I do not remember when I started drinking tea. It was early in life and I started with “Granny Tea”. You know, mostly milk with a splash of tea for effect! LOL! So I have been a tea drinker for a very long time. I started knitting tea cozies for myself and friends as the ones I could find were all very plain and practical. I wanted fun, I wanted floral and so I started to design my own. At first for myself only, they were my “play” projects, lots of embellishments and experiments. Then, I started to design them for other knitters.

I went with the gentleman styled cozy, it leaves the handle and spout free of the cozy. I didn’t want or like a hot handle when I picked up a pot, and I didn’t want have to take the cozy off to pour the tea!

And so they started.

This one is inspired by the Coast Salish and the Ceremonial Dancers and Button Blankets.

Pattern is a combination of charted and written instructions.

This is a new pattern in my Salish Sea Collection. Patterns inspired by the West Coast and usually knit in the Cowichan style with yarns created for this style of knitting.

Perhaps the heaviest cozy I have ever designed. Working with the Prairie Sea Fusion was a breeze and the sheer weight of the yarn has created the coziest warmer ever!

Dancer Cozy is a Gentleman’s Style Cozy. This means that the spout and the handle are not covered by the cozy and the pot is simply lifted and the tea poured without removing the cozy.

It is my favourite style of cozy as I find the handle gets too hot with most pots if it covered by the Cozy.

What this means for the knitter. It means that you will start the cozy in the round, then split the cozy in two and will knit both sides separately and then the cozy will get reattached into a round, continue working, and finishing, in the round.

The Dancer Cozy is shaped and finished with a grafting line just like a sock toe.

A photo tutorial on making and attaching the fringe is included in the pattern.

Materials: 7.0mm US #10.75 40cm 16in circs and dpn’s, approx. 40 yds of each of 3 colours of Super Bulky Yarn, sample was knit with Prairie Sea Fusion, shades 2, 4 and 5; heavy big eye needle, BORM and the regular notions.

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** 12 sts in 4 inches in Cowichan style stranding (usually slightly tighter than average stranding, floats are caught after every st)

Size: One size – medium to large – excluding fringe – approx. 8.5in high and 10in wide