My Cup Cosy

A little while ago, I knitted a tea cosy for my non-standard shaped tea-pot.
It works well to keep the tea hot, so I thought I would knit a matching cosy for my teacup.

Here is the bare cup.

I measured up, and cast on. Then ripped, and cast on. Then ripped again, and cast on. And again. You see, I had decided to use the stitch pattern from Stacey in her My So Called Scarf. What I didn't realise was that it drew in the gauge a lot. I mean, A LOT!
I got it in the end. It used almost the same number of stitches as the tea-cosy, and the cup was a much smaller diameter.

It's interesting how that same yarn used for the tea-cosy looks quite different in this stitch pattern, which gives a dense, compact texture, just right for insulation.

I did a few rows of rib to start it off. I then thought I would do the same when I got to the other end. That didn't work - it flared out like a little ruffle! I guess that was because of the difference in stitch gauges. I took a photo, as a record, in case I ever want to deliberately recreate that effect. (yeah, right!)

The casting off (bind off) only took two attempts to get it right. I needed the shape to curve a little to fit snugly under the bottom curve of the cup. I got that by modifying the last row and not doing the "make 1 " stitch which is an integral part of the stitch pattern. This halved the number of stitches. I then cast off fairly loosely.The height of the cosy doesn't go all the way to the top of the cup, so that it doesn't get in the way while drinking.

I decided against buttons, as I figured they might get in the way. I've used a bit of hat elastic to hold the cosy closed above and below the handle. The elastic allows the cosy to be easily removed for washing.

And, the cosy works! It definitely keeps my tea warmer than a bare cup.

The Naked Teapot

In a moment of blood rushing to my head, I bought this yarn:

I think it's Moda Vera Spell, but as I tend to forget to put a sample of yarn around the ball-band, and I have a lot of orphan ball-bands, I could be wrong.

Now, when I buy yarn, I usually have a project in mind, even if I don't have a specific pattern. I didn't have anything specific in mind for this.

I was just intrigued by the discussion with two fellow shoppers, Cindy and Toni, who said the pooling of the colours makes it look a little like embroidered flowers.

Some time later, I was making myself a cuppa, when the lightbulb went on! Aha! My naked teapot could use a teacosy, and maybe I'd get my second cuppa without having to microwave it hot (doesn't taste quite the same).

So I measured the circumference around the top and the bottom, measured everything else that needed measuring, did a quick swatch, did the maths, especially how many stitches to decrease, and then did the knitting!
The colour pooling does look a little like flowers, or perhaps a flock of butterflies in a meadow.




Finding the right coloured buttons is what took the longest. Of course, I didn't have two that matched. I don't mind - I quite like the quirkyness of mismatched buttons.

And now my teapot is roasty-toasty cosy, and my tea is hot!

(wanders off to have another cuppa ...)