Crochet Mug Cozy Pattern

Lately, I have become addicted to making these mug cozies. I have been following a fantastic pattern found here Mug Cozy Tutorial. However, I've found that the pattern makes pretty massive cozies, ones that only fit huge mugs from, say, Starbucks. So I wanted to try a revised pattern for regular mugs as well so nobody in the mug cabinet feels left out :) 

I used Peaches 'n Creme yarn as it is durable, easy to wash, etc. I used a Size G crochet needle, so a bit smaller than the tutorial I previously mentioned. Here is my first pattern (although, obviously, it's not completely mine!)

Row 1: Chain (ch) 2. Crochet 12 double crochet (dc) into the first chain, join last stitch to beginning chain stitch with a slip stitch (slst), and tighten the loop. (12 dc)
Row 2: Ch 1. 2sc in each dc, join with a slst. (24 stitches)
Row 3: Ch 1. *2sc in first stitch, 1 sc in next.* Repeat from * until end of row, join with a slst. (36 stitches)
Row 4: Ch 1. Single crochet (sc) in each stitch around, join with a slst. (36 sc)
Row 5: Ch 1. sc in the back loop only of each stitch around, join with a slst. (36 stitches)
Row 6: Ch 1, turn. Sc in next 33 stitches. Do not join. (34 stitches)
Rows 7-10: Repeat row 6. (34 stitches)
Row 11: Ch 1, turn. Sc in next 33 stitches. (34 stitches) Chain 9 and attach the end of the chain to the bottom of the sc with a slst. This will create the loop for the button closure.
Row 12: Slst. Remove hook from yarn and insert it thru the front top of the last sc. Draw yarn loop through top of stitch. For decorative edging: *sc in first dc, ch1, slst in next dc.* Repeat from * until end of row.

Bind off and weave in ends. Sew a button to the corner opposite the loop. And there you go! Now everyone in the cabinet can feel nice and cozy and you can use any of the mugs you've got without burning off your fingers! ;)

cheers!

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel's sake.  The great affair is to move.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

 adam and i just found out we're moving to r.a.f. lakenheath sometime in september-october of this year! we're so freakin' excited, it's ridiculous. i've already bought a travel book for great britain and am addicted to english rental home websites. 

before friday, i had really resigned myself to sticking it out four or five years here in las vegas, however boring or dead-ended it might have felt. but now i feel like i have a new vigor, a reason to be excited about life for at heart i am truly a traveler! i can't wait to smell the english countryside, and taste fresh bread in the market, and see all of the birds and rabbits (i've been reading watership down, how ironic to get this news about england while reading it!).  apparently england is covered in miles of walking trails. literally, one trail is 269 miles long! one trail! and london will be 1-2 hours away, what a great weekend trip (or several, haha). and to meet people who will probably hate us to begin with just because we're american but who will hopefully find us good neighbors and maybe a little different than the stereotype they're used to...

and it really is a good thing that i didn't get accepted into unlv (because i didn't turn everything in on time, not because i'm dumb)... because now i could possibly apply at cambridge!! it's about 30-40 minutes away, are you kidding me? 

the only thing that is now up in the air i guess, is when to start having children. it seems so difficult for people who stay in one place to plan out their family, but how much more difficult when we don't know where we'll be in a few years! i guess it's just one of those things that military people have to jump into, you can't really plan where you'll be raising your kids or if you even get to do it together a lot of the time, you just have to have hope that the preparations you've made are enough and work with what you've got! so we'll see, we're putting it back on the back-burner for a while now that we're moving somewhere amazing with a lot of traveling in our future...

so i'll try to keep updates coming as we hear them. right now we're mostly just in shock of hearing the news, but trying to figure out the next 6-7 months.

English cuisine has received a lot of unfair criticism over the years, but the truth is that it can be a very pleasant surprise to the connoisseur of severely overcooked livestock organs served in lukewarm puddles of congealed grease. England manufactures most of the world's airline food, as well as all the food you ever ate in your junior-high-school cafeteria. --Dave Barry

"happiness is a warm puppy." -charles schultz

okay, that's bad. i only wrote one entry and took a five month hiatus. i'll try to write down all of the interesting events more often. where to begin!

since august i have recently obtained a job as an educator at the mirage's sigfried and roy's secret garden and dolphin habitat. it is a temporary part-time position but it's always money in the bank and right now that's really all that matters. i'm enjoying the days at work, although it does feel a bit campy i guess, seeing as i spend most of the time telling people to keep their stuff off the pool walls and to not let kids bang on the glass windows.

therefore, i am now embarking on a scary but exciting journey to find a position in the clark county school system here in las vegas. whew, these kids are so different from the ones back home. those kids thought they were so rough, but these kids here would put them to shame. my eight-year-old neighbor scares me. he has a mohawk and rides his bike around the neighborhood like a bad-ass up to no good. which makes me kinda jealous. i remember being eight. i don't think i even brushed my hair, much less thought about designing a hairstyle out of it. i played with ninja turtles. that was pretty bad-ass for a girl growing up in the 80's-90's i guess.

moving on! i've also made some pretty solid friends while living here. i met katie online and she introduced me to laura (a security forces wife like her) and laura introduced me to mary (former military, now wife of military). so we four get along great, we even started a book club that tries to meet at least once a month, but usually some form of us meets up at least once a week. so far we've read some pretty interesting books (the other boleyn girl, the heretic's daughter, the book thief, and i think that's it so far.)... anyway, they are pretty much the reason i haven't resigned myself to sitting at home feeling sorry for myself for not having anything to do. now that i have a job, timing's harder, but what can you do? they're really kind and and really quirky, just what i like!

so, the newest addition to this blogger's life is an adorable one-year-old beagle from the spca. her name is brookland, she smells like pee all the damn time, and i love her. her kisses are really thorough. if you didn't think you'd ever french kiss a dog, well, she kinda doesn't give you a choice. she sleeps a lot though, and i don't know if it's because she's a rambunctious puppy or if she's just bored... hopefully the first one.

right now, i'm discovering mumford & sons, they're pretty beautiful (looking and sounding). and i'm reading the lost symbol by dan brown. i feel kinda embarrassed reading his books because they're so popular among people who don't actually read. i don't mean to be an elitist, but i try to read books that are maybe more meaningful? i don't know what i'm saying.

anyway, i have a new year's resolution! my resolution is to create and sell items either through etsy and/or at craft fairs this year with the help of my friends mary and laura. i knit and crochet a lot, but never really finish projects because they don't really have a purpose. i'm just doing something with my hands honestly so i don't feel bored. so maybe if that activity had a motivation, like making things for an actual person... not really to make a profit at first. i really just want to make something that someone else would actually want to wear or give as a gift to someone else. i think that says a lot about your ability, if someone would actually buy it from you, instead of at a buy one get one sale, or worse, at walmart. yikes.

so there you have it, folks. i've made a resolution, now i actually have to take steps to put it into fruition.

much love...