The pattern for The Homebody’s Friend is found on our blog here.

The Homebody’s Friend is an excellent pattern for those looking to level up from their Hundred Stitch Snood, without branching out into a sweater or something larger and more complicated. Perhaps you’re wanting to knit a bigger sibling to The Shopkeeper’s Friend.

This pattern is knitted in the round using magic loop technique to work the whole cover. It has a seamless cast on (Judy’s Magic Cast on), directional increases, directional decreases and a very neat i-cord bind off to ensure the top of the cover grips the top of the hot water bottle.

We’re just coming into the autumn here after our last-heatwave of summer, and everything’s suddenly feeling a bit cold. I’m not sure about you, but I’ve definitely got cold toes when I get into bed, and I definitely want some cosy warm comfort tucked under the blanket with me when I’m on the sofa doing my knitting. In the colder months, I am not ashamed to say that I am well and truly a homebody. If you’re a homebody too, meet your new friend, The Homebody’s Friend.

As with The Shopkeeper’s Friend, this pattern is probably best suited for those who have knitted in the round before, or who are competent two-needle knitters just waiting to give knitting in the round a try. If you’re new to knitting, and you ask us in the Real Life Shop, we’d normally suggest that by the time you get to this, you will have knitted some swatches and a snood, maybe even a hat. There will be quite a few techniques in here that may be a bit tricky, but I’ve tried to include videos for each step you may find tricky, or need a refresher on. As usual, read the whole pattern through before you start so there are no surprises, and if you don’t glue with the particular video linked, try searching the technique to find one you do get on with.

The Homebody’s Friend

To fit a standard hot water bottle (2L capacity), measuring around 21 cm wide, 33 cm from bottom to top, and neck-base (where the neck meets the bottle) circumference of 17 cm. You can often find uncovered hot water bottles at independent pharmacies, hardware shops, your local sell-it-all store (we like Rajani for this, though it’s best visited in person) and of course, there are many outlets online too.

Gauge: 21 sts x 30 rows per 10 cm

Materials:

At least 150m of DK yarn. I used 82 g of Sandnes Garn Peer Gynt/50 g). Good alternative yarns could be World of Wool Marble (110m/50g) or King Cole Merino Blend04m/50g) or Warth Mill Saddleworth DK (200m/100g).

3.5 mm 80 cm circular needle (or whatever size needed to meet gauge).

2x different clip-on stitch markers (one for beginning of round, one for halfway round).

Enjoy!