Handbell Ringer Tea Cosy

I think that the sound of bells sounds really Christmassy, which is why I thought a handbell ringer tea cosy would make a fabulously festive tea cosy.

I didn’t know much about handbell ringing so I reached out via email to a few handbell ringing organisations to find out more about it. I also watched lots of videos which confirmed to me that a handbell ringing was perfect for a Christmas tea cosy.

I suppose we think of bells as Christmassy because they are often depicted on Christmas cards and decorations. I guess this is a throwback of the church calling worshipers to mass, and in more recent times associate bells at Christmas with Santa and his sleigh.

My initial thought for my festive cosy was to have a Mrs Claus looking character as the bell ringer. I dressed her in a long skirt and edged it with holly, it looks festive, and holly is symbolic for Christmas.

She has a red jacket on, and a white neck scarf tied in a bow, a bit like in a photo I saw of a group of bell ringers.

In keeping with the Santa's wife idea, I have made the cosy an older lady with grey hair. I think it suits her and silver is a nice nod towards Christmas and frosty mornings.

Through my email correspondence, I found out that a ringer can hold more then one bell in each hand. This might be a stretch for my cosy, but I thought I’d try to give her two bells in one hand. I have also given her white gloves. Apparently black gloves are for ringing practise, and white gloves are for concerts; but this is not a hard and fast rule.

I’m really looking forward to this tea cosy. I think Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year for knitting designs, it feels so magical and the colours are bright. I’m hoping to make the holly and berries knitted into the main cosy, to save knitting lots of little bits and sewing them all on; knitting in will take more to design, but will make for a quicker build in the long run and less sewing has to be a winning idea. So although I think this cosy is pretty easy, the holly will be the tricky bit for me, but hopefully not for you!












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