions. This issue is all about small gift knits you can make last minute without spending a fortune on yarn. I hope you have fun with this project!
I came up with this eye pillow idea 2 years ago, then put it aside for a while. You know how that goes… For the life of me I can’t remember what prompted me to design the “Om” symbol as a cable.
The chart may look complicated, but if you familiarize yourself with the symbols, it’s not hard. There are many different styles out there for charting cables: Alice Starmore, Melissa Leapman, Barbara Walker, etc. Since there’s really no standard, I chose the Barbara Walker method of drawing cables because it seems like the easiest style to read. I outlined the knit stitches in the chart which I think helps.
One thing to note is that when you come to a no stitch box in the chart, simply ignore it and move on to the next stitch. I had to insert these no stitch place holders because there are some spots that increase severely, changing the stitch count. But it eventually decreases back to the original number. Also, some cables cross on both odd and even rows. This works out fine because the eye pillow is knit in the round. However, if you want to knit it flat instead of in the round, you’ll need to do some cable crossings on the wrong side row. It’s not impossible by any means, but it’s much easier see what you’re knitting from the right side.
If you have trouble finding flax seeds for the filling, rice works equally well. We buy flax seeds at the grocery store. DH actually eats them on cereal. I guess they’re good for you. Just make sure to pour the seeds into the inner lining over the sink, not over carpeting. Go ahead, ask me why I’m telling you this. 
