A Proper Cup of Tea

Continuing on from my Camomile Tea cup experimentation, I decided to make a white cup with breakfast tea in from double knit wool. This is to mimic the tea cup on top of the hat. Following the same pattern as previously used I deducted 5 stitches off each except for the first 4 rows and reduced the 14 row cup to a 10 row cup. This was all done with a 4mm hook to make sure the cup came out smaller. I changed the filling from cut up calico to wadding to reduce the weight of the cup. I also made the handle smaller by reducing the stitches from 6 in a round to 4 in a round. The tea has been made up off brown double knit wool which has been mixed with a sparkle string wool. This was suggested to me by both designer and lecturer to add another texture to the tea cup. I must admit though I was hesitant at first, the result really catches the eye. It also adds another textural medium to the piece which enhances the cup.

Finalised tea cup

For my final part of primary research I shall be using another medium (stripped organza) and a chunky 9.0mm hook. This shall make a larger cup, however each material needs a different size hook order-pending on its thickness. The organza shall be stripped into lengths, however even by doing this, the strips will have to be 2.5cm in order to stop major fraying. I shall keep the double knit top as it does resemble tea quite well and the designer has stated she does like this style compared to the previous camomile tea version.