Oct 5, 2007

A Tea Cozy that's A Hat, a Sweater that's a Tea Cozy


When Larry and I were in New York, there was a street fair on Columbus near our apartment. I remember most street fairs as being a mix of one or two cool things, along with booths selling Verizon phones, irregular sheets and last year's Tommy Hilfiger socks.

I was drawn to a booth selling hats. And lo and behold I found a Tea Cozy that's Really a Hat. Handle, spout and all. Being the tea lover I am, I couldn't resist. it was soft, cute, and the colors perfectly matched a "cashmere" scarf I'd just bought at a booth one block down. I wore it to lunch that day, not thinking what it was like for Larry to sit next to a woman with a tea pot on her head. I got some looks. Mostly chuckles and "you go girl." But a few, 'Run Away" as well.

Well you decide.

It's fall, and the few days of cooler weather prompted me to get out my knitting. When I was working on "My Name Is Earl," the actress who plays Earl's mother showed me what she'd done with felting. Ever thrown a wool sweater into the laundry by accident, and it came back the size of a Barbie suit? Well, with felting you do it on purpose. The actress old wool sweaters at the thrift store, felted them, and then used them as fabric. She'd sewn baby booties to give to orphanages.

This was the coolest thing. Especially, I thought, since sewing a tea cozy out of felted wood would be a lot faster than knitting and felting, which I'd already done. They take HOURS.

So last weekend I sewed a tea cozy. Made from an old sweater I found at the Salvation Army and felted.

Voila. With autumn here and Christmas gifts coming, I've got work to do.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, you may have heard of the Advent Conspiracy, an organization that is trying to take the consumerism out of Christmas. Instead of blowing wads of cash on useless items, make gifts for each other (They provide a list). Then donate the money you saved to a favorite charity.

Some of you may be getting a felted tea cozy from me. Or a felted hat. Or wallet.

You've been warned.

5 comments:

Lisa Wheeler Milton said...

That hat is smashing, and a little quirky. =] I am coming up with some advent conspiracy ideas this week too. (We rolled it out last Christmas, but it was around Thanksgiving and it was hard to make lots of stuff that fast. I need time to pull it off.) Great idea!

{Hope you are feeling better.}

Anonymous said...

LOVE the advent Christmas theory. Maybe we should all just sit down and write each other heartfelt letters, the old fashioned way, hand written that take time and thoughtfulness. That is so much more meaningful than jewlery or clothing or.......
Tea cozys??? :o)

Cornelia Seigneur - Finding the Adventure in Motherhood and Life said...

I love this idea - last year we had visited Imago Dei, my high school daughter and I and she loved it. She inspired our whole family to do this. Why do we feel so compelled to have to give materially to others during Christmas. . .this idea gets us giving of ourselves and helping people who truly need it.
great post

Anonymous said...

OK I have to ask the obvious question:
With all those people staring at your new hat did you stand up and sing the "I'm a little teacup" song?

Anonymous said...

i dont suppose you would sell that teapot hat to me? name your price...

my email is anj@feed-us.co.uk

x

Post a Comment