Tea cosies are

are little jumpers, pullovers, ganseys, sweaters or vests for tea pots are they not?

I first made one when I was around about eight. It was made from thick blue "blanket" wool.  This came after the pot holder  (made in the same yarn) that was my first ever knitting attempt. The pot holder took me a very long time. I really struggled to learn to knit. Looking back I wonder how much of that pot holder was my attempts to knit and my grandmother's "fixing" of all the problems. The tea pot cosy however was mine. I had finally "got the hang of it" and although Grandma had to pick up a stitch occasionally I was knitting. The cosy was made and she used it on her small teapot - the one she used for her breakfast tea. Grandpa and I used the bigger pot between us.

There was another cosy that Grandma had "for best". It was used if there were visitors for afternoon tea. It was made from red and gold silk fabric. The fabric was a remnant which had been given to Grandpa by a woman who ran a "Chinese emporium" in the city. "Miss C..." had a husband for whom my grandfather had made more than one suit. Grandma had taken the fabric, padded and lined it.  Miss C had an identical one, also made by my grandmother.  It was the only use they could think of for the fabric. 

My maternal grandmother had several cosies. They had all been knitted or crocheted by her. There was the "Dolly" one - a lady of sorts in a crinoline skirt, there was the "house" one in brown and gold and the pleated one in pink and blue.  They all fitted the large teapot. There were no small teapots in Nanna's house. 

My mother did not bother with tea cosies. She did not drink tea herself and we kittens were not allowed to drink it at home. The Senior Cat made his own tea more often than not. If there were visitors Mum would make the tea but there was still no tea cosy. Perhaps it was because sitting there over a cup of tea was not something that happened. There were always too many other things to do.

All this is something I have thought about recently because I have just made another teapot cosy. It is intended as a "thank you" to S...  S... put the computer desk together for me. It is something I could not have done for myself and I am genuinely grateful. 

All that now needs to happen is that I put the side seams together and sew the "1" on one side. There is a maple leaf on the other side because S... is Canadian by birth. I had to design all this of course and I am not sure it is as good as I would like but this is the third attempt. It doesn't look too bad though. I could almost imagine the teapot snuggling into it.

But.... I have to admit it is not an exciting tea cosy. I am aware there are thousands of designs out there. On one website alone there are more than a hundred of the most extraordinary designs - everything from footballers to fairies and strawberries to sheep. I looked at all these things. They amuse me but I have no desire to make them as teapot cosies. Would they make hats, silly hats? Perhaps.

I like the simplicity of plain off-white yarn and a red maple leaf. If a cosy is needed at all then perhaps this is the way to go. The problem is that I tend to make my "cuppa" and then get on with doing things. The tea does not need to stay warm. It just gets drunk instead.