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.

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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