Cool Stuff: Lauren Saunders Pillows

Since my daughter and I learned to knit recently, I've been having a love affair with yarn. (You don't even want to know what kind of cash I've dropped on skein after skein of silky-soft vegetable-dyed alpaca at our local "boutique" knitting store. After I added it all up, I vowed to stock up on yarn from the discount craft store instead. But I fear it's already too late -- the good stuff has spoiled me.)

Anyway, in addition to knitting up a storm of amateurishly-crafted but lovingly-made scarves for my family, I'm finding myself drawn to all kinds of knitted goods recently -- especially textiles and housewares. (After all, what could be warmer and cozier when it's cold and gray outside?) So when I spotted these pillows by Lauren Saunders the other day, I was instantly smitten.

The Los Angeles designer is inspired by the California coast and other western geography, which figures prominently -- albeit abstractly -- in her organic creations, as well as by modern art. As she says, "I often ... [use] yarn and color combinations the same as I would paint on a canvas."

The pillows are unabashedly luxurious and tactile, too -- hand loomed from fuzzy mohair, llama, and merino wool and backed with nubby, 100 percent linen. They're not cheap, but boy, are they yummy.

Take a look:

Slice, $320 to $375

Strata, $165 to $190

Transition, $135 to $160

Wild Grass, $320 to $375

Ocean, $215 to $375

Flow, $165 to $190

The pillows are available from these retailers or through the Lauren Saunders website.