Water Bottle Cosy

I just quickly made this cosy up for my water bottle, it was easy and quick. I used 8 ply cotton and a 4 mm hook. The base is just a flat circle of 3 rounds, then straight up the sides with mesh. Lastly, I finished with a length of chain to weave in and out of the last row of stitches to form a string pull. Fun!

water bottle cosy in 8 ply cotton

Two-way Teacosy photo tutorial

 

 

I made my first granny square two-way teacosy back in August 2012 and I was asked for the pattern. Well its been a long time coming, but here is the photo tutorial! Its a very easy pattern but a bit hard to explain without photos. Please let me know if you need me to clarify anything!

this is the "Spring Day" side of the two way teacosy

this is the "Dark Day" side of the two-way teacosy

1. make two granny squares of contrasting colours

1b. one granny square covers about half of your tea pot

2. make two more squares the same so you now have four

3. put one more round around one square, weave in ends

4. put one more round in the same colour on a contrasting square, weave in ends

5. in the same colour, start a round on another square, join at the corner with sc

6. join in between two more granny clusters with sc

7. cont. the round as a normal granny square until the last two clusters, and join with sc in between

8. join the other side of the two squares in the same way

9. complete the round so you have a sleeve of two granny squares, fasten off and weave in ends

9b. your granny square sleeve would fit over your teapot like this



10. join the contrasting squares in the same way, but do not fasten off

11. turn the first sleeve inside out

 

12. place the first sleeve inside the second sleeve, matching up the holes like this

13. chain 3 to begin the next round

14. crochet a granny cluster in a space of both sleeves joining them together

15. continue the round joining the sleeves in the spaces between the granny clusters, cont all the way around the top

16. in the same colour or a contrasting colour, make another granny cluster round around the top

17. do an opt round of petals (5 dc into middle dc of granny cluster, sl st into sp), fasten off and weave in ends

18. count the granny clusters around the top and times by 3, make a ch of that length (eg. 20 clusters x 3 = 60 ch)

19. thread the chain in between the space between the granny clusters of the 3rd last round

20. weave the chain in between the granny clusters all the way around the top

21. sl st into 1st chain to for a loop

22. Place over tea pot and pull drawstring chain tight

Congratulations, you have made a granny square two-way teacosy! Enjoy that warm cuppa this winter, and let me know what you think!

Beachy Jar Cosy

I quickly made this last Tuesday morning, because I suddenly decided I needed somewhere to store my peppermint tea bags!

a cotton cosy for a jar

 I used 100% cotton still with the 'made in China' tags on it, which my mother says she found at a garage sale. Its got a rustic natural colour to it, I wonder if this is the raw colour? I completed this project in less than 3 hours, it would have bene quicker had I not been indecisive by unravelling stops and starts.

beachy lid detail

 The reason I wanted to make this cosy was because where my tea and kettle are, sometimes the afternoon sun peeks through the blinds. Sun is not good for any herbs or tea, but all I had handy was a glass jar, so I made a cover for it to stop the light. The cosy has a few 'windows' so you can see what's inside the jar without having to open it. This is a small moccona coffee jar where the lid can be pulled apart and put back together. So I put a tiny bit of sand and 3 small but pretty shells inside to inhibit the sun, but also create a 'beachy' look.

detail of the doily base

 I was having trouble deciding on the base, starting iwth a 3mm hook but going to the 2mm. Then I realised this small doily I made the other day was the same cotton with a 2mm hook, so I decided to use that for the base. To turn the 4 round doily into a tea cosy I did a 5th round of 1 dc, 2 dc in next (sk 2, 2 dc in next, 2 dc in next, sk 2, 2 dc in next, 2 dc in next, sk 2) repeated 7 times, 1 dc in same as 1st dc, sl st to 1st dc.

Warm & Cool Twoway Teacosy

I made this simple granny square two way tea cosy to show my friend Lisa how it would look when finished. She's learning how to crochet and would like to learn how to turn her granny squares into a tea cosy. If she likes this one, I'll show her how its done.

"cool" & "warm" two way tea cosy, design by me

If anyone else would like to know how to make this, please just leave a comment here and I will post a photo tutorial. This is my own design, but its really easy. I already have an idea for the colours and name for the next one, so if I get a couple of comments, it will go to the top of my list of things to do!

top flower detail of my two way tea cosy

"Olives & Wine" Two Way Tea Cosy

I finally finished this two way tea cosy on my birthday, it was fairly simple to do. I've started writing the pattern down so I can hopefully get it pattern tested very soon.

the main side of two way tea cosy, "Olives & Wine"

I chose these colours mainly because this is what I mostly have left of the classic wool from Bendigo. My mum gave me the wine coloured wool called 'cognac', but it wasn't soft enough to make the beanie and scarf set she thought it would be good for. So some of it has now been made into this tea cosy! I purposefully made this one plain with stripes instead of flowers, in case a tea drinker I know of would prefer a cosy that's not too pretty!

in case you don't like stripes, turn it inside out for a deep red cosy

One side of the tea cosy is stripes of maroon, purple and green. Turn the cosy inside out and its all maroon. Nice and easy!

Earbuds Sleeve

I wasn't sure this would work, while I was making it I gave up on it at one point because I was certain the ear phone cord would not curl up with the crochet as neatly as it has.

draft prototype sleeve for ipod earbuds

I started with a long chain, as it turns out this first attempt in blue wasn't long enough. The blue section was long enough to see that the cord would indeed curl up neatly inside the crochet, the purple section was added later. After the start chain, I did 2 rows of dc into that chain. Then I folded it in half length ways and lay the cord along the fold, closed up the tube with a row of sc that joins the top row of dc with the starting chain. Then I did a row of (sc ch sk 1) to thread the drawstring through, which was added at the end.

I've been using this at the gym to see how well it works. When I get the chance I hope to make a little pouch to pop it in. Don't mind the colours too much, this is just a draft!

Royal Garden Tea Cosy finds a new home

Last time I wrote about this tea cosy, it was homeless. Well, now I'm happy to report it has a new home, it now lives at my mother-in-law's house.

skirt added to tea cosy, ready for it's new home

It was a tight fit on the MIL's teapot, so I added an extra layer to the bottom. Now it has a skirt and will do it's job well!

Brightly Coloured Easter Egg Cosies

Here are four brightly coloured Easter egg cosies for some chicken egg shells I blew and dyed a couple of weeks ago. I used a 1.5mm hook and some fine bright cotton my mother gave me. Making each cosy didn't take long, maybe about 40 minutes.

Four brightly coloured Easter egg cosies

Four bright egg cosies all in a row

One morning when David decided to make scrambled eggs for breakfast, I decided to hollow out the egg shells first. I remembered how to hollow out the egg shells from when I was a kid. You gently pierce a hole in one end of the egg, and then another hole in the other end. I used a long metal skewer with a very pointy end so I could gently grind it through the shell. Most of the holes are tiny, but some cracked a little so are a bit larger. I covered those with crochet. When you have two holes in the egg, you gently blow on one hole so the egg will squeeze out through the other hole. This is perfectly fine if you are making scrambled eggs, you don't want to waste them!

dying hollow egg shells with food dye

I didn't research the best way to dye the eggs, which is probably why the colour isn't very strong. Although I don't mind the pale shades. I just soaked the egg shells all day in containers of water coloured with food dye.

dyed hollow egg shells

I then practised making crochet cosies for some plastic eggs I bought, before making these brightly coloured ones. I'm keeping these eggs until next Easter, when I will see how they last. Maybe the shells will have to be removed? I don't know, but we will have to wait and see ...

Pretty Easter Egg Cosies

As promised, here are some more pretty Easter eggs cosies. There are more to come tomorrow! I've made a total of eight this year, here are the first four.

crisp white cosy for a pink Easter egg

Four pretty Easter egg cosies

four tiny egg cosies

These were heaps of fun to make, and didn't take too long. I used a 1.5mm hook and some cotton, I think its 2 ply or maybe 3 ply, because its finer than the 4 ply I have.

a pair of citrus coloured Easter egg cosies

Purple Jar Candle Cosy

I must have seen something like this on google images at some point, because the idea came to me when I recently finished a great big jar of coffee. I then found heaps of pictures of these on the internet, even the stitch I chose is very common, because its quite pretty.

large jar candle cosy

I think this large empty coffee jar would make a great gift. We're hoping to make some cookies to go inside, and I'll pop the tea light candle into the lid to wait while the cookies get eaten! I wonder if the person I'm thinking of giving this to will like it? I certainly hope so, otherwise I might keep it for myself!

My first attempt was with a 3mm hook and I just did a circle that didn't end up flat! That's very weird, I should be able to do a simple flat circle by now!  So I looked at a dishcloth pattern I liked and did that, I switched to the 2mm hook and it looked much better. For the sides, I did a (2 dc 1 ch 2 dc) 2 ch pattern, then a drawstring at the top. I did decrease a little at the top too, but I couldn't too much, otherwise the cosy would not go onto the jar. I want the cosy to be removable so it can get washed.

Royal Garden Two Way Tea Cosy

This teapot cosy is a tight fit on my smallest teapot, so I'm looking for a new home for it, as it can't live at my house! I've been planning this tea cosy for months now, its called "Royal Garden".

Using classic wool from Bendigo Mill and a 4mm hook, this type of tea cosy is quick and easy to put together. This is my own design, I hope one day to write down the pattern to share. But basically, its 4 squares joined together, two squares of each colour. You can turn the tea cosy inside out to get a different colour. The inside of this one is purple, the main side is green with blue butterflies and purple flowers.

spout detail of 'Royal Garden' two way tea cosy

I could make teapot cosies in  all sorts of colours, like "Pink Plum" and "Honey Bee". This is the 3rd teapot cosy I've made now, its the same as my "Ladybird & Lady Grey" two way tea cosy. It all started with the "Sunshiney Happy" tea cosy I made for my brother last Christmas Eve. Cup 'o tea, anyone?