Pattern | OUI OU NON cozy

translation, "yay for today!"

For those days when you just can't speak, or when you want to wear your heart on your cup sleeve, the OUI OU NON (yes or no) cup cozy comes in particularly handy. Example:  "Hi Steph, how's your day?!" Steph shows NON = "I can't even... wait until I finish my coffee..." Or, maybe you are having a fabulous morning and you want to world to know, face that OUI out to the world with a big smile on your face, a song in your heart, and a spring in your step! Say everything without saying anything!


CHART AND PATTERN TIME!

This is my original pattern, so please don't reproduce it or sell it, and if you love it and want to share it with the world, please share a link, a mention, a tag, etc... thanks! #WorkingYarns #OUIouNONcozy

And, FINALLY... 

"yes" day, "no" day...? oui ou non?

MATERIALS
Worsted weight yarn in two colors (I used Quince & Co Lark in Honey and Frost)
Four US 7 / 4.5mm Double Pointed Needles
Scissors
Darning needle, or other wide-eye needle


METHOD
This cozy is knit in the round on DPNs, bottom up, using two-color knitting, stockinette stitch and 2x2 rib stitch.

Cast on 40 stitches in you main color, color A - 12 on the first needle, and 14 each on the other two needles - using the German Twisted cast-on, or your favorite stretchy cast-on.

Being careful not to twist your stitches, join in the round and begin a 2x2 rib

Edge Rounds (ER)
ER 1-4, k2, p2*, repeat from *

Pattern Rounds (PR) as seen in chart
PR are knit in stockinette, in colors A and B. See chart for color change.
The chart is read, right to left, starting at the bottom edge, and working up row by row.

Finish by repeating ER,
ER 1-4, k2, p2*, repeat from *
Bind off using the sewn bind-off, or your favorite stretchy bind-off.



There you have it, the lovely OUI OU NON cup cozy! Now, go out into the world confidently letting people know just how you feel.

As always, I would love you to share and tag #WorkingYarns and #OUIouNONcozy

P.S. if you want to know where I got the super cute to-go cup, it's from Target, and is part of a collaboration between Design Love Fest (check it out!) and Cheeky. I don't usually do disposable, but these were super cute, and come in handy if you can't carry your reusable cup around all day.

translation, "not feeling it, today... go away"

Coming Up

Hello, folks! Life has been crazy busy, and isn't about to slow down anytime soon... but hopefully my day job will wind down in the next month or so, and I will have more time for my personal projects!

Some of those projects include you guys! I really want to get down some patterns that I've been working on, as well as a few more tutorials for YouTube - I can't wait to share them with you guys! I've also started using Periscope, and I really like it! Right now it's just WIP updates, but I also hope to provide help and tips, too, so keep and eye out!

In the meantime, I've been dreaming up a learn-to-knit series, using wash cloths to build skills. I will be doing washcloths because they are small, quick, and useful. Because they complete quickly, the new knitter will be able to move on to their own projects sooner than if they learned on a scarf or cowl. I would love to teach the series in person, but I will probably do it through YouTube, first, and see where it goes from there.

Pattern | Simple Cup Cozy (and color work)

A while back I posted the pattern and tutorial for my Dimple Stripe Cup Cozy. Earlier this year I started to make more basic cup cozies so that they could be modified with embroidery and color work, and be a bit less feminine.  I've been walking around with my first one (not pictured) for a while now, and this weekend I got stopped by two women that wanted to know how to make it - this was a sign that it's time to update the blog with this particular pattern. So here it is, another free cup cozy pattern and tutorial!

I love how the knitted 'v' looks like a heart

These make really great little gifts, and are also great stash busters! They fit on regular coffee shop cups, as well as slim personal cups and travel mugs.

Pattern | Knitted Simple Slouchy Hat

Last year I posted my free pattern for a crocheted Simple Slouchy Beanie. Since then, I have been playing around with knitting and wanted to offer another simple project, a knitted slouchy hat.

Though I learned how to knit over ten years ago, I stuck with very basic stuff because knitting in the round scared me... DPNs and circular needles can be intimidating. But, I plowed through that fear and plunged into hat making, and I am so glad that I did!

S/M hat on the left, and M/L hat on the right.

First thing I did was scour the internet for free patterns - a basic hat or beanie pattern is not something that you should have to pay for (IMO), and yet a lot of people charge (and I have a story connected to that, later) - and eventually, I found a couple of free patterns (which I will list below).

Mini Tuto and Pattern | Knitted Seed Stitch Cowl (with video!)

Sometimes the really simple things are the best. I recently cast on this seed stitch cowl, and I love the way it's working up! Seed stitch cowls are very easy to make. This one is in the round, which makes it even easier, and it requires only one 100g* ball of yarn!

I'm about half way through the project right now - I've been alternating between this and two hats on the train ride to and from work - and it seems like it will be just right when it's done.

This project is great for a beginner! You just need to know how to knit and purl - working in the round is fairly easy, and there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to help you start off right. At the bottom of this post I have my own little video for seed stitch in the round!

Tutorial | Simple, Old Fashioned Slippers

(pardon the slipper that's stretched out...)

The weather is finally turning cold in the Bay Area, and a little wet, too (thank goodness!). It's starting to feel like the holiday season, and the nostalgia is bubbling up inside. It was cold this weekend, so we turned on the heater and I started a search for some easy-to-make slippers for my cold toes.

I went to Ravelry, typed in my search, specified that I wanted something knitted with worsted weight yarn, and free. What I saw depended that feeling of nostalgia: slippers that looked like the ones my great-grandma used to make. She would make slippers for the whole family at Christmas, always adding little pom-poms to the girls slippers, or sometimes a crocheted flower. I could almost taste her sugar cookies while I was looking at the pattern photos. She passed when I was seven or eight, and I was so sad when my last pair of slippers wore out - they were a bright, Christmas red with a pom-pom on each one.

Revisiting the Yarn Over (YO)

I recently started working on a beautiful, open-work cowl. The pattern is called A Nobel Cowl, by Emily Kausalik, and is published for free on Ravelry. It has the most beautiful shield pattern, and I knew it would be perfect for the the Classic Elite Lush that I had picked up over at Article Pract (which is sadly closing within the year). It also looked fairly easy to make, though it was marked intermediate*.

I knew (or thought I knew) how to do most of the stitches, and just went to YouTube to learn how to ssk, or slip-slip-knit, a decrease stitch. I was confident enough in my ability to perform the k2tog and yo to get started without much hesitation.

The pattern states that it is in sets of fifteen. Having only one skein of yarn, I decided to reduce the number of stitches to 105, and make mine a bit shorter. I got started, but noticed that I was working in sets of nineteen, and that by the time I made it to the end, I was only able to get ten of the last set of "fifteen" in... I reached out (kind of... more like complained on Instagram), and was told that the pattern was indeed worked in sets of fifteen stitches, not the nineteen that I was getting. I was completely perplexed, but just kept going for the full twenty-eight rows of the pattern, only to see this mutant looking merger where the whole patter meets half a pattern. You can imagine my disappointment, confusion, and frustration.

Diagonal Baby Blanket, and How To Do a Yarn Over

When I first started knitting I would scour the Lion Brand free patters, because it was pretty much the only brand of yarn I was familiar with and liked, and I didn't know about Ravelry yet. I had found this Diagonal Baby Blanket pattern, which is pretty and simple, but I was intimidated by the yarn over, and just couldn't get it. I was also intimidated by the thought of using circular needles. I guess I was a wimp… And really, I had no reason to be afraid; this is a beginner pattern, and a great way to learn how to make a yarn over, and work diagonally.

Anyway, I recently saw a few pictures of diagonal knit blankets, remembered the pattern, and decided to give it a try. I haven't finished it yet, but I will give you my notes so far, as well as a little video (my first knitting video!) on how to do a yarn over in the knit stitch.

Though this project would be great in a cozy merino wool, I am using Wool-Ease Worsted, because it's affordable in bulk, and machine washable. I found a pretty, neutral grey, which is great for any age or gender. I was able to get six skeins in the same dye-lot, and it seems this thing will probably come out to be about 32"-36". We will see.


Pattern Notes

I don't really like the way this pattern starts out. It's a bit skimpy, going almost immediately into the yarn over (yo) "eyelet," which just looks weird and won't match the other corners very well. So I changed it, twice.

Version 1 (the blanket I'm working, now) and Version 2

The pattern says to cast on five stitches, and then go into the yarn overs in row 2.