The inspiration for this fun, cosy hot water bottle cover is the king from the Lewis Chessmen. The 78 walrus ivory chess pieces are thought to originate from 12th century Scandinavia and were found on the Isle of Lewis in 1831.

Meet ‘Olaf the Perplexed’, seated on his carved throne, sword in hand, contemplating life’s eternal questions. The cover is made up of three sections – front, upper back and lower back - and is designed to fit a standard hot water bottle (ca. H33cm, W20cm).

The design incorporates different stitch patterns with intarsia and fair isle sections, and is knitted, rather appropriately, in Norwegian wool/alpaca yarn. It is an interesting and surprisingly quick knit, using less than three 50g balls of yarn.

Materials:
Drops Lima (65% wool, 35% alpaca)

MC Off White (0100) 2 x 50g
CC Beige Mix (0619) 1 x 50g

3 x 15mm press studs/snap fasteners

Pair of 3.25mm (UK 10) (US size 3) straight needles
Pair of 3.75mm (UK 9) (US size 5) straight needles

Finished dimensions:
ca. H35cm x W22.5cm