Two years ago, I wrote about the emergency hot water bottle cover I knitted and how proud I was of the result. It was a super easy pattern that came together really well and quickly, and I went on to knit a couple more covers for family members so that we could all have that extra bit of warmth and protection.

They’re all pretty well used now, those original covers, and some of them have stretched a bit, so it seemed like a good time for a refresh - with a new winter approaching rapidly. I wanted to play around a bit with colours, and put a bit more thought into it, so I bought a selection of chunky yarn and mix and matched to come up with the below.

My favourite is the beige and blue, which has that reducing stripe pattern which I’m slightly obsessed with after making this cardigan. The three colour stripe looks pretty neat too, whilst the red and white is probably my least favourite because the sections don’t feel right to me… maybe it should have been three red stripes rather than just two.

Regardless, these will keep us cosy and warm for another year or so, and then I can give it all another go. Having made at least six of these covers now, I know the pattern off by heart, so hopefully I can start getting a bit quicker as well!