Jewelspun Tea Cosy

I am aware that I haven’t written anything for weeks.  I haven’t done much knitting recently. My cousin asked me if I would knit her a tea cosy for her tiny teapot.  This is what I have come up with.

It is double-sided.  It is 2 tea cosies in one.  This means it is very thick to keep the tea warm and she can decide which side she likes the most.   The teapot is about a 2 cup size.  I made the pattern up as I went along.  I used 4mm needles and Sirdar Jewelspun yarn  which is aran weight.  The shade is 844 which is blue and pink, and green and orange.   The balls are 200g in size – so I have quite a lot left over for something else.

The tea cosy is mainly made up of diamond modules.  I cast on 17 sts and the first row was K8, P1, K8.  I then decreased in the centre on the front facing rows maintaining the centre line on each diamond.  I fill the base with triangles which I made up as I went along.  I shaped the top by using a 3-needle cast off to join the diamonds together.

I am now going to knit some more blocks for my Afternoon Tea throw.

Three Tea Cosies

I have finally got around to finishing 3 tea cosies which I started knitting about 5 years ago.  It was silly really the first one is based on a  Fondant Fancy and it may be that it was longer than 5 years ago that I started knitting this.  When I say “started” – I mean I knitted it all apart from putting the decoration on the top and sewing it up.

I could not decide how to do the decoration – whether to do embroidery or crochet.  This month – it still took my ages to decide what to do.  In the end I made a crocheted chain using 2 strands of yarn and sewed it onto the top of the cosy.  I then sewed up the sides and it was finished.

The second cosy was inspired by the Tower of London – so it is meant to be a Keep.  All it needed was sewing up.  I had started doing it years ago – there were pins in it – but for some reason – long forgotten – I abandoned it unfinished until now.

The third cosy was inspired by a bus.  I hope that is obvious.  It was much more complicated than the other 2 cosies and much less finished.

It is padded and lined.  I had only knitted one side of the lining and one of the end pieces was too short so needed to be lengthened.   I know why I stopped working on it – I had run out of yarn – but the new ball was there – so why didn’t I carry on a finish it after I had bought the new yarn?  The answer is – that I got interested in something else and just stuffed it into a bag with all the other unfinished tea cosies.  It took a bit longer to sew all the bits together, attach the padding, and then attach the lining to the outer knitting.  I am quite pleased with it because it does stand up on its own.  In the photos – there is a teapot under it but that is not obvious.

I have now drafted a design for a fourth tea cosy.  I wonder if I will knit it before I get distracted by something else.  I mean I have some old yarn that would make a nice summer jumper!  I bought the yarn about 15 years ago – and have no idea what I intended to use it for but now I have found a pattern…

Happy 4th Birthday Maud Tabron Blog

I can’t believe I have been writing this blog for 4 years.  As usual when I start my review of the year – I think I haven’t done much and then I look back through my blog posts and realise that I have done lots of knitting during the past year.

The year started with me knitting fruit tea cosies and fruit and vegetables for All the Fun of the Fair.  It was quite a challenge and I think some looked much better than others. 

Throughout the whole of 2017 – I was knitting my Knit the Sky scarf.  It was quite an interesting exercise but it was a bit of a chore some days.  I still now look at the sky  to see what colour it is and then think – “you don’t need to do that anymore”.

I know I have knitted lots of different shawls during the year – and they were mostly “relaxing” knitting – just something to knit – I wear some of them more than others.

I am particularly pleased with the 2 throws I knitted last year and the WW1 Memorial Quilt which is an ongoing project.  I attended a Knitting and Crochet Guild workshop on how to knit  a 10-stitch blanket and although I found it difficult at first – but once I got the hang of it – I knitted a whole blanket and then a second one made up of lots of central sections.

I hope it won’t be long before I have a whole WW1 Memorial Quilt to show you.

5 Fruit Tea Cosies

I am still working on my 10-stitch blanket.  There is not much to say about it – so I thought I would show you the 5 fruit tea cosies that I designed for All the Fun of the Fair.  The patterns are available individually or as a bundle via the website: all-the-fun-of-the-fair-london.myshopify.com

While I was knitting these tea cosies – I felt the urge to knit a shocking pink pineapple or a turquoise blue apple.  Perhaps someone else will knit them and use some unusual colours.

Hallowe’en Lantern Tea Cosy

I have recently been knitting some Hallowe’en Lantern tea cosies for All the Fun of the Fair.  I had to fit them in before they became “out-of-date”.

If you would like to knit one – the pattern can be obtained from All the Fun of the Fair.  Originally I knitted 2 designs – one was a simple pumpkin and the other had the face on it.  I really preferred the plain one.  It would make a lovely everyday tea cosy if it was knitted in other colours.

I am not feeling very satisfied with my knitting at the moment.  I have several partly finished items – and there are a couple of babies’ coats that are needed soon for imminent arrivals.  I would like to knit something exciting – but I had better concentrate on finishing things first.

I have been travelling about a lot on trains – and I intend to knit – but often I just seem to read the newspaper.  The other day I saw a lady knitting a complicated fair-isle pattern on the train.  I couldn’t – I would just make mistakes.  I will be back on the train again tomorrow – and I will try to knit one side of another tea cosy.  I ought to be able to manage that without going wrong.

Knitting and Darts

Most people might think that knitting and darts are incompatible and certainly you can’t play darts and knit at the same time - but I have seen people knitting in the audience.  I love watching darts and find it hard to do any complicated knitting because I just get engrossed.  Fortunately, I am just knitting garter stitch squares for my charity blanket – so I can get some knitting done.

A couple of years ago I designed a darts inspired tea cosy for All the Fun of the Fair.

I originally knitted some tea cosies consisting of 6 panels and then while watching the darts – I thought “I could knit a dart board!”.  If anyone else is interested in knitting a dart board tea cosy – the pattern is available from All the Fun of the Fair on Ravelry.

The Mystery of the Missing Tea Cosy

You can tell from the title that I am a fan of detective fiction.   I was reminded of the fact that one of my tea cosies disappeared, when I looked at a leaflet advertising the Guild of Master Craftsman’s (GMC) latest publications.  GMC are publishing a new compilation of tea cosy patterns called The Big Book of Tea Cozies. The book has one of my tea cosies included in the montage on the front. 

The photo below shows another version of the tea cosy which I knitted for a friend of mine.

I have always liked this pattern.  It was designed especially for GMC’s first tea cosy book (Tea Cozies).  Many of the other designs were competition entries based on Yorkshire – such as my “white roses” design.  However this tea cosy was inspired by my maternal grandmother who taught me to knit.  She enjoyed knitting but she also loved dancing and her favourite colour was turquoise.  GMC called the design “glitter ball” – but it was originally based on a ball gown.

My grandmother also inspired my embroidery and the photo below shows an embroidery which featured her photograph.

To go back to the tea cosy and the title of this post – although some of my tea cosies were returned to me – I don’t have the original “glitter ball” because it “went missing” during the photo shoot.  All I can say is - someone else must have liked it!

Knitted Snooker Tea Cosy

I am a big sports fan and my idea of a perfect afternoon is knitting in front of the sport.  The World Snooker Tournament starts this weekend and I intend to spend the following 17 days knitting. 

A couple of years ago I came up with some sports themed tea cosies.  It seems an appropriate time to show you my snooker tea cosy.  Three images of it are shown below:

The reds look a bit odd in the photos – in reality they look better.  The basic tea cosy is a square green shape with a brown trim.  I then knitted the 15 reds for the top – the baulk colours on one side and the blue, red and black on the other.

Happy Birthday Maud Tabron Blog!

This blog is one year old today.  I have decided to celebrate this fact by looking back at some of the items that I have knitted since February 2014.  I often think that I haven’t done much knitting - but the photos below show some of the items I am particularly pleased with.

Last year I knitted 5 Arizona Dreams throws for Colinette – 1 in the Mojave design. 1 Denali, 2 Sonoran and 1 Yosemite.  I keep changing my mind about which is my favourite.

Arizona Dreams - Mojave Design

Arizona Dreams - Denali Design

Arizona Dreams - Sonoran Design

Arizona Dreams - Yosemite Design

I also knitted a throw for myself from my own design which I think is beautiful.

As for garments and accessories - I knitted a cardigan, 3 jumpers, 2 baby coats, a sunglasses case and 3 scarves – and my favourite thing of all – my latest knitted bag.

Last summer I knitted about fifty tea cosies mostly for All the Fun of the Fair, but also a couple to try out ideas!  It can be good to knit tea cosies in the summer because they are small and you don’t spend hot days with a lap full of yarn.

Looking ahead – I hope I get the chance to knit some more throws for Colinette.  I also want to knit 2 or 3 for myself (I have lots of ideas to try out).  What I am most looking forward to (I wonder if I will manage to do it) is knitting another bag – I have an idea in my head which arrived there when I was finishing the last one – and I said to myself – “next year!”

No Time for Knitting

This is not quite true – I have knitted the back of the baby’s coat and I have thought about knitting a lot of other things!

 

This is a photo of a tea cosy that I knitted last year.  If you would like to make one the pattern is available from All the Fun of the Fair’s web-site.  

On Saturday I went to London and visited John Lewis’s haberdashery department on the 4^th Floor.  It used to be better in the past - but I rarely leave without buying anything.  I had been given some money to buy myself a Christmas present so I bought some expensive yarn to make another version of my striped scarf and a couple of balls of red aran to add to a pile of yarn that I am collecting to make a cardigan.  Whilst in London, I did also buy some Christmas presents for friends and family!

Domino Square Tea Cosy

 

Since I designed a diamond-shaped tea cosy for the first GMC Tea Cozy book – I have wanted to make one using domino squares.  I think it looks very effective, fits the tea cosy well and is thick enough to keep the tea warm.   If you would like to make one – a pattern is recorded below.

Materials: a small amount of 2 shades of DK yarn (Cream and Blue). (50g is enough, 25g may be enough)

Needles: 4mm

Each side of the cosy is made up of 3 rows of 4 squares.  I actually knitted the squares in columns rather than squares, but you could do it either way.

First square (bottom left-hand corner)

Row 1: Using cream cast on 21sts.

Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: Change to blue yarn and K9, K3tog, K9.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: Change back to cream yarn and K8, K3tog, K8.
Row 6:  Knit.
Row 7: Change to blue yarn and K7, K3tog, K7.
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: Change to cream yarn and K6. K3tog, K6.
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: Change to blue yarn and K5, K3tog, K5.
Row 12: Knit.
Row 13: Change to cream yarn and K4, K3tog, K4.
Row 14: Knit.
Row 15: Change to blue yarn and K3, K3tog, K3.
Row 16: Knit.
Row 17: Change to cream yarn and K2, K3tog, K2.
Row 18: Knit.
Row 19: Change to blue yarn and K1, K3tog, K1.
Row 20: K3tog and fasten off.
 

Middle Row (Square above first square)

Row 1: Using cream pick up 10 sts from top of first square,  and then turn and cast on 9 sts.  (19 sts.)
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: Change to blue yarn and K8, K3tog, K8.
Row 4:  Knit.
Row 5: Change to cream yarn and K7, K3tog, K7.
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: Change to blue yarn and K6. K3tog, K6.
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: Change to cream yarn and K5, K3tog, K5.
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: Change to blue yarn and K4, K3tog, K4.
Row 12: Knit.
Row 13: Change to cream yarn and K3, K3tog, K3.
Row 14: Knit.
Row 15: Change to blue yarn and K2, K3tog, K2.
Row 16: Knit.
Row 17: Change to cream yarn and K1, K3tog, K1.
Row 18: K3tog and fasten off.

Top Row (Square above second square)

Row 1:  Using cream pick up 9 sts from top of second square and then turn and cast on 8 sts.  (17sts.)
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: Change to blue yarn and K7, K3tog, K7.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: Change to cream yarn and K6. K3tog, K6.
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: Change to blue yarn and K5, K3tog, K5.
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: Change to cream yarn and K4, K3tog, K4.
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: Change to blue yarn and K3, K3tog, K3.
Row 12: Knit.
Row 13: Change to cream yarn and K2, K3tog, K2.
Row 14: Knit.
Row 15: Change to blue yarn and K1, K3tog, K1.
Row 16: K3tog and fasten off.

Repeat these 3 squares picking up or casting on as appropriate until you have knitted 2 sides of a tea cosy each consisting of 12 squares.

To tidy up the bottom of the cosy – using blue yarn, pick up 44 sts along the bottom edge and then immediately cast them off.

To finish the top of the cosy:

 

On the first side
Row 1: Using cream yarn pick up 32 sts along the top edge.
Row 2: *K2tog; repeat from * across the row. (16 sts).
Row 3: Change to blue yarn and knit.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: Change to cream yarn and knit.
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: Change to blue yarn.  *K2tog; repeat from * across the row. (8 sts).
Row 8: Knit.
Leave stitches on a spare needle.

Repeat the above for the top of the second side.

Knit the 2 sides together.

Sew in ends.

Sew down the sides, above the handle and the spout.

Join the sides at the bottom leaving openings large enough for the handle and spout.

Make a pompom and sew it on the top.

More Tea Vicar Tea Cosies

I have been told that no one uses tea cosies anymore and so no one sells them!  In fact people want to buy tea cosies but not many people sell them.  My local newsagent sells hand-knitted tea cosies and they never keep one in their window for long – someone has come in and bought it.

During the summer I have been making tea cosies for the London-based business - All the Fun of the Fair.

 

If you are interested in buying them – they are available from www.allthefunofthefair.bigcartel.com or www.ravelry.com/stores/all-the-fun-of-the-fair-designs  You can also buy a pattern if you would like to knit one yourself.

Tea Cosy with Domino Square Trim Version 2

As I suggested in my previous post, I have now completed a version of this tea cosy in red and cream.

 

I may now try some other colours!

Tea Cosy with Domino Square Trim

I have been trying to come up with some new designs for tea cosies.  I decided to combine my love of tea cosy knitting with my love of modular knitting and produce a tea cosy that included modular knitting. 

 

I am always trying to think of new ideas for using up odd bits of yarn.   I have bags full of golf ball sized balls that I don’t want to throw away.  I suppose I could eventually use them for a patchwork quilt with very small squares, but at the moment I wanted to come up with something smaller.

Actually this design uses about 2 golf ball sized balls of blue yarn.  I think I will knit it again using red yarn. 

I haven’t forgotten about the jumper I am knitting, but it will take a few more weeks to finish it, especially if I get distracted by other things!

Knitted Poppy Tea Cosy - Version 2

 

This tea cosy was knitted to remember the soldiers lost in the First World War – on both sides – but particularly my great grandfather Thomas Wade who was killed in 1917.

The tea cosy is very simple – a basic green tea cosy with 5 knitted poppies on top.  I have used buttons for the centres to add a bit of texture.

It is likely that I will come up with some more poppy-based designs during the next 4 years!

Knitted Poppy Tea Cosy

After a few false starts I have knitted a tea cosy which consists of 3 strips on each side.  I then sewed them together, and added a few rows at the top and bottom to neaten the edges and to get the right length.  I toyed with the idea of a green tab to finish it off, but decided that the pom-pom looks better. 

I had intended to do more strips and more poppies but I think that would be better suited to a complicated fair-isle/intarsia design.  With this design, I quite like the way the whole poppy seems to be at the centre of a cross.

I have thought of 3 other ideas for tea cosies with poppies on and I am now off to cast one on.