I never imagined that there are really people who used cup sleeves or cup cozies at home except when they’re given those cup sleeves at coffee shops. Anyhow, a friend messaged me that she wanted a few cup sleeves.
And now I have a new sense of appreciation for what seemed to me boring thing to crochet. It’s actually quick fun. Following are some notes I made when adapting the crochet patterns that call for worsted yarn to mercerized cotton thread 10 for those who want some quickie crochet project.
So worsted yarn (using size 4-5mm hook size) is what is usually specified in the the cup sleeves patterns I was looking at. The worsted yarns I usually have are the Monaco acrylic. But I wanted to use cotton because I thought it would feel more cosy if it’s cotton to protect you from heat than acrylic. So I opted to go for the mercerized cotton thread. I “double pull” it because “impatient.” 🙂
Yarn: Mercerized Thread 10 (Double Pull)
Hook: 4mm
Patterns: See list below.
Steps:
1. Get cup sleeves from coffee shops. They come with the take-out paper cups. I believe it’s the standard size. There are lots of information regarding cup sleeve dimensions on the internet but to save us from information overload, just go to your nearest coffee shop. You can then use this as your gauge for sizing especially if we are not using the specified yarn weight in the pattern.
2. With monaco mercerized thread 10, chain 39 (to 41) as your base foundation. After making a few cup cozies, chain 39 is the closest that could give me the right size for standard cup sleeve. If you started with shorter length, you may increase in the later rows.
3. The alternate SC and DC stitches give me the most stretchy effect, and fits perfectly with the chain 39.
The basket weave is also cozy except that it would shrink as you go on for more rows so you might start with a longer chain, or increase along the way.
For my 1st attempt, it took some time because I had to frog a lot of times to get me into the right gauge. When I was able to get the hang of it, cup cozies are pretty fast to make. I would have made more except that my right arm was in pain after at that time after making 3 mermaid blankets successively for my nieces. =)
Pattern Sources:
* Toothless the Dragon and Yoda cup sleeves / cozy crochet patterns are from The Enchanted Ladybug >>. This site has a lot of “kawaii” cup sleeves / cozy crochet patterns.
* The Basketweave Stitch >> * 15 Minute Cup Sleeve >> 
* The Crown and Wonderwoman inspired cup cozies / sleeves were inspired by bigger versions of it. So you can actually use the patterns for beanies / hats, headbands but then just make smaller version of them.
* Crown pattern Garn Studio >>
