Fiber Arts Friday & A Cozy for Your Coffee

Some people think a coffee cozy is just silly.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Those who use them are generally happy with the result-keep your coffee warmer, longer, while keeping your hands cooler.  At the same time, you can let your mugs with advertising or editorial comments go undercover.  Works for me.

What also works for me is making a coffee cozy while testing a stitch pattern, swatching for a larger project (check your gauge!), or using bits of left over yarn.

How To:
Using size 2 (US) needles (I used two dpns because that's that I had in easy reach), cast on 62 stitches.

Knit 4 rows, working back and forth, (two ridges of garter stitch).

Next row and every row till about 1/2 inch from desired height, Slip the first stitch as to purl, *YO, Slip1 as to Purl, K2Tog.* Repeat from * to * till one stitch remains.  K1.

When within 1/2" to 1/4" of desired height of coffee cozy, work 4 rows of K (two ridges of garter stitch) and bind off.

Leave about 10" to 12" of yarn.  Using a tapestry sewing needle, sew the two top corners together, run the yarn down the side of the piece, and sew the two bottom corners together. Weave in ends of yarn.

This is not a fancy pattern.  You can play with it make your coffee cozy as plain or fancy as possible.  This stitch pattern is one of my favorites because it doesn't use a purl stitch, which are often more painful to my arthritic hands.

If you make coffee cozies (or any other cozies!) please post a link to a photo in the comments section.  I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

And . . . . it's Fiber Arts Friday!  If you have a fiber related (yarn, knitting, crocheting, dyeing, spinning, sewing, quilting, anything fiber arts!) blog post, please post a link to your blog post in the comments section.  And I always appreciate a link back to my post.  Thanks in advance!

A Little Bit of Luxury

Do you deserve a little luxury?  Just for yourself?  Of course, you do! And you know it, too.  But you've probably been denying yourself so you can do something a little extra for someone else. 

I know because everyone does that.  It's just human nature.  Well, everyone does that except me.  I'm not denying myself.  I've found a way to treat myself and someone else, too.  You see, it's this yarn that I ordered. When I was told by the sales rep that it was 'luxury' yarn, I was thinking to myself, "OK.  But it's still yarn." And then it arrived and I knew beyond a doubt  . . . well, after I let my husband cut the box open because he was afraid my shaking hands would cut myself and then I ripped open the bag  . . . then, I knew beyond a doubt that when it came to luxury, this was the real deal!

Since then, I have been treating myself by handling this silky soft, just the right balance of body and drape, I-just-want-to-touch-you yarn every chance I get.  Through every step of the dyeing process, I have caressed this twisted fluff and let it caress me back.  (Am I in love?) And I know that as soon as it's dry I'm going to wind a skein into a ball and cast on.  And I'll treat myself all over again while knitting.  I don't have a clue yet what I'll make.  It will probably become a gift to someone else and they will be treated to luxury for the long life of the item made.

Do you want to see what I'm making such a fuss about? Well, you'll have to wait, like everyone else, for the big reveal. To be one of the very first to see this yarn, sign up for my email newsletter before September 2.  Just to make sure you get signed up, go ahead and do it now. 

Now, for 300 Days of Dyeing . . . Days 4 and 5 have been spent dyeing my new yarn line, so I can't post photos now.  Just rest assured that I'm (mostly) keeping up and I only have 295 Days to go. At this rate, I'll be finished by this time next year.

The green/gray/brown in the lower right was the color of the shawl.

Since I can't give you a peek at the new yarn, I'll show you a photo of one my current projects.  Last year I knit a shawl in a colorway that I simply loved.  I used worsted weight yarn.  Though it knit up quickly (which was good), I never wore it (which was bad.)  The shawl ended up across the end of my bed one cold night and I tucked my feet up underneath it.  It was so warm, I decided to use the same yarn base to knit an afghan for the bed.  Then I decided that since I loved the colorway and it was just sitting there, I would unravel it and add (many) more colors.

It is a simple mitered square pattern.  I'm not sure how large I'll make it. Right now it covers my legs without much left over.  But my husband felt it and decided we should keep it for our bed (my plans all along!), so I'll need to keep knitting.  Speaking of which, I think I'll watch a movie now and work on it little more tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Enjoy!

Early Bird Christmas Crafting

I joined the Early Bird Christmas Crafting Challenge a little late.  The challenge for the month of June was 'Mini Gifts.' Since I had already made a couple of mini gifts (multiples of each), I wasn't too worried about June. I have at least 10 of  the hand knitting face cloths and hand made soap bars ready for wrapping - or whatever I decide to do to prepare them for gift giving. I'm thinking a small muslin bag made with my hand dyed fabric would be nice.  Maybe I can come up with something 'Christmas-y' before time to ship them off.

I'm using my "Organized Christmas" notebook that I made a couple of years ago and never used.  I started updating the calendars and added some lined paper for keeping up with my Christmas Crafting.  But now it's July and I had better get busy!

The July challenge is 'Home Decor Gifts'.  For this first gift, I'm killing two birds (but not the Early Bird!) with one stone.  I'm creating a home decor gift - a square baby-sized quilt that can be used for a baby, a table topper, or a wall hanging.  I'll decide later who the recipient will be. {I want to give it to my friend who is planning another baby, but since she's not pregnant yet, I can't officially say it's going to her.} But I'm using my hand dyed muslin and will have a sample of work for photographing, promotion, and marketing. 

Here is the table I cut the pieces on today.  I moved the table in front of my computer so I could watch movies on Netflix while I cut the pieces.

Tonight I'm working on another home decor project.  This one was originally planned for me, but may go to someone else.  It is a knitted afghan. This past winter, I used my shawl for blanket rather than wearing it as a shawl.  I decided to 'frog' it and use the yarn (worsted weight) for an afghan.  I found more yarn to go with it and have been happily working on a mitered squares, patch work afghan.  I'll keep working on this till its big enough - either when I run out of yarn or get tired of working on it.  I've found more colors and some hand spun to use with it, and I love the direction it's going.

I'll try to have photos soon of other projects that I've completed and others I have planned along with progress photos of the quilt and the afghan. Till then, take care and enjoy!