Tea Cosy #2: 1950s Kitsch

The reason I started knitting was because I needed a tea cosy and couldn't find any knitted ones.

Being British, tea plays a substantial part in my daily routine, and I do use a teapot and teacups with saucers to serve my extra-strong loose leaf tea. In fact, I have two teapots, one in elegant white china for home use, and a slightly sillier one for the office.

A long-standing friend of mine, Gareth, drinks even more tea than I do! Last year, scandalised that he was still making trips back and forth to the kettle like a student, I went out and bought him a big, blue teapot, which I happen to know he uses every day. Now that I can knit, I've decided to make him a tea cosy to go with it :)

I found a 1950s pattern on Ravelry and decided to make it, but without the pom-pom on top as those are just a bit too kitsch, I think! Gareth has two adorable ginger cats. Leo and Louis, so I hit upon the idea of making the cosy in their colours - one bright and one pale shade of orange.

I am about half way through now. I'm guessing people used really small teapots in the 1950s because I had to expand the size of the thing by about 50%. I finished the first half months ago and am determined to do the second one this weekend.

Now all I need to do is find a way of measuring it to Gareth's teapot without him noticing.....

Jumper #1: Purple 1940s jobbie

Now that I'm a bit more confident at knitting, I'm starting to knock out some gifts for friends. I've made a few little things so far, but my first big gift project is a jumper for a former colleague, Rob.

The pattern is a vintage wartime one, which is knit in one piece so that the shoulders are joined. Having experienced trauma with seams while knitting my Tempest cardigan I have decided to make life easier by knitting the body of the jumper as a single piece in the round. I'll do each sleeve in the round, too, I think. I am just making a 'seamless' cardigan at the moment and it really does look so much nicer, which is especially important in a gift.

Rob prefers things he can stick in the washing machine, so I chose a sturdy acrylic in deep purple (his choice of colour). It's such a lovely yarn, I can't wait to see this project develop!