Hot Water Bottle Cover FO

Pattern: "Gimme the Heat" Hot Water Bottle Cover

Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton

Colour: White

Needles: 5mm & 7mm straights

Start: 7:00 pm Finish:11:00 pm December 5, 2009

I've always loved hot water bottle covers. The Buttoned ones are especially cute. The cabled ones with the turtle necks, lovely Fair Isle versions and don't even get me started on "Mr. Popper"!

'Problem is, I also love and often use a hot water bottle and those beautiful knitterly covers have always frustrated me because they keep the heat in the bottle rather than letting the heat out to where my cold feet can appreciate it. And cute though buttons may be, I don't want one and really don't want several sticking into me and/or getting between me and that heat.

During our chilly summer of '09 I picked up some white Handicrafter Cotton with a mind to sort out a hot water bottle cover that protects the skin from the hot surface of the rubber but that also lets all that wonderful heat out for my comfort and enjoyment.

I chose cotton over wool so that if someone sick is using the hot water bottle its easily laundered and quickly dried and its nicer on bare skin.

I chose white because I love red and white together and with all the holes I had planned for the cover I figured I'd better use the red of the rubber as a design element of its own. (Are all hot water bottles red? I've never seen one any other colour.)

So here's what I came up with to cover a 10.5"x8" bottle with one ball of Handicrafter cotton in one evening. Its stretchy enough to allow the bottle empty or even pretty full to pass through the neck (just slightly fold the bottle lengthwise) without the need for ties or flaps, buttons or snaps.

With 7mm needles CO 41

Knit 2 rows

Row 3 *YO, k2tog* repeat from * to end of row K1

Row 4 (WS) Knit

Row 5 Increase 4 sts evenly spaced

Rows 6-11 Stocking Stitch

Repeat these last 8 rows 5x

Row 51-54 K2 P2 Ribbing

Rows 55-58 K1 P1 Ribbing

Row 59 (WS) Knit

Change to 5mm needles

Rows 60-62 (RS) K1P1 Rib

Row 63 (WS) Knit

Cast off Knitwise

Cut yarn to 18"

With right sides together sew side seam.

At bottom corner sew to match rounded corner of the bottle itself.

When sewing across the bottom, I left space for the hanging tab by passing yarn loosely through edge of one side of tab space then continued sewing bottom together. At the opposite corner I matched the curve I had already established at the previous corner.

I turned it right side out, tried it on for size, filled it up and I was done!

The next night I knit another one so now I have one for the cottage and one for here at home. I played around a bit on the second one (above) but frankly I think the first one (as outlined)has the better approach.

BTW all these photos are of unblocked and oft used (during the furnace outage!) covers. The stitching would obviously look much tidier after a bath but I kind of like the wonkiness - like a cotton wash cloth after its been used a bit rather than pressed and neatly folded for a photo shoot.

'Wee bit of a lag between the idea/yarn purchase phase in the summertime and the execution phase immediately pre Christmas but other than that I couldn't be happier with the result!

Thanks for dropping by! Its so fun to share my little ideas and hear what you think! (And if you decide to try one for yourself, do let me know - I'd love to see!)