Mug Cozy & Pattern

I made this cozy for a swap so very long ago and intended to write up a pattern. But, of course, life got on it's way and I promptly forgot about the pattern because of school. But better late than never!

The actual product of the pattern has some differences, a bit different from this picture but basically the same look, just easier to crochet. The cozy actually rests a little bit lower because I found that I had a bit of a drinking problem (lol) and would dribble a tad and stain the fabric.



Hope you enjoy the pattern!

Coffee Cozy

Size:
One size, but could be easily altered!

Materials:
Sugar & Cream Cotton yarn - One ball
H crochet hook

Gauge:
4 sc and 4 rows per inch

Pattern for a mug with a 3 and 1/2 inch diameter

Pattern:
Round 1: Ch4, sl st to form ring.

Round 2: Ch3. Ch counts as st throughout pattern. Dc 11 more times in ring and sl st to top of ch3. 12 total dc.

Round 3: Ch3, dc in join. Dc twice in each dc till end. Sl st in top of ch3. 24 dc total

Round 4: Ch4, TC in join. *TC in next dc, 2TC in next dc. *Repeat till end. Join to top of ch4. 36 TC

Round 5: Ch2, sc in next 30 tc. turn work.

Round 6-16: Ch2, sc in second sc. Sc to end. Turn work.

Round 17: Cut yarn and bind off. Start a chain of 15 stitchs and join to either corner and sc across the main body. At the end of the row ch17 and turn work.

Round 18: Sc in third ch from hook. Sc across ch17, the body and the ch15.

You're done! Just sc a border to give clean lines and weave in ends!
The pattern is super simple and I hope you enjoy my first little pattern. PLEASE let me know if you crochet this! I'd love to see your version.

Only for personal use. Please let me know if you have any problems with the pattern or have any questions.

First FO of '10

Hello everyone! Hope everyone had a great holiday season!

I had a fantastic Christmas myself and hoped to give more handmade presents away but unfortunately, due to working an entry level, minimum wage job, I didn't get enough hours which lead to me not having much money. And we all know that knitting is typically NOT a cheap hobby.

So I felt that I really needed, well, I wanted to give some gifts to my closest loved ones and went to raid the stash. This was enough motivation to start plugging away but then I found out that my family and I would be moving to New Jersey within the year. So this, coupled with my gift motivations lead me to evaluate the stash. I really did not want to have such a big stash to take with me since I have moved with it before and it is just irritating. Luckily, most of my stash is something close to Red Heart acrylic which is a great for a Granny Daughters swap on Craftster. I also went through my WIPs and was honest to myself and frogged about 90% since I had not touched them in the past two years. So that freed up a drawer. But I had much more that I wanted to achieve so I made a list.

Sock yarn:
Nutkins WIP for me
Start some socks for my mother in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. In the color Blossom, which is this lovely antique-y rose color my mother is so fond of.

Wool:
Two sweaters for my Cocker Spaniels, Miller and Marty.

Lace:
Girasole WIP for an unknown recipient.
Swallowtail for my Memaw

That is all I have so far but I think it's manageable. I tried to keep it small since I'll be returning to school within the next two weeks.

Luckily, I can cross something off my list! My Nutkins are finished! They were knit in the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in the colorway Devon. I love these because it incorporates all my favorite colors and the pattern was super simple. I just the heel and toe differently. It worked up so fast that now I can start on my mother's socks which should go even quicker since I'm just going to make simple stockinette socks.



These are my third pair of socks. I have been successful in avoiding the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. I have a certain procedure to avoid this. After I finish a sock, I put it on and walk around the house. This helps in multiple ways.

1. I feel foolish wearing one sock.
2. My uncovered foot is uncomfortabley chilly whereas my other felt nice and toasty.
3. It drives me nuts to have something halfway finished.

Luckily, it didn't take long for me to knit the second sock since I had two socks on DPNs.



Have a happy new year! <3

Merry Christmas Houston

We had a little surprise...



This was Marty's first snow. He kept giving me this look, "You want me to pee right now? I don't like rain! What makes you think I'd like frozen rain?"



Miller kindly said no thank you.



More to ourselves then.

Gold Nugget Handspun

Some laceweight yarn spawned from boredom and a Project Runway marathon.



Hand-carded batts from Hobbledehoy's Etsy.





Music in the sky

FO - Eva

So I'm still pushing through the Girasole. There's charts A-G, and I am on E. The chart has to be done three times and I'm beginning the third time. Then there is chart F, and chart G that has to be repeated twice. Then the edging and I'm all done.

It's really not a lot but I'm slow and have a terrible attention span.

So, in need of an FO since the Girasole is going slow for me, I finished Eva's Shawl. I actually finished this in July but I finally got around to taking pictures!

Pattern: Eva's Shawl [PDF]
Yarn: Pink Lady laceweight from Knitty Dirty Girl's Etsy
Hook: Size H
Completion Time: June 20, 2009 - July 26, 2009

This was originally for me as a way to add some color to my wardrobe but my mother saw the colors and the word COVET shot out of her eyes. Which is fine since I’m not big on pink, especially hot hot hot pink like this.



So when she’s at work I’m going to surprise her.



This is the first thing I have ever blocked for real. I am definitely buying some lace blocking wires.



The pattern was easy but I think it turns out a great FO. And I’m glad I added the border.



Hopefully my next FO will be the Girasole. Which I hope to finish by my parents anniversary or our trip to Portland, OR.

And it's been rainy here in the Houston area. It is the lovely dreary rain not the FULLY BLOWN SUSHINE rain. It's so nice to have a day where I don't sweat buckets.



Come on Texas, it's September! Can there be a year where we have normal seasons?

No pain, no gain.

This phrase has never throbbed harder in my head till now.

Tired of being jealous and feeling sorry for myself, I've decided to try, yet again, to correct my weight issue. I've tried multiple times before, but failed. I never realized how much Mono screws up your immunity so when I tried to run I'd get sick for a week and not feel as motivated.

I blossomed almost violently in the 5th grade. I've always been big in the bust area, so excercise has always been exceedingly difficult. I've never run a straight mile. The only excercise I've been able to tolerate is swimming and dance.

Now that I've had my breast reduction I'm way more active. Still not able to run a straight mile but I'm able to run the majority of my two mile route. Which is a huge accomplishment for me. I figure that if contestants on The Biggest Loser can do what they do, I, a moderately over-weight woman, can also do it. I keep in mind that running that extra half a street won't kill me but will do quite the opposite.

No real weight loss yet, I'll try again next week. I did weigh in but it's still the same. I figure with certain factors weighing in, I may have lost maybe one or two pounds. Which is not astounding, but it's good enough for me since I've running for a week.

Marty is enjoying our runs. It's improved his behavior by a hundred percent. He's stopped eating cat feces and tearing up tissues.

I need to find a new pair of shoes. I run with Nike Shox right now, but I don't recommend them. I'm pretty flexible anyways, and I seem to walk on the outside of my feet, so these shoes cause me to roll my ankles alot. Also, I run on the balls of my feet so the Shox do no good.
Any suggestions?

Summer is pretty much here...

and my knitting and crochet is in full force oddly enough.

Man, June's pretty much here already. I still feel like I just celebrated my birthday in December.

Due to some personal issues, I've decided to take off the semester and work. This has opened up alot of crafting time for me! To which I am very eager to have.

This past weekend I stood back and took stock of my projects. Some are new, some old.

Monkey by Cookie A. Knit with size US 3 DPNs and with Blood Orange - Heisenberg Sock Yarn from Nerdclub2000. I started them in like March but hadn't really had a chance to finish till now. The first sock was finished last week and I'm halfway through the second sock today thanks to a morning dedicated to cleaning and memorial day weekend trip to Six Flags over Texas.



Three more repeats and a toe and I got a second pair of handknit socks! I seem to be avoiding the Second Sock Syndrome pretty well.

Eva's Shawl by Milobo on Ravelry. Had to have a little crochet action going on. I wanted a airy shawl and the Girasole was going to my mother. Lace yarn from Knitty Dirty Girl.



Girasole by Jared Flood. Still in progress. Wasn't able to give to my mother by mother's day or her birthday but maybe I'll just surprise her one day at the high school where she works as the school nurse. I'll find some way to be funny.



We'll see how these go :)