Difficulty Rating -

The cheery Christmas robin is no stranger to cold bleak winters. He knows how to keep warm and he will keep the teapot warm too. The festive robin novelty Tea Cosy is quick and easy to make and adds Christmas cheer to the kitchen or breakfast table, he also makes for a very unusual gift.

To make the Christmas Robin tea cosy you will need...
5.5 mm, UK size 5 or US size 9 knitting needles,
50g Brown double knitting wool,
50g Red double knitting wool,
25g White double knitting wool
And scraps of felt for the eyes and beak.

Divide all of the balls of wool into two balls so that the yarn can be used in double thickness but knitted up as a single strand.

The Back
Using double thickness brown yarn cast on 28 stitches and work 38 rows in straight garter stitch (Knit each row)

Leave the stitches on a spare needle until later.

The Front
Using double thickness brown wool, cast on 28 stitches and work 4 rows in garter stitch.

Break the yarn and change to white (again double yarn) Work another 4 rows.

Row 9: Knit 6 stitches with white, Join Red (double yarn) knit in red to last 6 stitches. Knit 6 with white.

Don't carry the yarn behind the work, instead use separate balls of wool and twist the yarns together when changing colours to avoid leaving holes.

Row 10: K6 white, K16 red, K6 white.
Row 11: K4 white, K20 red, K4 white.

Repeat the last row 21 more times.

Row 33: K5 white, K8 red, K2 white, K8 red, K5 white. Repeat this row again.

Row 35: K6 White, K6 red, K4 white, K6 red, K6 white. Repeat this row again.

Work two rows in white.

The Tea Cosy Top
Using brown double yarn proceed to knit across the tea cosy front and then tea cosy back as follows...

Shaping the top Row 1: *K5, K2 tog* repeat to end

Next and every alternate row Knit.

Row 3: *K4, K2 tog* repeat to end.
Row 5: *K3, K2 tog* repeat to end.
Row 7: *K2, K2 tog* repeat to end.
Row 9: *K1, K2 tog* repeat to end.
Row 11: *K2 tog* repeat to end.

Thread the end of the yarn through the remaining stitches and through the loop of the yarn itself and draw up the knitting tightly and Finnish off.

With the front and back right sides together, sew about 9.5cm from the finishing off point down the side seam towards the cast on edge.

At the bottom of each side seam, sew about 3cm upwards. The holes are left for the teapot handle and spout.

From felt cut out two eyes (Approximately 4cm in diameter) and sew into position.

Cut a 5cm long kite shape from black felt and fold the fabric in half along the long edge and over-sew this edge with small stitches. With the seam at the bottom, flatten out to form a slender pointed beak. Sew into place.

Now the rosy robin can keep your rosy lee piping hot all winter.

This novelty Christmas robin tea cosy fits teapots up to 47cm round and up to 17cm high, a medium sized teapot.