Tea cosies make a difference

With her knitting needles in hand, Warnbro woman Mary Spencer has been busy transforming mountains of wool into tea cosies.

Since 2011 Mrs Spencer has held exhibitions of her unique pieces to help raise money for Alzheimer's research in memory of her husband Lew, who died from the disease three-and-a-half years ago.

The 78-year-old's fifth exhibition, Tea Cosies with a Difference will be launched this month, showcasing more than 30 tea cosies for sale, each brightly coloured with a name and individual character.

The collection includes a sheep playing the bagpipes, a kangaroo, a bouquet of roses, a princess and many more.

These days, Mrs Spencer said she found it hard to keep track of how many she had knitted, having created more than 100 tea cosies.

She said she learnt to knit as a child, but the hobby became more frequent when her husband fell ill in 2003.

"He used to sleep in his chair a lot and if he woke up and I wasn't there he would get distressed and agitated," Mrs Spencer said.

"It got to the stage where I was spending a lot of time sitting across from him and I would knit."

In 2010, Mrs Spencer bought a book titled Wild Tea Cosies, and her love of knitting tea cosies was born.

"They just grow … I start off with a basic tea cosy, usually … and then I just add to it and it doesn't always work out as I planned," she said.

"The tea pot tells me what it wants to be."

Mrs Spencer said she had raised $11,000 since her first exhibition, and her goal was to hit the $20,000 mark.

"I feel so strongly that the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is increasing rapidly, and I think they need as much money as they can get for research," she said.

The Tea Cosies with a Difference exhibition will be launched at Safety Bay Library on Wednesday, June 24, from 11am to 5pm.