Last night, I bound off my latest knitting project, a purple and grey Honeycomb Tea Cosy and immediately blocked it. To me, blocking seems like a special ace up the sleeve before the final bow a finished object takes to the world. All matter of wobbliness, uneven stitchwork, and even honest-to-goodness mistakes can be made less noticeable with a good blocking. But it is also what takes a project to everyday object that is ready to use, especially in the case of a tea cosy.
I started the tea cosy three weeks ago. I was finishing the layout for Anchor and Bee’s latest publishing project, These Islands, busy with work, and fighting an ear infection, so I wanted a fairly easy and satisfying knit. I also am trying SO hard to not buy new yarn this year (so far so good!) so I wanted to knit with what was in my stash.
But the blocking is the hero of this project and I have the photos to prove it.
The slipped stitches are lovely in my Honeycomb Tea Cosy, but they also create a puckered tension effect that must be gently remedied with blocking.
For this reason, it is a very satisfying project to block overnight because you put it on a tea cosy (with a tea towel to absorb the moisture) in a dry area or hot press and when you wake…
It’s all pretty!
The knit went as planned, but when I rejoined the two sides after the spout/handle section of the pattern, I was in low light and didn’t check to make sure I had done my purl row of purple (MC), so that is missing. It is very noticeable. I could easily weave in a line of faux purls with the purple yarn, which I probably will. Here is a close-up of the error…er, I mean design feature.
Here it is from a top view. I modified the decrease rounds from my original Honeycomb Tea Cosy pattern.
Are you ready to knit your own? This project takes only a small amount of yarn so it’s ideal for a destash. Next time, I think I’ll knit it with a Noro or color-shifting Worsted yarn instead of the purple I used for this project. What colors would you use?