Friday 7 March 2014

Kensington Steeked Pot


Isn't it funny how fashions change.  Three years ago when I started knitting tea pot cosies I'd have thought how old fashioned this one looked and not touched it.  Now I was so keen to create something that really looked 'knitted' and had block colour texture I couldn't actually find anything 'old' enough!


I'm not a fan of most methods to make the two holes for tea pot cosies, I don't like joining in yarns and leaving stitches on stitch holders, or doing big amounts of awkwardly shaped seaming.  By using steeks and straight edges with a draw string this one avoids that.  There is a need to weave in ends due to the colour knitting but other than that, your cast off/on ends are used to crochet it together and so really minimal finishing.

Using DK yarn and 4mm needles...

Colour A
Cast on 80, leaving a very long cast on tail
rows 1-4: 2x2 rib
Colour B
row 5: knit
row 6: purl
Colour C
row 7: K2, sl1pw, (K3, sl1pw) rep K1
row 8: K1, (YF sl1pw,YB K3) rep K2
Colour B
row 9: K4, (slpw K3) rep
row 10: P3 sl1pw rep P4
row 11: knit
row 12: purl
Colour A
repeat rows 5-6
Colour D
repeat rows 7-8
Colour A
repeat rows 9-12

Repeat these rows 5-12 three more time in any colour combinations, I maintained my B&C and A&D pair swaps.

Colour A
row 41: K2, K2tog, rep
row 42: purl
Colour D
row 43: repeat row 7
row 44: repeat row 8
Colour A
row 45: repeat row 9
row 46: repeat row 10
Colour B
row 47: knit
row 48: purl
row 49: (K1, YO, K2tog) repeat to end
row 50: purl
rows 51 & 52: knit/purl
Colour A
repeat rows 5-6
Colour D
repeat rows 7-8
Colour A
row 57: (KFB 3 times, K1) repeat to end
row 58: purl
Cast off by K2tog, slip stitch from right hand needle to left hand needle, K2tog and repeat to end.  Leave a very long cats off tail.


Knit a 3 stitch i-cord for the tie (in Colour C), it will need to be about 15 inches.  This will thread through the holes created by the yarn overs and pull the cosy in around the tea pot lid.


Now here comes the interesting part... steeks.  It is all based around the columns of stitches 40, 41 and 42 - the needle is showing column 41 here.

Using a 3.5mm crochet hook, using Colour A make a slip knot and place onto the hook.  Stick your hook through the right leg of stitch 41 in row 7 and the left leg of stitch 40 as below.

Wrap the yarn over the hook, and pull yarn through the two Colour C stitches.

Wrap yarn over the hook again and pull yarn through the two Colour A stitches.
Repeat, sticking hook through the right leg of stitch 41 in row 8 and the left leg of stitch 40 as below
Keep going
When you get to row 22, or the 4th set of knit bumps turn your work and continue in the same way but this time stitching through the left leg or stitch 41 and the right leg of stitch 42.
When you get back to where you started, secure the yarn by doing a slip stitch into the starting stitch, and pull yarn through the last loop to secure.

Now, you can take the scissors to your piece of work (yikes!).  If you push down on your two lines of crochet you will see a 'ladder' between them rather than stitches.
This is what you cut - the rungs between the two crochet lines.
And this is where your opening for the spout will be.


Now you will also need to join the two edges/sides between rows 1-8 and from rows 58-27, this can be by crochet like the steeking or matress stitch, which ever suits you.  Then crochet like the steek around the edge between these two, encasing the hole.

Weave in your loose ends, and thread the i-cord through the yarn overs.

And there you go.

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