Tutorial: Crochet Coffee Cozy

You guys are going to have to roll with me on this one.

Like many of you, I drink coffee. I also have, I’m suspecting, like many of you, a hard time remembering to wash my reusable insulated coffee cups in time for the next morning… which drives me crazy. I try so hard to be a bit more “green”, but I’m so forgetful about the darn cup. I read a statistic recently that a significant amount of waste can be reduced by just using a reusable coffee cup sleeve, or a cozy as they are known in the craft world.

Frantic googling, searching on Pinterest, and talking to my new friend Megan from Crochet Everyday and Newlywife, I found a variety of patterns and methods that should, in theory, work to make myself an adorable coffee cup cozy. My first set were cute for sure:

I kept the turquoise and grey one for myself and gave the other to Jenn. I used my own religiously for a week, and noticed that it just didn’t feel right. It was too slippery. So, I made a few using the pattern that Megan sent me, and those were significantly better! No pictures though… and so, through a fit of boredom and a few (ok, really two) requests for a tutorial, I put this together as I made my friend Erin her cup cozy. I can’t call it a coffee cozy because, honestly, she doesn’t drink coffee!

So, to start, let’s hope you know how to crochet. If not, it’s really not difficult! I’ve been doing it since I was about 9 years old. There are great tutorials here and here for getting started.

Use a cardboard coffee sleeve to gauge size, and I used a worsted weight acrylic and wool yarn and an H-size hook.

Chain 13, or whatever you want the width of your cozy to be.

Single crochet in each of the chains, then chain one at the end of the row.

Then, single crochet in the back loop only of each single crochet, making sure to chain one at the end of each row.

Turn your work at the end of each row. Keep going like this until your rectangle is nearly twice as wide as you need. You’ll also notice that the “back loop only” crochet causes a lovely ribbing to the finished product.

Fold the rectangle in half

Single crochet both sides together, finish off and weave in ends.

Turn the cozy right-side out, then begin a new color to create a border. I used a 3 double crochet shell stitch (3 double crochet in first single crochet, skip one, slip stitch, 3 double crochet…etc) on one side, and a simple single crochet on the other.

Then, on a whim, I made a crocheted “E” to sew on. I use yarn and a tapestry needle with a simple blanket stitch to sew on any decorations. Usually they’re flowers… but thats another tutorial for another day.

I was a little nervous that it was going to be too big for a cup, but this way, Erin won’t burn her hands on an extra hot cocoa cup in the mornings!

In all, this cozy took me under an hour, and its one of the more intricate ones I’ve done. I have two more to mail out to certain people in California, and dozens more for gifts to be made! If you try this out, please let me know how it goes!

Oh, and P.S. these keep hands much less burned-feeling than the standard cardboard cup, are machine washable, and are way cuter than the norm too… which is what’s important, right?

Tagged as: crafts, crochet, random