I have had more fun making felted wool tea cozies this weekend!  All of this started when I learned to knit and discovered the wonderful way to felt woolen items.  Lately I’ve been scouring the Goodwill and thrift stores for 100% wool sweaters & blankets.  Since it’s now warmer weather in Texas, there are very few woolen items in these stores.  But I think I scored well when I found a red turtleneck, blue flowered cardigan, and four cashmere pullover sweaters.  The cashmere sweaters were not blends, but they did not felt as densely as the other two sweaters.

My first attempt in making a tea cozy is this red & pink one which has already been mailed to a good friend as her birthday gift.  First I found a 100% wool turtleneck sweater (Women’s size M Petite) and I put it in the washing machine with a large towel.  I washed it repeatedly on VERY HOT water and the sweater came out felted and it shrinked quite nicely.  I also felted a pink cashmere sweater that was a Women’s size S.  Once these had dried throroughly in the air outside, I brought them in and started cutting.  As you can see I cut off the arms of the red felted woolen sweater and proceeded to blanket stitch the left armhole closed.  (I know, I did the blanket stitch backwards….but I like the way it looks!)  I left the right armhole open so that the handle of my teapot fit through it.

Then I cut off one cuff of the pink felted cashmere woolen sweater and made it into a flower by basting one end of it and cinching it tightly.  Then I sewed the cinched section together so that it made a bloom.  I took about 6″ of the red felted woolen fabric and cut 1 3/4 ” slits along one side every 1/4″.  Then I rolled that up, basted and cinched the bottom or that and stuck it inside the pink flower.  After sewing the pink and red sections together I place them inside the turtleneck portion of the red woolen swezter and stiched them all together securely, thereby closing the hole in the neck.  This makes a nice snug fit for the top of the teapot.  Of course, you can see that I cut slits in the turtleneck portion so that there was a little more interesting texture to the top of the cozy.

Next I did the blanket stitch all around the bottom of the cozy in pink embroidery thread, the same that I used on the handle opening and spout closing.  I decided that such densely felted wool would be a great “pot holder” to use with the very hot teapot handle when pouring the tea.  So, I cut a 4″ square from the red felted wool, and blanket stitched the edges in pink also.  I attached a skinny woolen loop to the front of the cozy so that the pot holder stays with the cozy.

I hope my dear friend enjoys this cheerful tea cozy.  I liked it and thought the wacky hair-like strands at the top would remind her of me and our good friendship.

My second project was a women’s 100% wool cardigan sweater that already had wool flowers embroidered on it.  This sweater REALLY shrunk when I placed it into the washer on very HOT water.  I decided to take a different approach with this cardigan.  I cut the zig zag pattern in between the buttons on the front of the cardigan.  Then I cut off the arms and the shoulders below the neckline in the front and back of the felted sweater.

I turned the piece inside out and sewed the top tightly with blue embroidery thread and a needlepoint needle.  The little loop at the top is the cuff edging of one of the sweater’s arms.  I cut off about 1/2″ from the end of the cuff and placed it so it would stick out whenever I sewed the top closed.

Next I took purple embroidery thread and did the blanket stitch the CORRECT way around the bottom edge and zigzagged edge of the cozy.  As you can see, the loop for the potholder is a wider strip than  the one I put on the red cozy.  And I sewed this loop on the side of this cozy instead of the front.  The potholder for this cozy is a bit larger due to the piece of the arm that I had left.

I’m keeping this one for myself – since my favorite color is blue.  I used it this morning when I brewed my English Breakfast tea.  The pot and the tea were still extremely hot after I finished my first cup of tea.  It was 55 degrees outside this morning at 6AM and I rocked and knitted while drinking my tea.   AHHHHHH days like this make me grateful to be alive!

And actually my first attempt at making something from these felted sweaters was a dog sweater for Dusty.  The sweater he has been wearing belonged to Tango for the years before he passed away.  Dusty gets unusually cold at night if the temperatures drop below 60 degrees.  I decided to use one of the cashmere turtleneck pullovers to make Dusty’s new sweater.

After felting it in the very HOT water in the washer and letting it dry outside, I cut the turtleneck portion in half because it was so long.  Next I cut off the arms and decided not to blanket stitch the openings.  The felting compacted the cashmere so tightly that it didn’t ravel at all after being cut.  Because Dusty is a boy dog I cut a fairly wide section out of the underside of the sweater ( so that he didn’t pee on it).  However, I did keep the back long and did not cut it off.  Here are the results.  He really likes wearing it.  Whenever I gather it to put the turtlenect over his head, he jumps through it to get it on.  It’s definitely snuggly and I’m glad I made it for him.