Knitted Cable Mug Cozy Pattern

This is the very first time I ever designed and wrote down a knitting pattern!!! I hope other people think it's pretty. It's actually my very first cable project, too. Basically, I knitted it to be a mug cozy for a coffee cup type mug, but with several buttonholes so that it'd be adjustable and you could use it for more than one mug. The mostly stockinette finishing on the thinner part that goes through the handle allows it to curl back on itself so that if you're using a button/buttons before the end, it curls back nicely and you don't have a big flap hanging off of your cup.

Some of you (like my husband) may be asking, "What's the point?" These things are along the same line of thinking as a tea cozy. They keep your drink warm. For me, the most important thing was the fact that they shield your hand from the blazing hot liquid in your cup if, like me, you are a person who has a hard time holding a full mug of something by just the handle, but can't quite put your hand on the cup, either, because it's too hot! Those awkward balancing the bottom corner of the mug on a knuckle while moving quickly from kitchen to computer days are over!

Note: Don't knit this in something that isn't washable. (Duh?)
Note2: Put your cozy on your cup BEFORE filling it.
Note3: Choose buttons small enough to go through your yarn over button holes but big enough to hold them on. Mine are about 5/8" across, but could be as small as 1/2", I think.





And, since I have no hope... NO HOPE of explaining cables adequately, I decided to post this link to my favorite cable video on YouTube. This lady shows better than any other I've seen just how to work a four stitch cable (all of the cables in my pattern are four stitch) front and back (fcc and bcc) WITHOUT a cable needle! There's wind in the background and stuff, but still, this video is the BEST.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8guoX9Ffs

So go there to get help with cables, just like I did, and then knit a fun pattern with it!

Coffee Cup Cozy

(Pattern copyright 2009 by Kathy Canuel, all rights reserved, etc, etc, etc... I don't honestly care [for now] if you knit something from this and sell it. All I ask is that you give me credit for designing the pattern. Also, if you want this pattern on your site, feel free to take one of the images above as a PREVIEW of the pattern and credit me as the designer on your site, but please link back to this blog post for the actual pattern. [I hate it when I'm looking for patterns and all I see is a list of names--I wish I could get pictures instead so I know whether I want to click or not.])

Materials:

1 skein number 3 light weight yarn (Knitted example is Spa by Caron in Misty Taupe)

US size 6 straight knitting needles (4.0 mm)

Tapestry needle

2 buttons

Sewing needle and thread to match yarn color

CO 24 st.

Rows 1-4: Knit

Rows 5 & 7: k2, p1, k4, p1, k8, p1, k4, p1, k2

Rows 6 & 8: k3, p4, k1, p8, k1, p4, k3

Row 9: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, work fcc, work bcc, p1, work bcc, p1, k2

Row 10: rep. row 8

Row 11: rep. row 7

Row 12: rep. row 10

Row 13: k2, p1, work fcc, p1, k8, p1, work bcc, p1, k2

Row 14: rep. row 12

Row 15: rep. row 11

Row 16: rep. row 14

Row 17: rep. row 9

Rows 18-59: Repeat rows 10-17 five times, then rows 10 and 11 once more.

Rows 60-63: Knit

Row 64: BO 4 st, k1, p12, k6 (20 sts)

Row 65: BO 4 st, k15 (16 sts)

Row 66: k2, p2tog, YO, p8, YO, p2tog, k2 (16 sts)

Row 67: knit across

Row 68: k2, p12, k2

Row 68: knit across

Row 69-77: rep. rows 66-68 three times. (4 total rows of button holes; repeat additional times, if desired, to create more button hole rows)

Rows 78: knit across

BO all stitches.

Finishing: weave in loose ends; sew two buttons on beginning four rows of garter stitch, lining up with button holes.

Abbrvts:

Abbrvts: Abbreviations

CO: Cast on

k: knit

p: purl

st: stitch

sts: stitches

fcc: front cross cable (using two stitches to cross over two other stitches--so, a four stitch cable, same for bcc)

bcc: back cross cable

rep.: repeat

p2tog: purl 2 together

BO: body odor, born organized.... but in most knitting patterns, it means "bind off"

Designed by: Kathy Canuel, Dec. 16, 2009, in a mad Christmas gift knitting rush that didn’t include time to design, figure out, and write down a pattern. I did it anyway.