You will need
5 x 50g balls of 8-ply yarn, pink 4mm knitting needles Cardboard Scissors Darning needle

Body
Using 4mm knitting needles and one strand of yarn, cast on 35 stitches for the front. Repeat with a second ball of yarn to make the back.
Knit every row until the sides measure to just above the spout and handle.
Decrease row 1: *K5, K2 tog*, repeat * to * to end.
Next and alternate rows: Knit.
Decrease row 3: *K4, K2 tog*, repeat * to * to end.
Decrease row 5: *K3, K2 tog*, repeat * to * to end.
Decrease row 7: *K2, K2 tog*, repeat * to * to end.
Decrease row 9: *K1, K2 tog*, repeat * to * to end.
Thread the yarn through the remaining 10 stitches, draw up tightly and darn to secure.

Pompoms
Make approximately 25 pompoms.
Cut out two cardboard circles, 5cm in diameter. Make a hole in the centre of each, 2cm in diameter.

Put the two circles together and use a darning needle to wind the yarn around the cardboard through the hole in the centre. Keep going until there is very little room left in the centre.

Slide the blade of the scissors between the two cardboard circles at the outer edge and cut the yarn all the way around.

Wrap a strand of yarn between the two cardboard circles twice, pull it tight and make a secure knot.

Slide the cardboard circles off the pompom and fluff it up to a nice round ball. Leave the ends of the tie yarn long enough to easily secure the pompom to the tea-cosy.

To finish
Sew the front and back of the tea-cosy together from the centre top down to the top of the spout and handle openings. Sew the side seams together underneath the spout and handle openings.

Use a crochet hook to pull the long tie yarns of the pompoms through the knitted cosy and tie the yarn in secure knots on the inside of the cosy.

For more tea-cosy patterns, see Wild Tea Cosies by Loani Prior, Simon & Schuster Australia, rrp $24.95.