One!

Hellooooo!!!

It’s an exciting day today, as it has been one whole year since Crochet with Raymond began.  I thought that it would be nice to celebrate this, and say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 365 days by posting a pattern for my latest tea cozy!

I am completely in love with this tea cozy, a bit infatuated by it in fact, and have been desperately excited to post these pictures from a photo shoot KB, Raymond and I did last night as big dark rainclouds threatened us!  But I’ll write the pattern before I commence with blogiversary chatter and tea cozy love…

May I introduce to you, the Polka Dot Tea Pot!

This pattern combines knitting and crochet and is a great project for beginners or people unconfident in one or the other (or both) as it is very easy and looks fantastic when complete.

So!  To knit the cozy, you will need 8ply wool, 4mm needles and two stitch holders.  Gauge is 22 stitches/ 10cms but if gauge terrifies you, don’t worry too much unless you’re a very tight or very loose knitter.

This pattern fits my tea pot, which is seemingly average at 15cms tall and 19cms wide, you may need to jig the pattern a bit to fit your pot.

Abbreviations:  CO= cast on, k= knit, k2tog= knit 2 together.

To begin:

CO 76 stitches

Knit 2 rows (this creates a nice lacy effect and stops the work from rolling terribly when you are knitting!)

Continue in stocking stitch to the bottom of the spout.  When you reach the spout, knit (or purl, it doesn’t matter which side is facing) 38 stitches and place the remaining 38 onto a stitch holder.

Continue in stocking stitch to the top of the spout.  When you reach that point, place the stitches onto a stitch holder and snip off the yarn leaving a 10cm tail.  Place the other 38 stitches back on the needle and knit in stocking stitch to match the other side.

At this point, place all of the 76 stitches onto one needle and knit in stocking stitch until the tea pot begins to decrease. 

With the right side facing you, k5, k2tog until end of row.  Next row purl.

Next row, k4, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k3, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k2, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k1, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k2tog until end of row and continue until 5-10 stitches remain.  Snip off yarn leaving a 30cm tail and using a tapestry needle, pull the yarn through the remaining stitches on the needle, take the stitches off the needle and pull tight.  Sew the seams closed until the top of the handle is reached.

Now for the crochet!  Take your 4mm crochet hook, and fasten yarn to one of the bottom corners.  ch1, sc along the bottom of the cozy, I worked into every second stitch so it wouldn’t flip up, but see how it looks for you and decide if you want to work into every stitch or every second stitch.  Continue along the handle edges (sc into every stitch when working vertically) and slip stitch into the first ch1 of the round. 

To make the mini-shell stitch edging, ch1, *into the next stitch make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc, slst into next TWO stitches* repeat until end of round.  When you reach the end of the round (bottom corner) ch 8-10 (depending on button size) and slst into same stitch.  Fasten off and sew button onto the opposite side.

Now repeat the instructions for the spout opening and you are ready to embellish with polka dots!

To make the polka dots, use a 4mm hook and make a magic ring (photo-tutorial HERE) and fasten with a slst.  ch1, make 7sc into ring and pull ring closed.  Fasten off and leave a 10cm tail to sew the dot onto the cozy.  Weave in other end.

Make as many polka dots as needed and sew onto the cozy!  Ta-daaa!

I hope that the instructions were clear, and that the pictures helped to explain what I can’t!  If you need a visual how-to for the knitting, please click HERE, it is a slightly different pattern, but same concept.  Also, if you need a memory-jog with the crochet stitches, there is a step-by-step guide to the stitches HERE.  And one last link, it is ravelled HERE! 

So there we have it, the Polka Dot Tea Pot… I love it.  Do you know, I can’t believe it has been a whole entire year since I began blogging!  It has been an interesting year with so much change both in the world and here in my mini-world too!  I began this blog as a way to share my love of crochet with other like-minded people, and when I look back over the many posts I’ve written, I can see how much I have evolved as a hooker and a knitter too!  I love crochet, and I love knitting and I love having a medium to share what I love doing, and I love the feedback I get from my lovely, lovely commenters, thank you so much for your support.  Hearing from you brings me so much joy and I can honestly say, I would have bored of this lark long ago without the communication and friendships I’ve gained from wonderful, kind people all over the world.

So… how about some blog stats? In the last year:

I’ve posted 203 posts (and deleted 23 of them recently, it was a cathartic experience!)

I’ve read and loved 4,546 comments

I’ve been protected from 2,583 spam comments

 and I’ve been wowed by 451,910 total hits!

It has been ages since I’ve had a giveaway, and to mark this blogiversary, I’ve decided to have one.  And the prize?

Well, this of course!

The Polka Dot Tea Pot cozy is going to be given to one lucky winner, even though I wish I could give one to everyone who sends appreciation my way!  So I hope you have a tea pot this cozy will fit, and if not, you will have an excuse to go and buy yourself a lovely one!  (My Nana’s china tea cup is not included sorry!!!  It is tea cup perfection though… I wish I had one to give away!)

I really, really love this tea cozy and ooooooooooohhh it is hard to give away!  But as I have many, I can spare one, and it will be lovely to send a bit of my creative goodness out into the world!  So, to enter, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and Raymond and I will pick a winner by a random number generator on Sunday 22nd May!

Well, what are you waiting for!

Good luck!

Lots of love, Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX