TEA COZIES These were designed with unidentified worsted weight acrylic yarns from my stash using size 9 (_(US) knitting needles. Unfortunately, I cannot give you exact yardages nor precise color ways. I apologize for that and hope to do better in the future. However, I want to give you versatility in this pattern, so it’s much more a recipe than a specific pattern. There are places for YOU to choose what you want to do, depending on the effect you want to accomplish. Please READ the pattern carefully, for I have described a not-very-familiar way of creating a right leaning decrease (listed below).
They are made in three sizes. Teapots seem to be in various dimensions but most commonly are found as:
SMALL should fit those little 2 cup pots
MEDIUM should fit about a 4 cupper
LARGE is for those HUGE pour for the whole family at once pots -- about 6 cups
If your particular pot is between sizes .. or seems to be taller or more squat than average .. you can add rows to the middle easily by dividing extra rows between above and below the design area. There may be a wee bit of stretch to fit the pot when you put it on the teapot .. which is fine. The combination of moist and warm air and slight pulling pressure from the pot will quickly block and mold it into the right shape for your own teapot.
Version 1 – knit in the round
Cast on 64 (80, 96) stitches and join carefully. Work garter stitch, K 1 rnd, P 1 rnd, for 4 (6, 8) rnds. If you want to use a contrasting yarn for the bottom and top border, do so and change to main color with next rnd. ((Sample for M size with Irish Harp design was knit in the round))
K 2 (2, 3) rnds, then divide for working design. Leaving a marker at the beginning of the round so you ALWAYS know where it is .. place markers as follows:
SMALL k 26, pm, k 13 for design ares, pm, k 25 (total 64 st)
MEDIUM k 33, pm, k 15 for design area, pm, k 33 (total 80 sts)
LARGE k 40, pm, k 17 for design ares, pm, k 39 (total 96 sts)
Work pattern as charted in the area between the two center markers. This area when worked is about 3 inches (3 ½ inches, 4 inches). Then k 2 (2, 3) rnds, using last rnd to reset markers as follows: {Last marker should be the center back one. If it happens to be off a stitch or two .. just move it to the right place. It’s fine)
(If you are using a contrast for the border and the lid, you will change yarns on the following rnd AFTER placing the markers.)
SMALL k 16, pm, repeat to end
MEDIUM k 20, pm, repeat to end
LARGE k 24, pm, repeat to end
If you are using a contrast for the border and the lid, you will change yarns on the following rnd AFTER placing the markers. That would be with the next rnd.
Begin final decreases for lid.
All sizes: p 1 rnd, k 1, k2 tog REV, k to last 2 stitches, k 2 tog
Continue decreasing 8 stitches eveyr other rnd until the final 4 sts, p 1 rnd and gather those last stitches together. Weave in ends. Top with pom-pom.
SMALL made with yarn wrapped around 3 fingers 15 times
MEDIUM made with yarn wrapped around 4 fingers 25 times
LARGE made with yarn wrapped around 4 fingers slightly opened up and 35 times
Tie tightly in the center, snip ends and trim with scissors for the shape you want. These wraps and widths make a proportional top for each sized pot.
Version 2 – knit on straight needles
Much as most of us love working in the round on circ’s .. there are a few times when a straight needle is more appropriate. One of those times is when you are working intarsia, as was done in the sample of the Scot’s Thistle design
So .. cast on as for Version 1 .. but k all rows for garter stitch. When you get to the main part of the body, you will switch to st st .. which is k 1 row and p 1 row.
I found a skein of lovely varigated stuff in my stash that went from deep hunter to sage green on one end and from deep purple to medium lavender on the other. If you take some of the yarn OUT of a skein and play with it .. you can soon discover HOW it was dyed. Many varigated yarns like this are dip dyed. That’s how they get the graduations in shading that we all love so much. Since I wanted the COLORS of the intarsia to MATCH the colors of the borders .. I pulled out the yarn and snipped it on the undyed sections in the middle. This left me with strands that are about 24 inches long of each color.
Rather than take my time re-inventing the wheel .. with her permission, I’d like to direct you to Vicki Meldrum’s excellent tutorial online. Vicki has lots of lovely photos and explanations of precisely and exactly HOW to do intarsia and how to make it work easily.
http://www.vickimeldrum.com
I simply used strands of the green for the area I considered the leaves and bottom of the thistle .. and purple for the flower.
Back to the cozy at hand .. you’ll work the design in st st, work the rows all the way to the part where we place the markers, then switch back to garter st, k every row, to work the decreases for the lid on top. Sew together, using yarn ends from each appropriate color for each section, and weave in ends.
DECREASES
To create an orderly row of decreases .. we want to have a left leaning decrease paired with a right leaning decrease with one stitch in the middle. The standard k 2 tog gives us the left leaning decrease, and this much easier than most version gives you the right leaning one. It sounds horribly complicated, but I promise you, it is not.
To work a right leaning dec .. work the decrease exactly the same as you do for the regular one .. but go through the OTHER set of loops. If you normally k through the loop on the backside of your needle .. you will then k through the front side instead. This twists the stitches and skews them into the other direction.