Knit Yourself a Can Cozy

It’s great when you can knit things you will use all the time, and one summertime essential that can easily be knit is a can cozy. These little sleeves keep condensation off your hands when your beverage gets sweaty, adn they can show off your love for fiber in a cool way.

If you like felting or you’ve wanted to try that technique, you can try the Felted Beverage Can Cozy from Recipes for Felting or Just Cozy from Nancy at Measured Threads. And before you think there’s no way you want to use wool on something in summer, it’s actually insulating and can help keep your drink cool.

I like the simple Can Cozy from Yarn Gear (another Arkansas knitter!) mostly because it’s cute and I recently used that exact color of yarn on a project for the girl. The Rainbow Knit Can Cozy from Taffy lass Knits is even easier, just Garter Stitch worked flat and seamed, but without a bottom on the project there is a possibility your can will slip out.

The Knit Can Cozies from Red Heart let you show off your team spirit, while TenClay has a couple of designs from a guy’s perspective.

The pattern from HoleyHoot Designs is a little fancier, with a bit of Feather and Fan on the body, while Tin Can Knits has a cute cabled cozy made especially for coffee but I’m sure it would work with other beverages as well.

I Do Not Drink…Wine from Wild Talents Designs wins the invisible prize of being the cozy pattern with the most fun name; her idea was to make cozies to serve the same purpose as wine glass cozies, but she doesn’t drink wine. Don’t Sweat it by Pam Stiff is another one with a great name.

And possibly the classiest, because it’s made with Malabrigo Sock (though you could use whatever you have) is the Garter Coaster Beer Cozy by Jessica Landers. And while I don’t want to call anything not classy, the Generic Double-Knit Beer Cozy from Clover Linné may be as close as we get, with the word beer knit into the cozy.

Do you have a favorite can cozy pattern? We’d all love to see it.

Next Pattern:

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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