horsing around

Originally this pattern was for a baby gift – a little boy! I think it is nice to be able to give someone a piece of you by making them a gift. Essentially this is a knitted rectangle with a pattern, sewn around 3 edges with a crocheted belt loop in the centre back and a I-cord to secure.

So if you want to have something different for the drawstring just adjust the belt loops size to accommodate your choice of tie. You may notice in the pics that the finished front is a little bit smaller than the hot water bottle – this is because it will stretch, and as I found out with my cabled pillow, it does relax after a period of use. If your hot water bottle is smaller adjust pattern to fit – Always swatch first and measure!

You will need:
Hot water bottle: 20.5cm x 37cm from largest points
Size  3 ¾ mm needles
8ply 50g wool
Used 3 balls main
Size 7mm needles for drawstring
Extra in contrast colour or omit this and buy rope or something else suitable for the tie

Abbreviations:
R: Row
SR: Seam Row
K: Knit
P: Purl
CN: Cable needle
SL: Slip
B: Hold to Back
F: Hold to Front

Step 1:
Front Side
Cast on 84 stitches (80 for body,  4 each side for side seam)

Step 2:
Bottom Seam
SR1: K
SR2: P
SR3: K

Step 3:
Patten for body
Odd numbered rows are the right side and even numbered rows are the wrong side.
R1: P2, K8, P2, K1, P2, K16, P2, K1, P2, K12, P2, K1, P2, K16, P2, K1, P2, K8, P2
R2: K2, P8, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P12, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P8, K2

R3: (this is your cable row for all columns except for the large middle horseshoe)
P2, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, P2, K1, P2, *SL2 onto CN B, K2 , K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, repeat again from *, P2, K1, P2, K12, P2, K1, P2, *SL2 onto CN B, K2 , K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, repeat again from *, P2, K1, P2, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, P2.

R4 : K2, P8, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P12, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P8, K2
R5: P2, K8, P2, K1, P2, K16, P2, K1, P2, K12, P2, K1, P2, K16, P2, K1, P2, K8, P2
R6: K2, P8, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P12, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P8, K2

R 7: (cable row for all honeycombs and horse shoes) P2, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, P2, K1, P2, *SL2 onto CN F, K2 , K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, repeat again from *, P2, K1, P2, SL 3 onto CN B, K3, K3 off CN, SL 3 onto CN F, K3, K3 off CN, P2, K1, P2, *SL2 onto CN F, K2 , K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, repeat again from *, P2, K1, P2, SL 2 onto CN B, K2, K2 off CN, SL 2 onto CN F, K2, K2 off CN, P2.

R8: K2, P8, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P12, K2, P1, K2, P16, K2, P1, K2, P8, K2

Step: 4
Repeat rows 1 to 8 until your desired length, mine was 17 repeats plus only R1 and R2 of an 18^th repeat.

Step: 5
Cast off using a purl cast off.
Tidy your work weaving in all ends and cutting off excess threads.

You are done with side one!

Step 6:
Back Side
Cast on 54 stitches (50 for body,  4 each side for side seam)

Step 7:
Bottom Seam
SR1: K
SR2: P
SR3: K

Step 8:
R1: P2, K50, P2
R2: K2, P50, K2

Step 9:
Repeat R1 and R2 until it is the same length as your front side.

Step 10:
Cast off using a purl cast off.  Tidy your work weaving in all ends and cutting off excess threads.

See Also

how to frame a picture in a floating glass backed frame

Congratulations, you just knitted about 19,736 stitches! Phew, have a cup of tea!

Step 11:
Make your chunky drawstring. I used size 7 needles and doubled up 2x 50g balls to make a thicker yarn and used the needle technique as in this video as I didn’t have double pointed needles that size.   length is up to you, I wanted to be able to tie in a bow and have a bit of length still so I made mine 67cm.

Step 12:
Make a crochet belt loop, mine was 3 or so cm to allow my thick drawstring in. Allow plenty of length at each end so you can sew them in.
Attach to back piece, in the middle of centre back (between stitches 42 and 43) at the beginning of the hot water bottles neck.

Step 13:

Match front and back pieces right sides together and pin along both side seams and bottom seam,  adjusting to fit perfectly.

Step 14:
Sew pieces together along pinned lines, reinforcing at the top opening – be careful not to sew too tight along the bottom, make sure it has enough give for the fabric to stretch to fit over the hot water bottle.. Please see my other tutorial for sewing guide. Cut off all excess treads. Turn through the cover to be right side out.

Step 15:
Insert drawstring through belt loop

Step 16:
Insert hot water bottle

Step 17:
Tie in your hot water bottle nice and snug

This is for free as it is my way of giving back to the world so this is for personal use only – not commercial. Please respect that.