Pufferfish Tea Cosy

This handsome devil is a pufferfish tea cosy. Funny how sometimes, ugly is cute.

I think Pufferfish are often portrayed as a comical looking fish, because blowing themselves up is a really funny thing to do. But actually they are rather ugly. But what is amazing about them is that they are teapot shaped, which was my driving motivator.

What is really strange is the name - pufferfish. When you are out of puff, you are out of breath. Or smoking my be referred to as puffing away, similarly a steam train puffs away. But what this fish does, isn't to blow itself up with air - he hasn't got masses of that underwater; instead he takes on more water. He turns himself into a waterbomb. What a funny thought.

Anyway; my tea cosy will be based on a pufferfish in its 'puffed' up state. Big and round and covered in spines. He will have his two little fins in either side what comparatively look small when he's all puffed up; and around the back there will be his tail.

What I love is his big boggy eyes. I thought I'd use yellow safely eyes for the eyeball part. I think toy eyes make animal tea cosies look more alive.

Now I have had a little go at knitting the spikes as I knit the main cosy and it wasn't great, and it didn't look good. It would have saved heaps of time on sewing up, but I don't think the finished result would have been great. So the spines will be knitted separately and sew on afterwards.

I'm not sure who will be drawn to this style of tea cosy. Maybe people who love quirky, or maybe people who love David Attenborough's Blue Planet program?





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