Friday 9 August 2013

Granny Square Hot Water Bottle Cover

 
 
In recent weeks I have been trawling the net, looking for a crocheted granny square hot water bottle cover pattern to no avail. So, I made one up!
 
Now that I have finished my hottie, I now know why a pattern is so elusive - each hot water bottle is different, and each crocheter's tension is different, so a one-size-fits-all granny-square-hot-water-bottle-cover pattern remains a non-reality in most cases.
 
In spite of this, here are the links to my inspiration starters, together with the individual ideas and techniques that went into my hot water bottle cover recipe. It's worth giving it a go.
 
Inspiration from Foxslane, here*.
Granny square tutorial from Little Tin Bird, here.
Join as you go tutorial from Attic24, here (just scroll down to the end).
Construction and shaping ideas from Snaffles' Mummy, here.
Bobble shell edging tutorial from Attic24, here.  
 
  • Throughout I used 8ply yarn with a 3mm hook. I tried a 4mm hook at first but the squares were too big.
  • I joined the squares as I made them -  "join as you go".
  • The panels of 3x4 granny squares were worked separately.
  • When adding the red border, I made up the shaping, using a series of slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet and double crochet stitches to gradually increase or decrease the height of the rows.
  • I made sure to include five buttonholes evenly spaced in the final round on the base of the front panel.
  • The panels were joined using slip stitches but leaving a gap for the neck of the cover to be crocheted. 
  • The neck was worked in the round, increasing at the sides in a similar manner to that used by Snaffles' Mummy in her gorgeous hottie cover.
  • I used the bobble edge border as demonstrated, once again, by Attic24 (she's so clever!).
  • I sewed in the ends and added five red buttons on the back panel so the front would overlap the back when the buttons are done up.
 
Ta Dah!
 
 
 
Yay!!
 
I'm glad I took notes as I worked, but given that the other hot water bottles in our house in need of covers are different sizes to this one, I'll be using similar techniques to get the new covers to fit them, tweaking as I go.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
xx


*I didn't set out to copy the red on foxslane's hottie cover - Miss E decided red was the perfect colour, so red it is!

6 comments:

  1. Hello!

    I wonder if I would be allowed to use this pattern and sell the finished item in my Etsy shop, please? Like you, I have been trawling the internet looking for a granny square pattern but yours is the only one I've found.
    Thank you, Lissy :)

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  2. Hi Lissy. As you can see, this is not so much a pattern as a recipe of all the techniques I used and borrowed from other bloggers. As such, I can't see any reason why you can't use this information to devise a pattern to suit the particular size of hot water bottles you will be using. Good luck, and link back to all the relevant source artisans with love!

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  3. This is really helpful. Thank you. x

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your feedback, Hazel. You are very welcome!

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  4. Just noticed some traffic heading my way as a result of you linking to me. Many thanks for the link and glad I helped inspire some creativity.

    It looks fab, well done.

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  5. How many rounds did u do for the granny squares? And would it still work if I made them bigger.
    Thank you

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