Kilcarra Stripped Tea Cosy

You will need:
3 x 50g ball of Kilcarra Aran Tweed in different colours (I have used shades: Charcoal (4883), Light Grey (4742) and Rust (4802)
4mm knitting needles

Make two identical sides.

Cast on 40 stitches and work in garter stitch in the following pattern:
Knit 2 rows in colour A
Knit 2 rows in colour B
Knit 2 rows in colour C.

You can carry your yarn up the side of the piece as you pick up and drop each colour.
To join in the new colours, simply start knitting with the new colour at the beginning of the row. When the piece is finished, you can weave in the loose ends.

Work until the piece measures 5 ½ inches.
Decreases:
Row 1: K1, (K2 tog, K4) 6 times, K2 tog, K1 (33)
Row 2 Knit
Row 3: K1, (K2 tog, K3) 6 times, K2 tog (26)
Row 4 Knit
Row 5: K1, (K2 tog, K2) 6 times, K1 (20)
Row 6 Knit
Row 7: K1, (K2 tog, K1) 6 times, K1 (14)
Row 8 Knit
Row 9: K1, (K2 tog) 6 times, K1 (8)
Row 10 Knit
Row 11: (K2 tog) 4 times (4)

Break the yarn leaving a 12” tail. Thread the yarn onto the sewing needle and pass the needle through the stitches one at a time. Pull gently to gather the stitches and secure.

When you have knitted the second side, you can use those yarn tails to sew up the sides. Remember to leave gaps for the handle and spout. I find that a 4” gap for the handle and a 3” gap for the spout works well.

Make 3 small pompoms, one from each colour and sew them on top of the tea cosy.