Cosies

 

Cosies

Knitted tea cosy

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Before the advent of thermal teapots, in the days of the Brown Betty or other ceramic teapots, and even in the early metal teapots, one way to keep the tea hot for longer was to use a tea cosy. This would usually be knitted or made of some quilted, padded material to insulate the pot. I didn’t use tea cosies but one day decided I would. I can’t remember how I came by it – it may have been a gift.

I was in the kitchen with my son-in-law, my late mother-in-law Dorothy, and my granddaughter, Kiri, who was then about two and a half years old. I made the tea and we all chatted as we waited for the tea to brew. None of us noticed that Kiri was pulling the teapot towards her until she screamed as the boiling liquid spilt onto her leg.  My stomach turns over even now, more than twenty years later, as I recall that tender flesh being scalded.

Kiri with her oldest boy cousin, Elliot. She is now married with two small children and he is 6'5" and breaking hearts.

Quickly, we dumped her into tepid water and tried to comfort her, while waiting for an ambulance, which came mercifully quickly and whipped her off to hospital. She returned later that day, skipping along, high on painkillers and then went down with a fever that evening, quite unrelated to the incident, along with her brother and sister. No serious damage had been done and the scar eventually healed and faded.

I don’t know why I used a tea cosy that day – I never had before and I certainly have never used one since. I didn't even use table cloths, knowing that they could be pulled off.  Without the cosy, Kiri would simply have felt the heat of the teapot on her fingertips and pulled back.

Knitted egg cosies

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 Sometimes, egg cosies are used to keep boiled eggs warm.

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