Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The eighth day of knitting

I did the math, and if I don't finish three different projects today and get them into a bowl of Soak and water to block, they will not be dry in time for gifting.  GAH.

So: keeping this short, which is easy because today's recommended pattern is a dream of dreams.

It's a coffee cuff.

I know a lot of people knit coffee cuffs and pair them with a coffeeshop gift card, but I also know I have never, ever personally seen anybody actually use a coffee cuff outside of a very attractive staged photograph.  This has made me slow to embrace the idea of knitting one, even though they are fast and you can go wild with stitches and use up small amounts of yarn.

As it happens though, this year there is a man on my list who buys a takeout coffee every day exactly two blocks from where he's going to drink it, and a gift card with a little sweater to keep hot the contents of his paper cup is the perfect gift.  And now that I'm knitting one, I want to knit about 16, just because I now suspect the reason I've never seen one in use is that the poor people I see drinking takeout coffee don't have a knitter in their lives.

The pattern I'm using is Coffee Cup Six Ways, which is another free download from Ravelry that uses a simple series of ribbing and cables to look interesting while hugging cups of various sizes.  Bonus: it's designed by Nicole Mattson via Prairie Yarns, a shop which last year used some of my chemo cap patterns along with a ton of others to do a massive chemo cap drive.  I really want to get out to that shop but North Dakota is a bit far for me to drive to, heh.

And the reason I love Nicole's pattern?  Folks, she's written it in fingering, so I can use leftover sock yarn to come up with my giftee's team colours.  But she's also written it in DK and worsted weights, so I can whip up another for a giftee whose cowl turned out to be a massive failure when I cast it off yesterday (since she is not in her free time a re-enacter of dramatic moments in the Elizabethan court.)

Take care my friends.  I hope that today is not your make-or-break day, and that if it is, it is a Make!

5 comments:

Kathleen Taylor said...

The only thing I'd worry about with the knitted coffee cup is whether or not the cup would slip right out of it if you're using a slick metal cup, especially one without a handle. How does it *grab*?

Rosemary said...

I just knit a whole bunch of these for my girlfriends! :) I used the Pumpkin Spice pattern on Ravelry. They are way cute, and because they have two button holes, the recipients can use them on coffeeshop cups or regular mugs at home, so I gave them along with packets of flavored cocoa.

Mary Keenan said...

October Rose: it's in my queue now, thanks! brilliant versatility.
Kathy: omigosh I hope this thing doesn't slip. This guy is all about the paper cups so at least I know there's no metal involved. GAH.

Kathleen Taylor said...

Paper has a lot more grab than metal- the cardboard sleeves that most coffee shops use hold just fine, so I think you're okay. Sorry for scaring you- I think the cuffs are a wonderful idea!

Anonymous said...

I've knit a bunch of these and they don't slip, at least for me. Want to make a few more. Just finished my last Christmas present this morning. Now it is on to the unfinished socks, did you notice the plural, and a shrug.