Hot Water Bottle Cozy - design for boys

hot water bottle cozy_2b, a photo by 'Sunchi B' Knit & Purl on Flickr.

My latest cozy designed for boys comes in red & grey. It is complementary in color to the red hand crocheted floor rug that I made earlier in the year (shown in the photo). 

The cozy is lined up the whole length to keep the pattern in shape and is easily removable and washable. It is bright in color and great for children to snuggle up with in cold winter months or when the tummy is aching.

'SunchiB' PATTERN for the Hot Water Bottle Sweater

(available now in my Etsy store)

I love Entrelac knitting! It is rich in texture and perfect for making great colour combos. Featured below is the 'SunchiB' hot water bottle sweater, the pattern now available in my Ravelry store. In this post, I thought I'd share with you the process that goes into making this cozy. It is well worth the effort... enjoy,  :) 

This sweater is knitted in one piece, which requires the shaping of Entralac Diamonds around the neck of this hot water bottle. This is probably the trickiest part when knitting this cozy (detailed in the pattern). It requires the sewing of one of the triangles, as shown in pic 2B and the rest is knitted in a simple entrelac knitting pattern.  

When the knitting part is finished, it is necessary to stitch in all the loose ends, so that our knitting looks neat and seamless. The sweater is lined with the 'acrylic felt', explained in my knitting pattern. We cut out the lining felt to match the knitted sweater and attach it to the knitted sweater by sewing the two together. To make sure that the lining is not moving, we hand-stitch the lining to the sweater using the blanket stitch along the bottom edge, as shown in the photo below.

The long sides of the sweater are then sewn using the sewing machine. Finally, we stitch up the felt along the other end of the sweater, using the blanket stitch.

It is a good idea to insert the bottle now, just to make sure that everything fits together before we finish the last part, which is the sewing of the sides of the sweater. It is best to use the 'mattress stitch seam', as we want the diamonds to be aligned and flowing from one to another. Mattress stitch seam will do a perfect job. 

After you finish one side, your sweater should look something like this. Repeat the process on the other side.

Ta da, now you have one great and stylish looking hot water bottle sweater.

Happy knitting from SunchiB! ♥

Sharing the Etsy Love ♥

Joining Etsy in January 2012, has given me an amazing oportunity to meet some amazing artists who produce some amazing things with love and with their heart. Here are several artists that I am sharing with you today, so please click on the links below to check their lovely handmade products.

Julie Smith from 'sesenarts'
Lisa Ardagh from from 'MetalForFishes'
Gill Cordiner from 'gillthecat'
Cat from 'BananaMonkeyLove'
Kell from 'BlackcurrantShop' 
Sally Anna from 'SallyAnnaBoutique'
Kate Stevens from 'ceramicsnippets
Kristen Till from 'decorateyoucraft
Sara Ward from 'TheWoollyCollective'
Julia Heart from 'juliaheartfelt
Lin Reading from 'shop/slinkylizard

Hot Water Bottle Sweater for little girl's room (100% acrylic)

Here comes a gorgeous 'hot water bottle cozy' for a little girl's room! It is knitted by me in Entrelac Knitting, one of my favorite knitting patterns. It is rich in texture but very soft to snuggle with. It is made with 100% acrylic yarn. This 'hot water bottle cozy' is knitted in one piece and it is lined with acrylic felt for extra strength and durability.

For decorative purposes, the buttons on this cozy are hand covered in matching colour linen.

Writing my first knitting pattern - Entrelac Knitting

To all of you who do check in from time to time on my blog and who like to stay in touch with my creations,  'THANK YOU' ! It was nice to learn what people liked and showed the most interest in. My hot water bottle cozy has received several compliments and I am thrilled that it has received some attention. 

I have received one request for a pattern for this cozy, and I did promise that I would write it. I am currently knitting a 'hot water bottle cozy', designed for a little girls' room and I am writing the pattern as I go. I am a bit of free lance knitter, adding and deducting stitches as I go, so writing a pattern is a bit of a learning curve. I will add that it is also no surprise that I got myself into this... being a teacher and a former administrator I am very much used to writing manuals and procedural tasks.

So this is just to let you know that the pattern for SunchiB 'Hot Water Bottle Cozy- Enrelac Knitting' will be available soon. It will be listed in my Etsy store, so keep checking here or SunchiB facebook page for more information.

It is time for tea !!!

Something for me! 

It is winter here in Perth. This means more time spent indoors on those dark rainy days. Most of us are comfort creatures and we do like to get cozy, warm and comfortable on days like this. I did not have one before, but now I do - my very own tea pot cozy. The inspiration for this one came from Loani Prior, the queen of tea pot cozies. So if you look for ideas on how to make one, look no further than.... (see the link below)...
Off to make myself a pot of tea to check out how warm my tea will stay.....  ENJOY!!!   :), ♥

Loani Prior is the queen of "Really Wild Tea Cozies". Her tea pot cozies do stand out and she makes them into a piece of art. If you would like to learn more about this amazing lady and her work, you can take a peek into her blog @ The Queen of the Tea Cosies.

Last year, I purchased one of her books and decided to give it a go and try create one tea pot cozy for my  very own tea pot. When you are a passionate knitter, it is an absolute must that you have one of those. This is a great book, one of those you can have resting on your coffee table and use as an inspiration or a conversation starter.

The cozies, that we talk about here are no ordinary cozies. We are talking about tea pot garments! It goes something like this... first Loani teaches us to knit a petticoat, just to make sure that our tea pot stays nice and warm and then we create an outer garment for it. Her tea pot cozies are posh, they are beautiful and definitely worth making! You will absolutely love the finished product and enjoy your many cups of tea!

It is a hard job deciding which one to choose from her book, but this time I decided to go for a "Pot Sock Frock and Petticoat" as per the book... how amazing is this name... and how amazing does the finished cozy looks, please check the link! 

STAGE 1 - WE KNIT A PETTICOAT FRIST

Although I am following the pattern in the book I decided to use the wool that I had leftover from my other projects, so I did enjoy playing with colours and deciding how to put them together. I have been working with plenty of earth tones lately, hence the chosen colours. It is such fun following Loani's patterns! I love the attention to detail that she puts into creating each and every cozy. She certainly goes that extra mile and that makes a huge difference in the finished product.

STAGE2 - KNITTING OUTER GARMENT

It is a cozy that is very smart, warm and cozy at the same time!

Revamping the old furniture

Love for the white furniture! There is something to be said for white furniture. It looks elegant, gives that fresh look, and breathes in fresh air to any room. I love to use different shades of white combined with earthy tones, such as different shades of gray, lime, taupe and cream, textured materials such hemp, linen, thick cotton, raw silk and occasional wicker chair, basket or a stool.

MY NEW CUPBOARD

Paint colour: Colorbond "Evening Haze W"

Over the past several years I have converted several old wood pieces of furniture from plain wood look into a stylish white pieces. I will share some of my projects here on my blog and show "before & after" look. This old cupboard that I purchased in an op shop is a perfect example that shows how a lick of paint can give it a new life.

1. I took the handles off
2. Gave it a quick sand with the sand paper
3. Applied the paint undercoat to make sure that paint seals well
4. Three coats of paint will do the trick and make sure that there are no paint inconsistencies 
5. The whole process takes 3-4 days but it is well worth it  

BEFORE