a member of the knifty knitters looming list at yahoo asked for ideas on making a tea cozy. i don't have time to make testers right now, but i wanted to share my ideas before the brain cells holding them meet their untimely (but regularly-occurring) demise.
the simplest idea i have is to make a cozy that covers the entire pot, handle and spout included. it could be as simple as a flat panel made like a very short scarf, folded in half and the sides stitched closed. this would make a cozy that is square on top, and could be a chance to try fancy stitch patterns with little investment of time or yarn.
the next idea i have is for a cozy that still covers the whole pot, but is rounded on top. to do this, you could just make a large hat, taking it off the loom with the gather method. or you could make two flat panels that are straight on the sides from the bottom up to the point where the spout ends, and then you would decrease on each side until you have knit all the loops off. then you'd seam the two pieces together.
the person asking for help wanted a tea cozy that had openings for the spout and handle. for that, i think you could use the same two flat panels, and when you stitch them together you just leave openings where needed.
one idea i have is that any of the above cozies could be felted, which would make them hold in heat better and they could be used for oven mitts or hot pads when not in use on a tea pot.
all these cozies are slipped over the top of the pot. to make one that is like a bag to put the pot in, i think you'd do exactly as above for the flat panels, but you might want to knit a flat piece for the bottom (not sure if that is necessary--these might work fine as is). of course you'd just make the openings in a different place.
to close the top, you could just crochet a loop and add a button, or you could use a ties. if you want to put in a drawstring of some sort to keep the top closed, you would need to make an i-cord, and then either crochet loops on the outside of the cozy to thread it thru, or make eyelets in the band at the top, which can be easily done with a simple yarn over technique (you can be see a video of this technique at yarn gear). you could also felt the cozy and then it just cut slits in the top for the cord.
my last idea is for someone who has a lot of wool yarn to use up: knit a flat panel, felt it, then cut out a cozy and stitch it up. with the scraps, you can cut out coasters for the pot to sit on, or mittens or ear muffs or shoe insoles or christmas ornaments or cat toys or.....
we have tea parties around here every day, so maybe what we need is a set of tiny tea cozies to go with our tiny tea pots. i'll be back with pictures when i get some done. :)
