This is a very pretty tea cosy, perfect for keeping your teapot dressed in style and your tea hot.  It is the first of a series of tea cosies which make up the Grandma collection.

 

Dedicated to the inspiration that was ‘Mary’ the pattern has flowers made on a small flower loom, which are inexpensive to buy and relatively easy to use.  I purchased mine for about £3.

  The pattern makes a tea cosy that fits a standard 4 cup teapot

I used just under  50g of Rico baby classic dk yarn in colourway (026)

and scraps of yarn.

  I used scraps of stylecraft special dk in the following colourway (nb/the mint is Stylecraft life dk)

Stitches used in this pattern refer to English terminology, however a conversion to US terminology is provided in brackets.

Ch – chain stitch 

slst – slip stitch

dc – double crochet ( single crochet)

dc tog – double crochet together (single crochet together)

You will also need:

a small flower loom

a 4mm hook

a darning needle

scraps of yarn to use as temporary tie markers 

scraps of yarn to make flowers 

a string of beads 50cms long

50cms of lace 0.5cms broad

a stitch marker

Top Tip: safety pins make excellent stitch markers! 

Ok, here we go…

Ch 80 and join with a slst to form a circle (before completing the slst make sure chain is not twisted).

It is a good idea to check at this point that the circle of chains fits around your teapot. (see end of pattern for instructions about adjusting pattern).

Row 1: Ch1 (mark with a stitch marker, does not count as a dc), dc in each ch around

finish with a slst in ch marked with a stitch marker taking care that work is not twisted when completing the slst. (80dc).

Row 2: Ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, does not count as a dc)

Dc in each st around, finishing with a slst in ch marked with a stitch marker. (80 dc).

Rows 3 – 5: repeat row 2

Row 6: Ch 1 (remove st marker from previous row and place in this ch, does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 14sts, mark next st with a tie marker (different colour yarn which will be removed later – I just tied a bow in red yarn!) see picture below.

slst in same st as tie marker and in next 6 sts  and mark last slst with a second tie marker as shown in the picture above.  This is where the spout hole starts!

 

1dc in next 33sts, mark next st with a third tie marker, slst in same st as tie marker and in next 4 sts, mark the last slst with a fourth tie marker. This is where the hole for the handle starts!

1dc in next 21 sts, slst in ch marked with a stitch marker. (35dc, 7slst, 33dc, 5slst). Fasten off.

This next part of the pattern is worked in rows as side (a) and side (b) and forms the sides of the cosy.

So let’s do side (a) first…

Row 7a: Join yarn in st next to the 4th tie marker and to the right hand side of the stitch marker

ch1 (does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 35 sts to next tie marker, turn.

Row 8a: ch1 (does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 35sts to tie marker, turn.

Rows 9a – 25a: repeat row 8a, fasten off.

OK, now let’s do side (b).  Turn over work and join yarn in st next to  second tie marker on the right as shown.

Row 7b: ch1 (does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 33 sts to next tie marker, turn.

Row 8b: ch1 (does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 33 sts to next tie marker, turn. Rows 9b – 24b: repeat row 8b.

Row 25b: ch1 (does not count as a dc), 1dc in next 33sts to next tie marker, ch5,

slst into 1st st on row 25a as shown.

Again, this is a good point to check the cosies fit on your tea pot.  We return to working in the round again now.

So Row 26: Ch1 (mark with a stitch marker…NB/ this ch does count as a dc), dc in next 34sts, ch7,

dc in next 33sts,

dc in next ch5, slst into ch marked by stitch marker. (80dc).

Row 27: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place stitch marker in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in next 34sts, dc in next 7chs

dc in next 38sts, slst in ch marked with the stitch marker. (80dc)

It is now time to start decreasing the number of stitches to form the top of the cosy.  To do this a dc tog stitch is introduced.  Top Tip: each row that uses dc tog stitches finishes on a dc tog before slst in to ch marked with st marker!  Here we go…

Row 29: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in next 5sts, dc tog in next st, *dc in next 6sts, dc tog in next st*

repeat * -* around,

finish with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (72dc). 

Row 30: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in each st around, finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (72dc).

Row 31: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in next 3 sts, dc tog in next st,  

* dc in next 4 sts, dc tog in next st *, repeat *-* around,

finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (60dc).

  Row 32: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in each st around,

finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (60dc).

Row 33: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as a dc), dc in next 2sts, dc tog in next st, * dc in next 3sts, dc tog in next st *, repeat *-* around,

finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (48dc).

Row 34: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc),

dc in each st around, finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (48dc).

Row 35: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc), dc in next st, dc tog in next st,

* dc in next 2 sts, dc tog in next st *, repeat *-* around, finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (36dc). 

Row 36: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc), dc in each stitch around, finishing with a slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (36dc). 

Row 37: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc), dc tog in next st,

* dc in next st, dc tog in next st *

repeat *-* around, finishing with slst in ch marked with stitch marker. (24dc).

Row 38: ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc), dc in each st around, finish by slst into ch marked with stitch marker. (24dc). 

Row 39:ch1 (remove stitch marker from previous row and place in this ch, counts as dc), dc tog in next st,

* dc tog in next st * repeat *-* around, finish with a slst in ch marked by stitch marker. (12dc).

Row 40:repeat row 39 (6dc).

Row 41: repeat row 39 (3dc). Fasten off.

You should have something that resembles the above …now its time to make the flowers!!!

If you don’t know how to make loom flowers they are simple to make.  I highly recommend you watch a tutorial…I found this one excellent…

loom bloom video tutorial

Make

x8 white / violet flowers

x10 raspberry flowers

x9 pale rose / plum flowers

all flowers to have the same colour centre…I used mint.  Leave long tails on each flower to make attaching them easier.

Keep back x1 raspberry, x1 white, x1 pale rose and x1 plum flower.

Begin to attach the rest of the flowers to the top of the tea cosy using the long tails and  darning needle.

Continue around

 Evenly attaching the flowers…

Once attached turn tea cosy inside out and tie of all loose ends

Snipping to make tidy.

 Next, take the lace. Turning the tea cosy inside out tack the lace around the edge of the opening for the spout and the handle.

Turn, the cosy back to the right side; you should now have a cosy that is beginning to look very pretty indeed…

 

Taking the string of beads, thread a darning needle with some raspberry coloured yarn and tie a large knot.

 Starting at the bottom side of the handle hole pull the needle through from the inside of the cosy to the outside so that the knot cannot be seen.

Begin to tack between each bead, fixing them in a line around the cosy towards the spout hole.Once at the spout hole, snip the beads, turn cosy over and repeat on side b.

Finally, attach raspberry coloured flower at the bottom of the handle hole in the space between the beads.

Attach remaining white, pale rose and plum flower in space between the beads at the bottom of the spout hole. Weave in any remaining loose ends.

Just one last thing left to do now.  Boil the kettle and make a brew…enjoy and admire.

NB/ TIPS FOR ALTERING THE SIZE OF THE cosy…regularly check the size of the cosy on your teapot.  The body of the cosy has the same amount of stitches as row 1, if yours is more or less than 80sts then keep the number of sts you have up to row 28  in order to create the handle and spout holes, place around your teapot and mark with tie markers as described then count your sts between each marker and substitute your numbers into the pattern.

xxxxx

Grandma Mary Tea Cosy part of the Grandma Collection ©2016 designed by Nicola Florence @ayarnyrobin