How to Impress the Muggles (Crochet 16 oz. Coffee Cup Cozy)

Reusable takeout/takeaway cup sleeves as seen on Craftster! Most of these samples use Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. These make very quick, easy gifts and are a good way to use up scraps of yarn. 

For a 16 oz. takeout cup: With worsted weight yarn and a G hook, chain 30. Join into a ring and hdc into each chain. Increase 2 sts every other round (e.g. inc 1, hdc 12, inc 1, hdc rem), checking the fit every once in a while, working a plain round to tighten it up if necessary. I like a cozy about 6 rounds high. Stretchy yarns like wool need fewer increase rounds - increasing 2 sts every third round might do the trick. If you want it to fit lower, start with a shorter foundation chain. Please note that I'm using US crochet terms here; in UK terms the half double crochet (hdc) is called a half treble crochet (htc). 

Modification: if the foundation chain is making the cozy too tight to get on to a cup easily, use a foundation hdc (also called 'chainless') instead (there's a great photo and video tutorial on Moogly: Foundation Half Double Crochet). 

I gave one as a small thank-you gift to a barista who makes me awesome iced decaf soy dirty chai lattes (chai latte with a shot of espresso).  Barista delighted, shows to a bunch of our co-workers, co-workers make many comments on it.  I need to remember not to downplay my skills - sure, it's something I just whipped up with scrap yarn and an empty takeout cup...but I don't have to say that.  I can just smile and say thank you.

Basic Crochet: Doll Hat Pattern

A simple crocheted beanie for a Pullip doll, using a sportweight yarn. This was a really quick project, one that's going to be easy to fancy up with appliques, ear flaps, pompons, all that sort of thing.

Tools & Materials
DK or sportweight yarn
crochet hook C/2-2.75mm

Pattern
Make a slip knot loop and sc 6 sts into the loop; tighten loop.
Begin increases:
1) 2 hdc into each st (12 stitches total)
2) *1 hdc, inc 1* (18 stitches total)
3) *2 hdc, inc 1* (24)
4) *3 hdc, inc 1* (30)
5) *4 hdc, inc 1* (36)
6) *5 hdc, inc 1* (42)
Stop increasing. Start checking the fit after row 10 to get the length you want.
7 - 13) hdc ea st

Done!

This is such a very very basic pattern that if you want to use it to make hats to sell, go right ahead. I'd love to know about it (and I can point potential customers your way too!).

Images and text © M.K. Carroll 2006

T-shirt Sleeve Hat (Pullip)

This hat was inspired by a reader-produced issue of Sassy magazine from back in the day - it's really just a rectangle of cotton jersey stitched up the sides. The points poke up a bit and look a bit like ears - to get the "ears" up higher, use the thinnest jersey you can find (like an undershirt) and make the rectangle narrower. I did this as fitting prep work for a knitted hat, but Knitty magazine beat me to it and the Birkin's Hat pattern is based on the same principle, and for sizing, I think this would fit a Pullip as well if you add 4 sts to the cast on and make it a little longer (checking for fit as you go), then replace "slip 1st 23 sts" with "slip 1st 25 sts".

How to make:

I laid out an old t-shirt sleeve, with the hemmed edge at the bottom, marked out 4.5" wide x 6.5" high, gave it a 0.5" seam allowance, and stitched it up. A little carelessly, as you can see from the side, but I just wanted a fabric blank to play with at the time. This is another fun one for fancying up - buttons, embroidery, fabric paint, etc.

Free Peaches & Creme/ Peaches n Creme/ Peaches and Cream Yarn Patterns

August 2019 update: many of these links are now inactive. Some changes include another company, Spinrite, purchasing the rights to the name. If you are looking for sources of the Elmore Pisgah Peaches & Créme yarn, you may be able to find some available for sale in Ravelry.com’s Stash Search feature, Etsy, and eBay. There are over 1,000 free patterns that use Peaches & Creme yarn on Ravelry.com! It’s free to set up a Ravelry account.

It looks like you can tell the difference between the original yarn and the current yarn by the label. The original Elmore Pisgah/Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Peaches & Créme label has a white pitcher next to a peach, and was made in the United States of America. The Spinrite Peaches & Créme label has a large picture of a peach on the label and is made in Canada.

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I pay attention to the searches that bring people to this blog, and searches for free patterns using Peaches & Creme yarn are piling up!  I mentioned it in my post about Craft Shops with Yarn: Honolulu, and that seems to be what brings it up in searches.

The manufacturer (Elmore Pisgah) offers free patterns on their website and spells it "Peaches & Créme" with an accent mark over the first e in Creme, which may or may not help you in additional searches for free patterns. You can buy skeins and cones of Peaches & Creme online at www.peachesandcreme.com.

A review of cotton yarns in the Aug/Sept 2005 issue of Crochet Me includes Peaches & Creme, if you are interested in learning more about the qualities of the yarn and how it compares to other cotton yarns (Lion Brand Lion Cotton, Lily Sugar 'n Cream, Bernat Cottontots, and Classic Elite Sand).  The most popular use for Peaches & Creme seems to be dishcloths, and there is a Mason-Dixon KAL for the Mason-Dixon Knitting Book, and at least one KALer has posted a free dishcloth pattern of her own. More free dishcloth patterns (knit and crochet) can be found at the Dishcloth Boutique.  Bonnie-Marie Burns of Chic Knits recently posted on her blog about using Peaches & Creme for a sweater pattern that called for Rowan Handknit DK Cotton, quite illustrative of how you need not limit yourself to patterns which call specifically for Peaches & Creme yarn. Websites like Craftown, Crochet Pattern Central, Crochet Memories, and Knitting on the Net all offer loads of free patterns, many of which use worsted weight cotton yarn. My own Crochet Bacon & Eggs handbag (adapted from a knitting pattern originally published in a 1979 issue of Jackie magazine) can be made with any worsted weight yarn as well.

(this post was edited on December 15, 2015, to make updates and corrections)

Knit: Oddball Project: iPod Cozy

iPod cozy with asymmetrical flap

4.5 sts/7 rows in stockinette= 1”/2.5cm

US #7/4.5mm dpns, set of 5

Noro Silk Garden (colorway in photo is #250)

Cast on 11 sts. Work in stockinette for 4 rows. Using dpns, pick up 4 sts on each short side and 11 sts on the cast-on edge.

Knit 27 rounds or until cozy measures 4”/10cm from the base (where you picked up the stitches). Starting from one of the short sides, bind off 19 sts. The remaining 11 stitches will become the flap.

Working in stockinette, k 1 row and p 1 row, slipping the first stitch of each row (for a smooth edge).

Buttonhole row: Slip 1, k4, yo, k2tog, k4.

P all

K all

Continue working in stockinette. If you want the flap to slant to the right, like the photo, on every knit row: k to last three sts, k2tog, k1. For a left-slanting flap, on every knit row: slip1, k2tog, k to end of row.

When 5 sts remain, do a yo before the k2tog on the next knit row. When 3 sts remain, k or p 3tog, break yarn and pull through. With iPod in cozy, determine button placement. Remove iPod, sew on button, weave in all ends.

I added a pocket to the back to hold the earbuds by picking up 7 sts halfway up the back and knitting in stockinette for about 12 rows, binding off, and sewing up the sides. Practical, not very elegant, quite difficult for me to get a clear photo of.