The Mini Tea Cosy

So my previous cable tea cozy went down pretty well. So well in fact another was requested from me, however this time it wasn’t for an average four cup teapot, but a teapot with a width of 17cm  and a height of 9cm. This therefore being my first attempt at adapting a pattern, I actually went and bought a very cheap teapot of these measurements to help the process.

So this is what I bought…£5.00 from Tescos… Bargain 🙂 !

 

 

The adaptations I made was to shorten the initial chain to 56, meaning each panel includes 28 stitches, broken down into six for the cable and eleven for each side of the cable ( for the stitches that rotate between SC and DC).

A second change was the elastic band at the bottom of the cozy was shortened to a width of five stitches instead of ten.

But lastly an extra weave sequence of the cable was added. This was based only on a personal preference, as with such a small pot I loved the slightly over sized jumper look quality it provided.

Finished off with some lacy ribbon….And wollah!

If you want further information on the cable tea cozy check out my previous post. Otherwise, the pattern is sold very reasonably on Etsy by Knotsewcute.

B

X

Bettedesigns now has its very own Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bettedesigns/1415519978711389

So please check it out and like the page!

Tea Cosy no. 2

Hey, sorry for the late blog! I do try and blog weekly however my partner decided to change our broadband provider …..what a polava! So… with the success of my previous tea cosy, I’ve had another family request! This time  searching for something a little less girly, I stumbled across this beautiful cable crochet pattern on etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/156411033/tea-time-cozy-crochet-pattern-pdf?ref=sr_gallery_5&ga_search_query=crochet+tea+cosy+patterns&ga_ship_to=GB&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

It includes stitches such as SC, Reverse SC, DC, HDC and cable (refer to cable mittens), it advertises itself as an intermediate pattern, however once you understand the cable technique and as long as you keep the right number of stitches at the time, the pattern became very easy to do. One thing I do have to praise is the PDF pattern itself, it was so descriptive and had each stitch and section described beautifully and annotated with pictures, I will definitely be purchasing patterns  from Knotsewcute again.

So this was what I was able to produce…

 

Effectively, without giving too much away you work in rounds to produce the elastic like ribbing , divide off to create two cable panels and then join everything off with a few rounds of half double crochet. One technique I was really quite happy about, was producing rows of alternating single crochets and double crochets, which can be seen on either side of the cable pattern. It produced such a rustic chunky stitch and a pattern of its own, itself crocheted with a bulkier yarn and some chunky buttons would look lovely as a tea cosy even by itself. So watch this space… I might attempt that sometime soon and show you what I mean! I equally loved the ribbing and found it so quick and easy to produce, I would definitely be using this in future projects…

One minor thing I wished the pattern did include was details on how to efficiently stitch the pon pons on! My stitching is pretty horrendous and these might need restitching when used on a day to day basis.

Otherwise , I would give the pattern a five stars and recommend that you check it out!

Anyone fancy purchasing a finished product, message me!

Cable Mittens

Looking for a harder challenge and something with a pattern, I came across these cable mitten gloves. Completely traditional and very in season, I couldn’t resist giving them ago!

Using a 4mm hook and aran yarn, the pattern includes:

• A magic circle
• Row one-Chain three, then double crochet 12 times into the circle and slip stitch into the first stitch at the top of the first double crochet.
• Row two-Chain three and place two double crochet into every stitch and again slip stitch into the first stitch at the top of the first double crochet.
• Row three-Chain three, do seven dc, two dc back posts, skip three stitches and do three tc and then go back and do three tr in the three missed stitches. Two dc back posts and seven dc. Slip stitch once more into the first stitch at the top of the first double crochet.
• Row four- Chain three, seven dc, two dc back posts, six dc front posts, two dc back posts and seven dc. Slip stitch into the first stitch at the top of the first double crochet.
• Row five-Repeat row four.
• Row six-Repeat row three.
• Repeat the pattern until the mitten reaches your thumb.
• Row one of the thumb-Depending on whether you are stitching the right or left glove depends on which side of the cable you are creating the thumb space. The thumb space is always situated where there are the seven dc. For the left glove you dc four chain 5/6 (depending on how large a thumb hole you wish to have) , miss two stitches and dc in the last of the seven dc. Carry on the pattern explained in row 3,4 and five. For the right thumb you carry on the pattern as explained but when you reach the last seven dc before slip stitching, you want to dc one, chain 5/6 miss two stitches and dc four.
• Row two/ three of the thumb- Carrying on the cable pattern when reaching the thumb section you now want to dc in every stitch. This is because this section of your hand is at its largest width.
• Row four of the thumb- This is where you will want to start reducing the number of stitches. So carrying on the cable pattern when you come to the thumb section, dc until you reach the five extra dc, now dc into the first of the five dc (yarn over, go through the stitch, pull through the yarn, yarn over and pull through two, however this is where you stop) and repeat until you have three loops on your hook. Once you have three loops on your hook, pull through all three. Repeat this three more times. What you should find is this then reduces this section back down to its original seven dcs.
• From now on is completely up to you, depending on how long you wish to have the gloves, repeat rows three to five. I personally followed through with three more rows.
• At the point at which you wish to start finishing. Complete two to three rows of dc front posts in every stitch (including the back post stitches). This creates a cuff like texture.
• Finish off and weave in ends
• Creating the thumb-Place your hook through a stitch around the thumb hole, slip knot a new thread of yarn and slip stitch. Chain three.
• Place a dc in each stitch around the hole (on either side where there is a double crochet stitch place two dc in these stitches). You should have a total of twelve stitches. Slip stitch as explained previously.
• Repeat this until you are happy with the length of the thumb, when you are ready to finish chain three, dc into the first stitch.
• Now you want to yarn over, go through the second stitch, pull through, yarn over and pull through two  loops (do not complete the stitch). You want to complete this process until you have all twelve loops on your hook.
• Using another hook go through the top stitch of the first dc, pull through the yarn and make a large hoop.
• Now you want to pull this hoop of yarn through every single one of the twelve hoops on your first hook.
• Once through, slip stitch and chain one. Finish off and weave in the ends of yarn.

This is what I was able to produce…

 Now, the pattern looks a nightmare, but its so cleverly explained point by point in the youtube feed even a beginner will have a good chance of cracking the pattern. Just take each row as it comes and you’ll be amazed by the results…

I can’t explain how much I loved making these gloves! The pattern keeps you on your toes and the results are charming and totally stunning. I honestly will be making these again and again in every colour possible. Beautiful and clever design! You must try!

If anyone is interested in purchasing a pair, message me!