|
|
|
My friend Garen has been making tea cozies lately. She's made three different versions of the cover cozy from Vogue Knitting: Felting, and one (so far) with wet-felting. She'll probably make a few more with other techniques, leaving her with the best-dressed little yellow teapots in town, before she moves on to something else.
Tea cozies are of no use to me because I don't use a teapot. However, I do use a large teacup. I have some 18oz ones and some 20oz ones. At a recent meeting of our spinning guild, after we all admired Garen's latest creation, I was thinking out loud that I need an upside-down cozy, one that goes around the outside and bottom of my oversized cup. Our Spindlicity editor, Janel, was sitting beside me, and offered a deliciously apt name for what I was describing: Tea panties. So here is how I made myself some felted tea panties, with a dip in the rim for sipping, and a ridge around the bottom that keeps the cup from tipping over. The slit for the handle is cut after felting. 
I had some "beast waste" in my stash that I didn't know what to do with. It's too scratchy to wear against my skin. But I figured my teacups wouldn't mind it at all. I'd randomly dyed handfuls of it at our spinning guild's last "Dyefest" meeting. I carded the fiber into batts on a drum carder (each color separately). It had gotten a bit compacted during dyeing, and I wanted a fluffy, wooly yarn, with lots of air in it to promote felting. I have gobs of this stuff; I carded about 4½ ounces. I only used about 3 ounces, including the optional lid. I spun a bulky single, alternating colors to make a self-striping yarn. I blended the colors a little for a few yards at each color change. The beast waste is a blend, and the kemp fibers didn't felt, so I wound up with very hairy tea panties. I trimmed off as much of that fuzz as I could; the photos show the finished tea panties after a haircut. So does this work? Does it keep my tea warmer? Yes, a little. Not as much as a tea cozy on a teapot, because the top of the cup is open. It works a little better with the optional lid, which I thought about attaching, but haven't. What it's really good at is shielding my hands from a too-hot cup!
Tea Panties
Felted cup cover to fit an 18 oz. cup (4 7/8" outside diameter). Features a purled base ridge around the bottom to keep your cup from tipping over, and a "sipping dip," where the upper edge curves downward so you can sip. The opening for the cup handle is cut after felting, so you can make the panties either left-handed or right-handed. Abbreviations:
Materials: Gauge: Finished Dimensions:
Using the backwards loop cast-on (also called "single cast on"), CO 3 to each of 2 dpns, 2 to a third dpn. Join, being careful not to twist, and proceed to work in rounds. When convenient, rearrange stitches onto 4 dpns.
Round 1: Place a marker for the beginning of the round. *KFB*. (16 sts) Even Rounds 2-12: K. Round 3: *K1, KFB*. (24 sts) Round 5: *K2, KFB*. (32 sts) Round 7: *K3, KFB*. (40 sts) Round 9: *K4, KFB*. (48 sts) Round 11: *K5, KFB*. (56 sts) Rounds 13-17: Purl. Form base ridge: Round 18: With the right needle, reach around to the back of the work, where the 4 rounds just purled form a stockinette fabric (they form reverse stockinette on the front of the work). The last round knitted before the purl rounds, Round 12, will form the row of purl bumps just below the stockinette rows. Pick up the first purl bump, the one directly 5 rows down from the next st on the left needle, place the bump on the left needle and knit it together with the next st. Repeat around. This will form a thick purl ridge all around. Round 19: *K6, KFB*. (64 sts) Rounds 20-40: K. Round 41: *(K1, p1) 3 times, K2tog, (p1, k1) 3 times, p2tog.* (56 sts) Round 42: *K1, p1*. Begin "sipping dip": Round 43: Continue in k1, p1 rib to last 7 sts before marker; wrap next st and turn. Round 44 (wrong side): Rib back to last 7 sts before marker; wrap next st and turn. Rounds 45-50: Rib to 2 sts before the next wrapped st; wrap next st and turn. Round 51 (right side): Rib remainder of round, picking up all wraps and working them together with their respective sts. Round 52: Rib, picking up all remaining wraps and working them together with their respective sts. BO all sts. 
Weave in ends. Wash both pieces in a half-load of laundry with some towels or jeans or something else that will provide some abrasion to aid felting. 
When felted to fit (it took 3 washes in my building's coin-op machine), cut a slit in the side of the main piece for the cup handle: If you're left handed, cut the slit to the left of the "sipping dip"; if you're right-handed, cut it on the right side. Sew the lid on if you like. I didn't, though. Slip the damp tea panties over your cup to dry. Trim as necessary. 
Lid (optional): CO 8. Rounds 1-12: As Rounds 1-12 of main piece. (56 sts) Rounds 13-14: As rounds 19-20 of main piece. (64 sts) Rounds 15-20: K. Round 21: *K6, k2tog*. (56 sts) BO all sts. |
