Purl-Side-Out Beer Cozy Knitting Pattern

Summer's in full swing, the weather's hot, and a cold drink is heaven on days like this.  With that in mind, I decided to knit myself a beer cozy.  (Well, technically I knitted myself an Izze cozy because I don't drink beer, given my celiac disease and all, but I digress.)

I was messing around with a stripey pattern when I was swatching the other day, and I realized that the purl side of my work held way more visual interest than the knit side.  Obviously, the knit side is traditionally the "right side" to face out, but I didn't see any reason why tradition had to stand in the way of an attractive piece of knitting, so that's why this cozy has the purl side out.

This decision also came with a surprise bonus.  Being inside-out makes the stockinette stitch want to roll in at the top and the bottom of the cozy so it perfectly hugs the curves of the bottle.  I had originally planned to knit a bottom for this cozy so it wouldn't slip off the bottle, but the slight rolling made it fit so nicely that the bottom became unnecessary.

Let's get down to business with the pattern.  I made this on flat needles and seamed it together.  I know that having a seam (and therefore a little hump) is less than ideal, but working this pattern inside-out in the round got very complicated very quickly when it came to switching colors and stranding the yarn.

Materials:
Worsted weight cotton yarn in 3 colors (I used Sugar & Cream original cotton yarn in yellow, white, and tea rose.)
Size 5 knitting needles
Tapestry needle
Scissors

Abbreviations used in this pattern:
Yarn A =  tea rose (aka pink)
Yarn B =  white
Yarn C =  yellow

Pattern:
Cast on 30 stitches with yarn A

Row 1: (Yarn A) purl
Row 2: (Yarn B) knit
Row 3: (Yarn C) purl
Row 4: (Yarn C) knit
Row 5: (Yarn B) purl
Row 6: (Yarn A) knit

Rows 7-24: Repeat rows 1-6 three more times.  There should now be four yellow stripes and four and half pink stripes on the knit-side of your work.

Row 25: (Yarn A) purl
Row 26: (Yarn B) knit
Row 27: (Yarn C) purl

Bind off knitwise with yarn C

Finishing:
Weave in the ends.
Lay the knit rectangle on a flat surface with the knit side up, fold the right and left sides (where all the stranding is; not the cast on and bound off edges) toward each other to form a loop.  Seam those two edges together, keeping all the stranding on the inside (aka the knit side) of the loop.  I recommend using mattress stitch on the purl side to make the seam invisible.

Happy knitting!  As always, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask them, and I would love to see a picture if you make one of these too.

xoxo
Laura

Hair Bow Knitting Pattern

Whenever a rehearsal period ends and it's finally time for our show to open, I like to make little presents for all the girls to celebrate our opening day.  I made friendship bracelets when we opened this same show last summer, and this summer I decided to knit hair bows.

This is a great project if you're working on shrinking your yarn stash like I am, because each bow only uses a small fraction of a skein of yarn.  You can probably make several of these little guys without buying a single thing.  I made 10!

Notice the black loops behind the bows?  Those are hair ties that are built right in for ease of use.

Materials:
Worsted weight yarn (any color, any material, whatever you've got in your stash!)
US Size 3 knitting needles
Hair ties (I used Goody ouchless elastics in black)
Scissors
Tapestry needle

Pattern:
Cast on 10 stitches
Row 1: Knit

Row 2: Purl
Repeat these two rows for 6.5 inches.
Cast off

Finishing:
1.  Weave in the ends.
2.  Place the knitting on a table right-side down (aka purl side up).
3.  Fold the cast on and the cast off edges toward each other so they touch, as shown in the picture on the right.
4.  Seam the two edges together so the fabric becomes a loop.
5.  Wrap a piece of yarn around the middle of the loop so that it looks like a bow; then secure that piece of yarn with a knot.
6.  Now hold a hair band against the back of the bow and wrap another piece of yarn around both the middle of the bow and one side of the hair band.  Secure the yarn with a knot.

You should now have a finished bow attached to a hair band!

Here's a shot of all my lovely cast mates modeling their bows:

I had a great time knitting these bows, and I think they were a big hit with the girls.

I used all different types of yarn to make these, and the bows made of superwash wool were definitely the easiest to knit, but the cotton bows felt the sturdiest as finished products.  Can you tell which bows were made with which type of yarn?

No matter which yarn I was using, I had a great time creating this pattern and knitting these little guys, and I hope you have fun with them too.

Happy knitting!
xoxo
Laura

Knit Bow Tie

Lately I've been really interested in mixed media knitting, a.k.a. knitting with other materials in addition to yarn, so I decided to incorporate some ribbons into this big, fun bow tie that I made.

Here's the what you'll need if you want to make one too:
Less than 1 skein of worsted weight yarn
US Size 7 knitting needles
Less than 1 spool of 1/4 inch ribbon
2 hooks
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Glue

Abbreviations used in this pattern:
k2tog = knit 2 stitches together (decrease stitch)
yo = yarn over (increase stitch)

Pattern for the bow:
Cast on 15 stitches
Row 1: k2tog, yo, knit 3, k2tog, yo, knit 1, yo, k2tog, knit 3, yo, k2tog
Row 2: purl
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until your work is 11.5 inches long.
Bind off

Your work should now have 4 rows of holes in it, like the second picture in this post.  Thread a ribbon along each of those 4 rows, in and out of each hole until your work looks like the picture below.

Now cut the ends of the ribbons so they are about 2 inches long. Fold the ends over the edge of the knitting and glue them down on the back side of your work, as pictured below.

Once the glue dries, seam the two edges of the knitting together (where you just glued the ends), forming a loop with the knit stitches facing out.

For the neck band:
Cast on 5 stitches
Row 1: knit
Repeat row 1 until you have a strip of garter stitch that is about 16 inches long (or the circumference of the neck you're making the bow tie for, if you know it).
Bind off

For the center of the bow:
Cast on 8 stitches
Row 1: knit
Row 2: purl
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have a strip of stockinette stitch that is 4.5 inches long.
Bind off

Finishing:
Lay the big loop flat on a tables with the seam in the center.
Lay the neck band on top of the loop.
Wrap the center strip for the bow around the big loop and the neck band and sew it all together using matching yarn and your tapestry needle. It should now look like a bow tie!

To finish it off, sew two hooks onto one end of the neck band so that the new owner of this bow tie can hook the back of the neck together anywhere along the knitting that he would like.  This will make it fit just right even if you made the neck band a little too long.

Here's Justin modeling his new look:

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to leave them in the comments section!
xoxo
Laura

p.s. This bow tie is what I was knitting in this post.  Did you guess correctly?

Knitted Leaves

In my last post, I told you about my first ever yarn bombing experience.  (Eek!)  In this post, I'll give you the pattern for the knitted leaves that I made.  If you know how to knit, purl, do stitch increases and decreases, and make an i-cord, you'll be able to make these little guys. 

Equipment Needed:

• Worsted weight yarn in a fun fall color
• US size 7 double pointed needles
• Scissors
• Tapestry needle for weaving in the ends

Abbreviations used in this Pattern:

• m1 = make one (increase stitch)
• k2tog = knit 2 stitches together (decrease stitch)
• k3tog = knit 3 stitches together (decrease stitch)
• k2tog (tbl) = knit 2 stitches together, inserting the right needle through the back of the loops instead of through the front of them (decrease stitch)
• k3tog (tbl) = knit 3 stitches together, inserting the right needle through the back of the loops instead of through the front of them (decrease stitch)
• p2tog = purl 2 stitches together (decrease stitch)

 

Pattern:

• Cast on 3 stitches
• Make a 1.5" i-cord
• Row 1: purl 1, knit 1, purl 1
• (Increase) Row 2: knit 1, m1, purl 1, m1, knit 1
• Row 3: purl 2, knit 1, purl 2
• (Increase) Row 4: knit 1, m1, knit 1, m1, purl 1, m1, knit 1, m1, knit 1
• Row 5: purl 4, knit 1, purl 4
• (Increase) Row 6: knit 2, m1, knit 2, m1, purl 1, m1, knit 2, m1, k2
• Row 7: purl 6, knit 1, purl 6
• Row 8: knit 6, purl 1, knit 6
• Row 9: purl 6, knit 1, purl 6
• (Decrease) Row 10: k2tog, knit 4, purl 1, knit 4, k2tog (tbl)
• Row 11: purl 5, knit 1, purl 5
• Row 12: knit 5, purl 1, knit 5
• Row 13: purl 5, knit 1, purl 5
• (Decrease) Row 14: k2tog, knit 3, purl 1, knit 3, k2tog (tbl)
• Row 15: purl 4, knit 1, purl 4
• (Decrease) Row 16: k2tog, k2, p1, k2, k2tog (tbl)
• Row 17: purl 3, knit 1, purl 3
• (Decrease) Row 18: K3tog, purl 1, k3tog (tbl)
• (Bind off) Row 19: purl 1, p2tog, bind off the two stitches.

You'll notice in the pictures above that I wove in the loose ends at the pointy side of the leaves but I left the loose ends hanging off of the leaves' i-cord stems.  That's because I used those loose ends to tie the leaves onto the tree.  Today I revisited my tree and was delighted to see the yellow leaves dancing in the wind.

Happy knitting!
xoxo
Laura

XOXO Coffee Cup Sleeve

A special hello to all you knitters out there!

Today I'm excited to share with you a fun and easy pattern that I made up.  It's a knitted coffee cup sleeve with my favorite sign-off message on it: xoxoxo.

You can use any worsted weight yarn for this project, just make sure to go down a needle size from the one recommended so the stitches will be nice and tight.  I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarn and size US 7 needles.  This is a quick knit that uses less than one skein of yarn.

The goal is for the sleeve to say xoxoxo with a 3-stitch ribbing on either side.

Abbreviations used in this pattern:

• C8F: Slip 4 stitches from the left hand needle onto a cable needle, holding the cable needle in front of the main knitting.  Knit the next 4 stitches from the left needle, then knit the 4 stitches from the cable needle.


• C8B: Exactly the same as C8F, but hold the cable needle behind the main knitting.

Here's the pattern:

• Cast on 22 stitches

• Row 1: Knit 22
  
• Row 2: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3
• Row 3: Knit 22
• Row 4: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3
• Row 5: Knit 3, C8F, C8B, Knit 3
• Row 6: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3

• Row 7: Knit 22
• Row 8: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3
• Row 9: Knit 22
• Row 10: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3
• Row 11: Knit 3, C8B, C8F, Knit 3
• Row 12: Knit 3, Purl 16, Knit 3

• Rows 13-18: Repeat rows 7-12
• Rows 19-24: Repeat rows 1-6
• Rows 25-30: Repeat rows 1-6
• Rows 31-36: Repeat rows 7-12
• Rows 37-42: Repeat rows 7-12
• Rows 43-48: Repeat rows 1-6
• Rows 49-54: Repeat rows 1-6
• Rows 55-60: Repeat rows 7-12
• Rows 61-66: Repeat rows 7-12
• Rows 67-72: Repeat rows 1-5

• Row 73 (beginning of button holes): Knit 3, Cast Off 4, Purl 8, Cast Off 4, Knit 3
• Row 74 (finishing the button holes): Knit 3, Turn work around, Cast On 4, Turn work around, Knit 8, Turn work around, Cast on 4, Turn work around, Knit 3

• Cast off 22 stitches

Now all that's left is to sew on a couple of buttons, slip your new sleeve onto your coffee cup, and enjoy!

Happy sipping!
xoxo
Laura