Colorwork Christmas Coffee Cozy Knitting Patterns

For someone who never really leaves the house, I sure like knitting coffee cup cozies. I guess I could use them in the house, but I usually drink from a mug with a handle, which these sleeve designs don’t really work with. Maybe I need to knit a cozy that buttons on so I can use it at home?

Coffee cup cozies are fun, fast little projects and a great way to try out new skills. I’ve actually recently designed two different ones with Christmas trees on them, using different colorwork techniques.

The intarsia coffee cup cozy has a single Christmas tree on it and is a great first intarsia project because you only need three strands of yarn to work it. You can also embellish the tree with beads, surface embroidery, buttons, whatever you like, to make it even more festive. (If you’ve never knit intarsia before, I’ve got a how-to here.)

The stranded knitting cozy is a little more technical, because it uses three colors per round in the colorwork section, and you have to catch the strands on the back because the space between colors can get pretty long. I’d say this is more of an intermediate stranded knitting project. But the colorwork section is only 11 rounds, so it’s over pretty fast even if you have to take it slow. The key on this one is keeping those floats loose so it will fit on your cup when you’re done. (Learn more about stranded knitting here.)

Both of these are quick projects that would be great to give as gifts along with a new travel mug and a gift card to a favorite coffee shop. Or if you’re out of the house more than I am, you can deck your mug and spread holiday cheer wherever you go.

Easy Knit Gift: Coffee Cozy Sweaters

Bon Bon Coffee Cozy Knitting Pattern

Knit a Sweet Coffee Cozy with a Woodland Creature

Knit a Cozy for Your Coffee with a Twist

Knit a Super Simple Coffee Cup Cozy

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Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal.

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles.

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges.

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to.

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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