This holiday, I decided to go the traditional route with some handmade gifts for my friends.


I saw this photo on Pinterest of a cute cabled mug cozy.  I can't remember how many times I've reached in to grab a cup of hot water from the microwave only to quickly withdraw my hand when I accidentally touch the super hot mug.  So this idea is both adorable and functional.  Plus, seeing as my friends are all either coffee or tea drinkers, and that I'm still officially a beginner at knitting, a small project like this was perfect.  Unfortunately, this specific pattern was a little beyond the reach of my current skill level, so I explored Ravelry for some patterns I could make for the tea and cocoa drinkers, as well as perhaps a replacement for the Starbucks addicts' cardboard sleeves.  Actually, now that I think of it, Caribou Coffee sells reusable coffee sleeves, but they are not as fantastic as mine, of course!

For the tea and cocoa drinkers, I used the Button Up Your Cup pattern.  I had to learn how to crochet for this one, and I think I have lots of room for improvement on that skill, but it still came out great, considering!  I added, to the side, a personalized touch with a little felt tea bag tag that I "embroidered" (in quotes because I officially don't know how to do it and it looked like a kid did it) a little message, like "Isabel's Tea."


Then for the coffee drinkers, I could not resist the trendy, supercuteness of this Owl Coffee Cup Sleeve pattern!! 

As a bonus, I made this fun sock monkey sleeve too!