'Granny-Chic'?

How about egg cosies? Anyone got one of those? they are much quicker to knit than tea cosies!

My aunt's hair went pure white early in life. At a time when blue rinses were (yes, they really were) fashionable, she varied from royal blue to lilac. However, one day she appeared with pink hair. My little sister, about 6 at the time, and never one to keep her foot out of her mouth, gazed innocently at this sight and said, 'Auntie C, is your hair really meant to be pink?' Luckily Auntie had a good sense of humour. And 63 years later, my sister hasn't changed.

Someone is making hand knitted doggy jumpers (essentially a small tube) with a Christmas pudding design on it, and selling them on Ebay for about £10!
Not granny-chic but waggy-chic

winnibriggshouse Does anybody have a blue rinse these days? I don't think I have seen one for at least 20 years. I don' think they were ever chic either, even in their heyday.

A little retirement business jeni?
Did you see what that actress's tea cosies were selling for? Around £40 - £75!! (It was in euros at it was Ireland, but a rough translation)
Even one a week would be a nice bit of pocket money

Well! I'm taking up crochet again, as a preparation for my third attempt at retirement!

winnibriggshouse I suspect you won't be a fan of the his'n hers anoraks and baseball caps either. I do like a decently tailored jacket - it will lift any sort of outfit. Since my knee replacements I'm a tad limited in choice of shoes, but it's not a problem while pumps are so fashionable. My home tends to be Italian shabby chic with a combination of majolica back to the 1940's, 19th century prints and some modern Alessi pieces.

Anno - crazy patterns - I like the owl cosy too

Well I am all for knitted tea cosies and old crockery. My kitchen is almost a shrine to the 40s and 50s, I wear flowery pinnies and watch anything if the word vintage crops up. But I am still stylish. I watch fashion shows and buy my take on the latest trend (no leggings, 80s throw backs, but chic coats, using the term correctly, jeans trendy handbags etc, without the designer labels on show!!). I have my hair cut in a modern style and will never do the blue rinse, 80 denier tan stockings with lace ups or pastel oversized windcheater jackets. I label my home shabby chic with a few antiques thrown in. So I think the thing here is a new modern take on 'chic' when referring to a current home trend. We all know it isn't the correct use of the word, but where's the harm in that.

It's all to do with what you "know to be useful or think to be beautiful" isn't it?

dahlia As far as I know, cake stands never went away (nor did cakes). However, generally speaking, they are just useful, not chic.

I love and treasure old things and have silver, glass, ceramics, jewellery (proper stuff and trinkets), paintings and a whole load of other stuff that has either been passed down the generations or I have bought in antique shops, auctions and junk shops. Lots of it is utterly lovely but not much, if anything, qualifies as chic.

....get the crocheted cup cozy!

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

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

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

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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.

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.........

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.

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

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