Handmade Cafetiere Cosy

The cafetiere, or French press, is a key item in any coffee lover's cupboard - it makes beautiful filter coffee from course-ground beans, perfect for any time of day but especially delicious over a long, luxurious brunch.

The only problem with the French press is that they are most commonly made of glass - a material not known for its ability to hold heat. Couple that with a plastic lid and base, and the heat will be escaping from your coffee in no time. I often find myself making up a nice big cafetiere full of coffee, only to find it's gone cold halfway through.

But now, with the art of crochet, you can enjoy nice warm coffee - and stop your hands from being burnt from handling the outside of the cafetiere. It makes a nice addition to any kitchen, especially alongside a more traditional tea-cosy, especially if you match the colour of the cosy to your kitchen.

This pattern uses UK crochet stitches and is tall enough for a ten-cup cafetiere.

This pattern uses a chunky wool (suitable for use with 6-8 inch knitting needles, as this is more commonly given on the wool packet than the crochet hook size). You want to make sure you select chunky rather than super-chunky, although if you find you've purchased the wrong-sized wool then work with fewer initial chain stitches (or however many you need to measure the length of your cafetiere) - you might even be done in half the time!

My kitchen is green and silver, so I went for a striking turquoise with silver-grey strap, with an old-fashioned leather button to secure it.

When choosing your wool, think carefully about your colour scheme:

• You can match your wool to your kitchen for a complimentary look
• You can choose either contrasting or complimentary colours, one will give a more striking look whilst the other is more subtle
• Use multi-coloured wool for a funky home-made look!

For this pattern, you will need:

1. A 6mm crochet hook
2. Two balls of chunky wool, one in each colour, 50g minimum
3. One large button

Note: the body of the warmer is the turquoise part in the picture.

Start by making a chain of 31 stitches. This chain should be just over the height of your cafetiere - if making one for a smaller cafetiere, make a smaller chain.

1. Double-crochet (dc) into the second stitch from the hook, then dc into every stitch to the end
2. Turn your work. Chain three stitches
3. Treble crochet (tc) into the first stitch from the hook, then tc until the end of the row.
4. Turn, chain three
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the piece is long enough to wrap around your cafetiere comfortably - with a gap where the handle will stick through.
6. Fasten off

Note: the strap is the silver-grey part in the photo.

The strap will be an equal number of stitches from each end. If your work has 30 stitches currently, then your strap will be of width 10, 10 stitches from the start of the work.

1. Join in the strap wool, 10 stitches from the start of the work, with the right side facing you
2. Chain three
3. Tc into the next tc of the work, after where you joined in the new wool
4. Tc nine more stitches
5. Turn your work. Chain three
6. Tc 10 stitches
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the piece measures about one and a third times the length of the body. You're now ready to make a button hole
8. Dc two stitches. Chain four
9. Skip the next four tc
10. Dc two stitches to end of work

You need to wrap your cafetiere up in order to know where to attach the button - wrap the body around the cafetiere, feed the strap around the cafetiere and through the handle, then continue wrapping around. The cosy should fit snug, but not be stretched.

Find the button hole. Place a stitch marker through the button hole (or a safety pin if you don't have a stitch marker) to mark where the button needs to go.

I chose a large, statement button, but any button will do. Sew it on where your stitch marker is.

And you're done! Wrap your cafetiere up and button the cosy closed. Now you're ready to go!