Mug Cozy Tutorial: Make a Furry Mug Hug!
This furry mug hug is so full of character – you’ll love this free mug cozy knitting tutorial! It’s one of my top crafts for teens to make and sell, and great for putting out at craft fairs or fundraisers. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.
Anyway, I am extra delighted to bring to you this guest tutorial, a fun, furry mug cozy by Evelyne of Nemcsok Farms. Evelyne is simply awesome – and any time I see one of her simple, slightly crazy knitting tutorials it inspires me to try again to learn to knit myself. But y’know… life happens.
Meanwhile, here is your furry mug cozy tutorial. I might need to ask my mother if she feels like making me one because I’m not so capable of knitting myself…
Oh, and make sure to scroll down and check out more tutorials from Evelyne at the end of this post!
On to Evelyne:
Trendy, whimsical and really, really simple, this mug cozy is knit with a rib pattern, that makes it elastic, giving it stretch to fit over your mug without any pesky buttons or closures, with the seam sewn leaving a gap for the handle.
Skills required to make this DIY mug cozy:
You’ll need to know how to cast on, I prefer using the sling shot method, mostly because it sounds cool, and there’s a really great tutorial here if you are unfamiliar, and perform the knit and purl stitch. You’ll also need to know how to bind off, and sew a seam. All really easy stuff.
What you need to make this mug cozy:
- Boa yarn – You will be able to make several mug cozies from one skein. While the boa yarn looks really fun and is a pretty neat textural experience, it also works really well for a beginner project where you may have a few errors to hide.
- 4.5 mm knitting needles
- Darning needle
- scissors
How to make this Mug Cozy:
1. Cast On
- Pull a 24″ length of yarn from the skein. Make a slip knot, place it on the needle, and pull the yarn ends to tighten it. This counts as your first cast on stitch
- Hold the needled with the slip knot in your right hand with your index finger resting on the slip knot.
- Place the short end of yarn over your left thumb, and bring the working yarn up and over your left index finger. Hold both yarn ends in your left palm with your three remaining fingers. Like a sling shot.
- Insert tip of needle under first strand of yarn on left thumb
- Bring needle over and around the first strand on your index finger
- Pull the yarn and needle down through the loop on your thumb
- Slip your thumb out of the loop, then bring your thumb toward you, catching the yarn end to form a new loop on your thumb and gently pulling to tighten the new stitch on the needle.
- Repeat steps 3-7 until you have thirty (30) stitches on your needle.
Here’s a video to teach you how to do this:
Rib Pattern
- Knit the first stitch
- Bring the yarn between the needles from back to front, into the position to purl, and purl the next stitch
- Take the yarn between the needles to the back again, into the position to knit, and knit the next stitch.
- Bring the yarn between the needles from back to front, into the position to purl, and purl the next stitch
- Repeat steps three and four across all of the stitches on your needle. You will end with a purl stitch.
- When you have completed the first row, put your needle with the stitched on it back into your left hand, put your empty needle in your right hand, and repeat the rib pattern, knitting one stitch, then purling one stitch, across all of the stitches on the needle.
- Repeat this Knit 1, Purl 1 ribbing on every row, starting with a knit stitch and ending with a purl stitch until your piece measures three inches.
Binding Off
- Knit 2 stitches
- With the left needle, bring the first stitch over the second stitch and off the needle.
- Knit the next stitch
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 until only one stitch remains on the needle.
- Secure the last stitch by cutting the yarn (leave a bit of length for sewing a seam – a couple inches in this case) and bringing it up through the last stitch and pulling to tighten.
Sewing the Seam
- Thread your darning needle with the end of yarn from where you cast on, and sew your cozy end to end, about 1/2 an inch in.
- Thread your darning needle with the end of yarn from where you binded off, and sew your cozy end to end, about 1/2 an inch in. Leaving a 2″ gap in the seam.
- Weave in ends, and trim to tidy, and go enjoy that cup of coffee.
Here are some more cool and easy tutorials from Nemcsock Farms! Click on the image to visit that DIY:
About the Author: Evelyne is the fearless, axe wielding, quirky, hardworking and incredibly funny creative genius behind the blog Nemcsok Farms. Who also has a weird fascination with soil, and wreaths. You can follow her on Pinterest, and Instagram, and stop by her Facebook page to see she has been creating lately.
She has recently released her first ebook of patterns for you to try.
I really think these will be great for the winter… but I can’t wait that long, Fall is here after all!