Cute Knitted Tea Cosy with Crochet Flowers - pattern and tutorial

It was my darling partner, the chef and man-of-the-house, who suggested making tea cosies for the Encraftment market. As a confirmed coffee - all be it decaf - drinker, I had not considered this particular choice of vintage inspired domesticity. Making it has brought back memories of childhood visits to my grandparents house, polite cups of tea and the neat exactness and order of my grandparents house. My grandmother was a champion of all things crafty. Over the course of her life she has knitted and stitched literally thousands of jerseys, garments and toys. Her knitting machine always parked in the sun room; always a project on the go or a new pattern to try. In a rest home now, she has given up on knitting. Much of craft equipment has been passed to me, and when we visit I take in my projects to show her. She's always happy to see the skills passed to a new generation.

I almost always use the single needle, long tail, method of casting on. It's really easy once you get the hang of it! So I made you a tutorial:

Casting-on using the single knitting needle method:

Make a loop and put it onto the knitting needle.
Leave at least a metre of yarn as a tail.

This loop forms the first stitch.

Hold the 'tail' yarn in your left hand fingers making a thumbs up.
Wrap the wool around your thumb in a clock-wise direction.

Insert the needle in between the wool and your thumb. A bit like you're using your thumb as the other knitting needle.

With your right hand wrap the ball end of the yarn around the needle. The yarn should start at the back of the work and wrap anti-clockwise.

Now use your thumb to lift the loop over the needle to form the stitch.

This picture shows the needle with 3 stitches already completed.

Gently pull both pieces of wool to tighten the stitch.

This picture shows the 5th stitch being made.

Just keep adding stitches until you have the required number. If you run out of tail yarn I'm afraid you will have to start again with a longer length!






Square Patterned Tea Cosy with Crochet Flowers

Where brackets, [ and ], appear in the instructions they are given to identify the instructions that are to be repeated.
These cast on instructions are for right handed knitters. For left handers mirror the instructions to the opposite hands.

Using 5mm knitting needles and 8ply yarn, cast on 84 stitches. 

Work 5 rows of knit 1, purl 1 rib. 

Next section:
Row 1: Purl 1, Knit 4 stitches, purl 1, then [knit 4, purl 1] 7 times. Cast off 2 stitches, purl 1 [knit 4, purl 1] 8 times.
Row 2: turn and work on the first set of 41 stitches; knit 1, purl 4, knit 1, [purl 4, knit 1] 7 times, turn.
Row 3: Purl 1, knit 4, purl 1, [knit 4, purl 1] 5 times, knit 5, turn.
Repeat the pattern for another 2 rows.
Row 6: knit all stitches to give the purl row stripe as shown.

Repeat this pattern 3 more times - four strips in total. The picture above shows the first three stripes.

Break the yarn and rejoin onto the second half of the stitches. 
Work as for the first half until the two sides match.

Next section:
With the right side facing: work 40 stitches as per the established pattern, knit 2 stitches together, work the remaining 40 stitches. 
Work a further 6 rows as per the pattern.

Top shaping section:
Row 1: Knit row: purl 1 [knit 2 together twice, purl 1] until the end of the row.
Row 2: Knit 1 [purl 2 together, knit 1] until end of row.
Row 3: purl 1, knit 1, repeat until end of row.
Row 4: Knit 1, [purl 2 together] repeat until end of row.
Row 5: Knit 2 together, repeat until end of row.

Continue decreasing by knitting or purling the stitches together until only 5 remain. Break the yarn, leaving enough to sew up, and use a crochet hook to pull the yarn through the remaining 5 stitches to secure. 

One tea cosy, ready to sew up.

Five stripes and a decrease section at the top.

Start the sewing up at the bottom of the open end. Sew the rib section only up using a mattress stitch. Secure the bottom of the opening with a couple of repeated stitches and sew in the ends of the wool.

Now sew from the top down, again using a mattress stitch. Sew down two strips, so both openings match. Reinforce with top of the opening with another couple of stitches, then work in the end.

The cosy can be decorated with any combination or number of crochet flowers. 
I worked two flowers: starting with a magic loop, I worked double crochet stitches for the first row, then changed colours and worked 1 double crochet stitch into the first hole, then 3 double crochet into the next hole. I repeated this right around the centre to form the petals. Instead of sewing in the loose threads, I knotted off three and left them hanging down. I used the fourth thread to sew the flower to the cosy.

The decoration stage is time to go nuts with whatever design takes your fancy. Happy crafting xx  

Matching knitted Striped Beanie

 It's hard to stay grumpy for too long when your this cute.

 And when you have just got a pretty new hat to wear to Preschool.

I have made a cute little striped hat to match the Debbie Bliss Cardigan I just finished knitting for Little Miss Four. Made with 12 ply 100% wool it's a quick easy knit you can customise with your own unique combination of colours. Little Miss Four is a little string bean, so if your hat wearer is more bonny, then assume that this size will fit a 2 to 4 year old. There is plenty of stretching room in this design. However, if you want to increase the size just add extra stitches in multiples of 10, and increase the length of the sides of the hat before starting the decrease rows.

Start off by casting 80 stitches onto size 4mm knitting needles. Rib Knit 1 (K1) Purl 1 (P1) for 8 rows, ending with a right side row.
Change to 5mm needles and work 6 rows of stocking stitch (stst) (that's 1 row knit, then 1 row purl repeated) ending with the right side facing.

Join on your first colour - in this case pale blue - work 2 rows stst. Pick up the main colour again, break off the pale blue, and work 2 rows of the main colour in stst.

Join on the 2nd colour - in this case purple - work 2 rows stst. Pick the main colour and work 2 rows stst. Leave the purple yarn attached as this colour is repeated.

Join on the 3rd colour - in this case dark pink - work 2 rows stst. Pick up the pain colour again. Break off the dark pink. Work 2 rows stst in the main colour.

Pick up the 2nd colour - purple - and work another 2 rows stst. Break off the purple yarn, pick up the main colour again. The right side should be facing and the hat should measure 11.5cm from the beginning.

Begin the decrease rows:
First decrease row: K8, K2 together (K2tog). Repeat this sequence of 10 stitches until the end of the row.
2nd and every alternative row: purl until end.
3rd dec. row: K7, K2tog. Repeat sequence until end.
5th dec. row: K6, K2tog. Repeat.
7th dec. row: K5, K2tog. Repeat.
9th dec. row: K4, K2tog. Repeat.
11th dec. row: K3, K2tog. Repeat.
13th dec. row: K2, K2tog. Repeat.
15th dec. row: K1, K2tog. Repeat.
17th dec. row: K2 tog. Repeat.
18th row: purl.
Next row: K2tog. Repeat.
Continue to K2tog on knit rows until 3 stitches remain. Knit a cord by passing the knit stitches onto the left needle and knitting through them again. Continue to do this until the cord is the required length.

Use a wool darning needle to sew the hat together, starting from the top. Sew the ends of the contrast strips into the seam and trim off any extra wool.

Ready to wear as a matching set. Enjoy your knitting not that the cold weather is creeping in!