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.

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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