Owl Tea Cozy

Double-Knit Owl Tea Cozy

Using either round or double-pointed size 4 needles, cast on 51 stitches.

Row 1-4

Knit with Color 1 in front and Color 2 in back

Row 5-10

Knit 18 stitches C1/C2

Switch to C2/C1 for 15 stitches

Knit 18 stitches C1/C2

For the handle opening:

Row 11

Knit 13 stitches C1/C2

Turn work

Knit 31 stitches C2/C1

Knit 15 stitches C1/C2

Knit 4 stitches C2/C1

Turn and invert – continue until the work is long enough to incorporate the handle. In my case, I continued knitting flat for rows 12 through 32.

For the spout opening:

Well, I’m thinking of redoing this – I don’t like how it fits the teapot.

In row 14: stitches 35-40, knit with a small extra piece of yarn, slip them back on the needle, knit over with original colors. When the work is finished, take out the extra piece and pick up live stitches on top and bottom. Double knit a few rows and join the two sides with Kitchener’s stitch.

In row 21, reduce center C2/C1 section by 1 stitch on each side. Do so in each row for 5 rows. In row 27, knit C1/C2 all the way around.

Row 33

Instead of turning the work, join  the two sides and knit

Rows 34-37

Begin reducing the work, 6 per row for 3 rows.

Rows 38-42

Knit C1/C2

Join the work at the top with the Kitchener stitch. I separated the colors and stitched them together separately. For this version, created the flap on the side to fasten the cosy on by picking up the 10 stiches from the flat-knit portion and knitting for 10 rows before reducing to 4 and closing with Kitchener’s as well.

For the eyes:

On size 4 dpns, cast on 30 stitches.

Row 1: knit

Row 2: knit – reduce by 5

Repeat until there are only 3 stitches and close

I used a crochet hook to make the border and a tapestry needle to make the pupil

For the beak

Cast on 8 stitches

Rows 1, 3: knit across

Rows 2, 4: purl across

Rows 5, 7: reduce by 2 stitches

Rows 6, 8: purl across

Row 9: slip first stitch, knit 2 together, slip first stitch over

Sewing them on was a bit of a challenge, since I tried to use the opportunity to sew them on both sides at the same time. Not to mention, my eyes ended up looking a little puffy. If I were to do this project again, I would probably make it larger, both in circumference and height. All in all, it was an enjoyable project.