She’s written about them in her book Wild Tea Cosies, made them and run workshops showing others how to make them.

But even Loani was taken aback when she walked into the Exeter Village Hall last week for a preview of the Exeter CWA Crazy Cozy competition.

“It’s a grand thing to walk into an empty hall filled with 400 tea cozies,” she told a capacity audience at the Crazy Cozy auction on Saturday.

“I walked around saying ‘This is ridiculous!’

“Have there ever been so many tea cozies in the same place at the same time? I doubt it.”

Exeter CWA’s Crazy Cozy Day, originally inspired by Loani’s book, was the result of many months of knitting by the branch’s 22 members, helped by other CWA branches in a series of “knit-ins” and contributions from as far away as Canada, USA, France, Scotland, England and France.

Supporters also contributed to a “stash” of knitting yarn which meant that few of the knitters had to buy wool.

Crazy Cozy Day visitors splashed out on wild and woolly creations ranging from koalas, sheep and frogs to Australiana-themed creations, which together with donations and earlier sales helped the CWA to raise more than $15,000 to support women with breast cancer in rural areas.

“It is important that a woman, no matter where she is, has access to the best medical care,” said CWA president Shirley Marshall.

Mrs Marshall said as well as raising money for breast cancer support, the Crazy Cozy competition had knitted people together in friendship.

“We have made new friends and shared new ideas along the way.”

The winning cozies included a jumbo sized “CWA Catering Cozy” made by members of the CWA Berry branch to fit a catering-sized teapot.

Lynette Meek of British Columbia, Canada, won the “Australiana” prize for her “Waltzing Matilda: Wreaths of Hope” entry, featuring Australian wildflowers and woolly sheep.