Preparing For Recession Christmas – Solving Everything Teawise
Only four and half months to Scrooge type Christmas this year! So suggestions for teawise solutions for managing the tight budget!
Here is one
http://www.goodnessdirect.
An unusual gift but not expensive to broaden the repertoire of your family and friend's palate!
This looks easy enough for the blokes, new to the art, to have a go! ;-)
Robin Tea Cosy
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.
It sounds like a lovely idea Christine, because I love tea AND birds….and I think your robins (the British robin is quite different than the N.A. robin) are particularly lovely. Alas, I cannot knit. If you can produce the robin tea cosy in any quantity, you might have a cottage industry on your hands, or at least a product that would do well in a local craft store.
As for inexpensive but thoughtful Christmas treats, I am reminded that the owner of my favourite (no longer in business) tea shop used to give his regular customers little Christmas packets of homemade, lavender-scented shortbread, along with a little tea. Not terribly original, but there's something to be said for 'tried and true'.
I might be able to manage a Tea Bag Wallet, though my sewing skills are rudimentary. Here's a link to instructions for making a wallet to protect those
emegency tea bags at the bottom of the purse:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/
That sounds quite yummy :) I'd order some now if I didn't have more expensive things to attend to.
I hope people don't get tired of my gifts of knitted work and tea…for Christmas, I usually either knit things for people or give them tea.
Unfortunately, I think of the 8 or 9 knitted gifts I gave last Christmas, I only saw 3 of them worn in public. I hope the tea doesn't receive the same treatment. I'm not a very good knitter, but you can't quite go wrong with tea…especially when you give a tea ball with it!
For the Aussies, there's this site: www.kenteco.com
I love their teas. And their amazing herbal tisane blends! They're such lovely people too.
oh and I forgot www.teasonline.com.au/cata
Is it just me that thinks this or do people who work for tea companies seem to be particularly friendly, happy and helpful??
I also give tea for christmas. People actually wait for them! :D Which of course feels nice for me as the person who gives them. And if a friend of mine knitted me something I sure would use it, because it was made by a friend. :)
I very much agree with you that with tea you can never go wrong! 8)
I made tea cups for friends for Christmas at the pottery class I took this summer… the only problem is it is hard to wait for Christmas!!!
I want to take a pottery class now! It holds much less of a stigma than buying tea cups from the flea market. Although I suppose they won't know where the cups came from…
In that case, I just need to convince my mom to go to the flea market for me and buy a certain number of tea cups, because I work at a church, and so it's difficult to do anything on a Sunday morning.
I suppose I'll have to knit you something for Christmas :)
There is one person who wears her hat all the time (and gets tons of compliments). One of the scarves has appeared rather frequently, too. I think that's funny…they are the two simplest projects I did!
I don't know how much people drink tea where you live, but as you probably know, the USA is a coffee nation. People look at me as a bit of a snob for preferring tea, and then as a huge snob for preferring loose tea (I don't care much about the taste difference, but loose tea is cheaper, has a greater variety, and can be blended). I guess all I can do is accept that I am, indeed, a snob (and be as kind as possible while remaining snobby).
I think that lovely old china cups…make that 'vintage' not 'old'…are a wonderful gift. I've found some great ones in a local charity shop that's run by the women's committee of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
In addition to the use for which the cups were intended, my mother-in-law has used them to hold tiny plants (miniature african violets) and they look fabulous.
I thought I was the only person who keeps good (for me that means strong, English Breakfast Tea) teabags in her purse, because the ones you get in restaurants here in the USA are usually awful!
This tea cozy sounds so lovely! My mother was from England, and I still have all the knitted tea cozies she made. I even have one she only half-finished before she passed away. I can knit, but my skills only lend themselves to knitted discloths! I wish I could finish my mother's, and also the English Robin one.
I started keeping an emergency stash of teabags (usually Stash brand Earl Grey) in my purse when my family travelled to the US more frequently. I swear that I've been in restaurants in Minnesota and Wisconsin where the tea bags should have been artifacts in historical museums! ; 0
But to be fair, I don't think the problem of old tea, terrible tea, or just 'blah' tea, is restricted to US restaurants. So I'm prepared wherever I go.
Another thing I've been doing is making a fuss (in a good way) when I encounter great tea and/or brewing practices in restaurants. A little pro-active tea-vangelism may encourage the management to keep up the good work, or even improve the tea menu. "Yum cha!"
I often give tea as part of someone's christmas present.
I often make small hampers for friends and family, ant tea is always a component in those.
One good idea for a christmas Hamper is to get an old wooden wine box (often they are gien away by wine merchants).
Sand down the rough edeges and round off the corners.
Half fill the box with shredded news paper or old wrapping paper, and then place some nice but unusual edible items ontop of the paper, then when you think that you've added enough (ps don't forget something in the bottom for the kids!)
Wrap the whole thing in clear or patterned celophane, which you can buy from a florist's shop by the meter (some florists have special ones for christmas).
These can be really personal gifts and if you think ahead, you can spread the cost of the hamper across the year.
The Butler.
Wow, Iain, were you on Blue Peter in another life :-D I am definitly going to try this idea (sadly I cannot join the knitting group, as I don't knit) as I too love to make my own gift hampers, using a variety of containers and thoroughly enjoy personalizing them with specific gifts (tea or otherwise). I also wrap with cellophane, leaving the 'box' of delights in full view of the recipient. I've always had positive feedback from this type of gift because of the thought that's so obviously gone into it. I enjoy trimming the gifts off with some fancy bow (unable to knit but can make fancy, curly bows….) and a handmade card. Having said all that, I MUST get my list made and make a start shopping for various 'goodies' as it's nearly September and I like to make an early start! xx
This looks like a good idea for presentation of home made goodies. Shall see if local wine merchant has any of these boxes.
I'm certainly not putting Spam in any presentation box…however "post war" it gets here in blighty!!! \_/7 cheers
Recession?
You are in a recession?
First I've heard.
Let us know if you need any "Care Packages" of TEA from The Colonies.
Here in UK it is likely we will be in recession by Christmas. We will be in need of care packages!! However we Brits are of sterner stuff and we will survive of course.
I'm very much into cardmaking and thus make my own handmade cards. :D
Plus, in an attempt to make my hobby more eco-friendly, I've taken to using cardboard boxes in my crafting, along with the patterned insides of business envelopes and any suitable leaflets I get sent.
If my friends and family send me tea for Christmas this year, I suppose I should send homemade biscuits to everyone.
Once we had someone give us some hand blended spices, they had bought bulk and blended and dividied things up and then put them in fun packaging
That would be fun to try with tea, buy bulk tea and repackage to give as gifts
Having watched the hairy bikers do celebration cakes I think I might make xmas cakes as pressies. Not cheap to make but if I do bulk buying it might be appreciated. The Bikers mixed a 5 tier wedding cake in a wheel barrow!
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