Suzy Cowper is a knitting pattern designer living in Dumfries and Galloway; you may have seen her knitting pattern in Simply Knitting or Let’s Knit magazines. She specialises in tea cosy knitting patterns and prides herself in designing characterful tea cosies that are quirky and a bit out of the ordinary. You can see her tea cosies on her website TeaCosyFolk.
To help people beat the isolation boredom, Suzy has designed a new tea cosy for a Mystery Tea Cosy Knit Along. A Knit Along is when new knitting pattern is divided into parts and each part is released each week over a number of consecutive weeks; knitters join in and knit each part as it becomes available. The Knit Along becomes a community-based knitting project because although everyone is working on their own tea cosy, they are coming together socially in a Facebook group that has been specially set up for the knit along to discuss their progress and to post photos of how their work is coming along. https://www.facebook.com/groups/665138554302449/?ref=bookmarks
Usually with a knit along people know what they are going to knit before they start, but because this is a mystery knit along, the only thing that the knitters know is that they are going to knit a tea cosy. They have no idea of what the tea cosy might look like, they only know that it is a male character that people would recognise. Intriguing!
Suzy Cowper said “I was asked by a couple of people if I would create a Knit Along, I had done one a could of years ago for a vintage caravan tea cosy and about 300 people signed up to join in and the tea cosies looked fantastic, it was so lovely to see them all. I think with isolation and social distancing that there is a greater need now than ever for the positivity that a knit along creates and already we have over 600 people signed up to knit along with this mystery tea cosy.”
Knitting is proven to be excellent for mental well-being and the effects of that, teamed with the social interaction of bringing likeminded people together in a Facebook group, can only have positive outcomes for the people who are joining in the knit along.
The tea cosy knitting pattern is an easy pattern that knitters of all abilities will be able to tackle. The pattern uses double knitting yarn in blue, yellow, flesh colour, red and a small amount of black to embroider on a face. The finished tea cosy is designed to fit a 2-pint Price and Kensington teapot, the common round teapots that hold about 6 cups of tea. Full details about the technical side of the tea cosy and making it can be found on that popular knitting pattern website Ravelry. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mystery-tea-cosy-knit-along.
Suzy says, “I love tea cosies, they are perfect because they are green and keep the tea hot for longer, but they are also wonderful talking points when friends come round for tea, and knitting is such a happy pass time. What could be a nicer way to pass the isolation than a nice new tea cosy knitting pattern that will keep your teapot hot for years and years!”
