A little sun hat for your tea

Ok, that sounds a bit mad, but hear me out. I love our glass pitcher that holds my gorgeous ruby coloured tea, but I don’t like putting it in the fridge without a lid. Not sure why really. What if something falls in it? What if it absorbs odours from food? What if it all evaporates?

The pitcher came with a plastic lid that sealed it off but if you twisted it to the open bit you could pour out of it. Does that make sense? But it was always stained and I had this real worry like it wasn’t getting clean as it had about a million nooks and crannies for gunk to get caught in.

After every pitcher of red tea (and even more staining Lebanese tea --made with black tea, lemon, pomegranate molasses and rosewater) I was scrubbing it out with an old toothbrush…Rubbing a spent lemon rind all around it to bleach it…but it never felt as clean as I would like.

The other day I was washing it when I could spy some gunk in these slits on the side. I tried the toothbrush and a butter knife to pry it out with no luck. So I went and got some dental floss and figured I’d floss it out. Well I did. And it was a bit “hasten Jason grab the basin” in its grossness. There was no way I was putting that lid back on my red tea.  But I really wanted a lid. What could I do?

I tried putting cling film over it, but wasn’t terribly happy about it. Condensation built up on top since it wasn’t breathable and I was worried about plastic particles migrating into the drink. The only reason I have cling film in the first place is that after you get a tattoo they ask you to wrap it in cling film for a couple of hours. So what’s a crafty grrl to do but invent something?

I decided to make a wee elasticised hat that I could pop over the top of the pitcher from stuff I had in my sewing basket. I modelled it on the mob cap I currently wear in my plain Quakerness. I know how to do those so I just found 2 circular objects to represent the outside and the inside rings, traced them onto fabric, stitched a casing for the elastic, added the elastic, said the magic words-- a la peanut butter sandwiches!  and 15 minutes later I had a wee hat. Check this out:

This is fabric I love--it has a beautiful, variegated pattern and it is soft  brushed cotton, but it wrinkles like hell and so I have never used it for clothes. But this works perfectly. I made 2--one to wash and one for the pitcher to wear.

So far it has worked fine. 48 hours later the tea seems fresh and clear. The hat is cold but not wet. It protects the drink but also allows a bit of respiration so it doesn’t sweat. Perfect.

And bloody cute as well.