Are we harking back to the security and 'cosiness' of simpler times?
Or is this just the latest marketing wheeze?
Personally, the thought of knitted tea-cosies and crocheted table mats makes me want to run screaming to IKEA!

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2012/1013/1224325171439.html

The pom-pom on the top reminds me of non shabby chic granny slippers!
However I could crochet some for Christmas gifts if they do become the height of 'must have' house style!

I love antiques and retro things, but doilies and teapot cosies were never chic, and aren't now. Crocheted patch blankets and crinoline toilet roll covers - yuk!

I do love to see babies in crocheted and knitted clothes, but not my teapot, thanks!

When the wool arrives, I'm going to try to crochet a beanie for DGD. I hope!
I haven't crocheted for about 40years!

Tea cosies are not what they used to be. There are some really funky knitting patterns available I love them. Draw the line though at crocheted doilies and toilet roll covers. Once had an elderly neighbour who took things a step further and knitted toilet seat covers to sell at the Over 60s club. Apparently they were much in demand.

when Good luck jeni I am crocheting baby Stanley a hat at the moment!

Never understood the idea of teacosies. Surely the tea would be well and truly stewed if it was kept hot for any length of time?

Think that you poured out the first cups then topped the pot up again for 'seconds' and kept the pot hot with a cosy! Never had a tea cosy but my mum had a teapot with a silver(probably stainless steel) casing with a built in thermal lining!

What's a teapot?

Chic: elegantly and stylishly fashionable. Bobbly tea cosies – in fact any sort of tea cosy – and cups without saucers were never chic, are not chic now and never will be chic.

I have just purchased a knitted tea cosy for DD2's mother in law in Oz. She was searching high and low for one, being unable to knit, and they cost a fortune (equiv. of £20). So I got hers, brand new, in a charity shop here for £1.50. So, you see, some people do still use a teapot and a cosy and what's more, so does my DD2, and she's the least frumpy person in the world and all her friends are joining in on this 'craze' - what goes around, comes around as they say......

I have a pattern for a knitted cosy in the form of a little Aran jumper! Is that just a bit too cute? Probably.

It may be a craze, it may be cute but it sure isn't chic.

We have ladies who are members of Catholic Young Wives where DD does some fund raising and they make t-cosy's for sale in the Charity shop attached to the church where I go on a Saturday as soon as they are put in the window they are sold and many a time we have a waiting list for them,and the purchaser's are not all older ladies, a lot of the mum's like them in their farmhouse style kitchen's,they also buy a lot of none matching cup's and saucers to add to their shabby chic look and it all ties in well together.

The definition of chic is "elegant and stylishly fashionable" according to the Oxford disctionary, so what is elegant or stylish to one may not be to another and I for one tend not to follow the fashionistas of this world (journalists). Obviously knitted tea cosys are 'in' therefore by definition they must be fashionable, if not stylish.
anno I quite fancy an Aran jumper on my teapot (yes, I do use one - squeezing a teabag out is sooo non-U); I assume the spout goes through one arm and the handle through the other!! You could start a stylish trend.........

I don't do tea cosies and I don' t think that was chic.I look forward gally to the Aran cosy, perhaps you will set a trend . When you have done it,I want to see a picture.

grannyeggs perhaps this is good idea for a thread on trends that we have seen come and go over the years.

My tiny cottage is full to the brim with old stuff! My tea-cosy however, is a padded satin one which I bought off Ebay! My crockery, is mis-matched, ranging from the 30's to the 70's and bought from charity shops, Ebay or car-boot sales. Eiderdown on the bed is satin and feather-filled, bought from antique fair and looks very good on my cast-iron bed! Maybe not 'granny-chic'....perhaps more like 'squat-chic' .....but I like it!

Mine, too, Marelli. Lots of old china, kitchen paraphernalia, and treasures collected from antique shops, car boots and Ebay. My grandmother's 'old pots' have been gradually built up into a beautiful china tea set by bidding for matching bits and pieces, and they are proudly displayed on my kitchen dresser. I love old stuff!

We also have an old brass bed (Victorian/Edwardian) that we discovered in an outhouse (being nosey, poking about ) on the Isle of Gigha when we were there on holiday one year. (Gigha is just across the water from soop). When we went back the following year and had another look we found that the bed was still there...so we enquired about it. They asked for a small donation for the Trust and threw in a brass fender too.
when - it's the 'hunt', isn't it, and the joy when you come across an unexpected gem that you just couldn't possibly live without!

Crikey, we will be using antimaccassars again next! My dear Nana crocheted chair-backs for the whole family, and of course they did have their uses in the day of hair oil and Brylcreem. Nanaej, I remember those teapots with the silver cover - when about 5 I thought them the height of elegance! I do use a teapot (in fact, I have a few different sizes for all eventualities) and had a very serious conversation with GD Scarlet, aged 9, the other day when she asked me why I used tea leaves. Couldn't come up with an answer, only know all our visitors ask for second cups and say the tea is lovely, and I do still use a cup and saucer myself, which I kept out before storing all our china when we moved house and began this extension.
I note that cake stands are also making a come-back!

Yes, Marelli it is the hunt. There's something satisfying about seeing the potential in an object when it's been lovingly restored, cleaned or tarted up. I have a big stone mixing bowl with a lip in my kitchen. It was under a pile of rubble in the cellar of my last old house, with a smaller matching pestle and mortar inside it. It's in perfect condition and looks just right with other old kitchen things like the scales, blue and white victorian cheese dish and lemon squeezer, and glass bell cloche (perfect for covering food on the worktops). All found when mooching around.

This may mark me as irreedemably naff, but here us a link to the Aran tea cosy:

www.patonsyarns.com/pattern.php?PID=5791

Ha Ha * anno* it looks like a cardi for a very chubby baby! The link doesn't open straight on to it, so I typed Aran tea cosy in the search box. There's lots on there that I like

....get the crocheted cup cozy!