Keep Calm and Cast On

My girlfriend Kathryn recently requested that I make her a coffee sleeve/cozy thing and it quite possibly changed my life.

OK, maybe that's a tad dramatic but it really did have quite the impact on my knitting!!



Since Christmas knitting is over and done, thank god, I had decided that I was going to try to learn new stitches and knit new things. Unfortunately, the only projects I've worked on since Christmas were things I already knew how to do. There was the baby stocking, that I just finished, for my girlfriend that is prego... I didn't follow any pattern because I didn't like my options, so I made what is basically a really big hat. That way it stretches in all directions and can be used for a lot longer then most of the patterns out there. (Babies grow fast dammit!) And I am still in the midst of a bigger blanket for Adrienne's daughter, Avi.

Baby Stocking

 

Anyhoo, so I get this super cute card with a picture of a coffee cozy cut out of a magazine that basically says please make me one of these, and it's from Kate.

I was kinda like "hmmm, OK, I'm sure I can do this, doesn't look that hard, something new" etc, etc, etc in my head.

I immediately hopped on Ravelry and started looking up patterns.

That was a process. There are sooooooooo many to choose from and then I have to go into each one that I like and read the actual pattern to see if it makes sense and seems like something I want to do.

I kept encountering cable stitches... I don't know to do cable stitches... I want to learn BUT I really just wanted to make a cozy and see how I liked it.

When I finished picking out the patterns I was going to try, it was on like Donkey Kong!!!

If I didn't have to sleep, eat or work, I would have never left the couch!

I was spitting these things out like a knitting machine!!! And by that I mean, it only took a couple of hours to finish one... not bad considering most projects last weeks if not months!

All in all I did 3 travel cozies and one mug cozy. I am hesitant about the mug cozies because all mugs are different sizes. I know because I measured 4 of my own and found them all to be different ( I have a plethora of coffee mugs).

I put them in the mail today, so she should get them by this weekend and I can get some feedback.

If she likes them and they seem to hold up and fit her cups then I may just starting knitting the hell out of them and selling them. I was thinking maybe have a little display at a local coffee shop or something like that at first but if it goes well then maybe I could set up a shop on etsy or something.

Would you pay $5 for a cozy?

Knit cozies on etsy seem to be going for somewhere around $10... so Idk.

The whole point is that I think this would be a great adventure and maybe a way to make some extra money off of a hobby I already adore.

Here are pictures of the ones I did for K8: