Coasting Along: The Dreaded Cable Knit

Hello again! I hope you all survived the holiday rush where'er you are. I hosted my sin-laws this year- you know, sin-laws. The family of the person with whom one lives in sin, term blatantly stolen from Sarah over at Sunday Dinners.

Baking and prepping furiously for a week, I used recipes from the inestimable Pioneer Woman to brine and roast a turkey, as well as making her well received Soul Sweet 'Taters, of which I did not partake as I find sweet potatoes to be the inferior potatoes. I made dressing from a secret family recipe, gravy from the tasty turkey drippings, mashed potatoes with half a pound of butter, sweet corn, and green beans with bacon. I made pumpkin pasties with homemade pie dough to sate my inner Harry Potter fangirl, and fudge to sate everything else. I made bread pudding with lime-tequila sauce that is mostly sugar and tequila. I caved, and bought bread rolls ready made.

And you know what? It was all ready at the same time. I won Thanksgiving.
Anyway, I promised you all another mug cozy pattern, and since I defeated the holiday beast, I figure tackling this pattern will be a cinch.

Cable Knit Cozy and Coaster Set

Sorry about the pictures. I was in the middle of wrapping these up as presents when I realized that I would probably want them on the blog!

When preparing for cable knit, the most important thing to keep in mind is the phrase printed in bold letters on the front of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic. You will be okay, I promise! This cable is small enough, you won't even need an extra fancy cable needle. Your two regular straight needles will do.

That in mind, I made a bit of a mistake with these and ended up using a different size for the cozies (size 8) than for the coasters (size 5). I kind of saw that the yarn (reclaimed cotton yarn of indeterminate origin hiding in my stash) was a little smaller than the worsted weight used for my other patterns. I wanted a nice, tight knit, so I sized the needles down. I forgot to add stitches to account for the change in guage, though, so I ended up remaking all of the cozies on a larger needle anyway. Aren't you glad you have me here to make these mistakes for you?

Mug Cozy Pattern:

CO 44 stitches on your size 8 needles. I prefer a continental or "long-tail" cast on for cozies so they have a bit more stretch.

Row 1: P2, K4 across. P last 2.
Row 2: K2, P4 across. K last 2.
Row 3: (button holes and cables!) P2tog, yarn over. Skip 2, leaving them on the left hand needle. K2, pulling yarn through the previous stitches as normal, but without removing them from the left needle. Now K the 2 you previously skipped. P2. Repeat from "Skip 2" to end.

(So, to get a cable you're simply knitting things out of order! You can do this! If you think of the loops as numbered 1-4 from closest to furthest from the needle's tip, you're knitting 3, 4, 1, 2.)
Row 4: K2, P4 across. K last 2.

Repeat Rows 1-4, 3 times.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2.
Bind off.
Sew Buttons corresponding with button holes. Feel accomplished at knitting a fancy cable!

Coaster Pattern:

Cast on 24 stitches with size 5 needles.

Row 1: P2, K4, P12, K4, P2
Row 2: K2, P4, K12, P4, K2
Row 3: P2, skip 2, K2, Kskipped2, P12, skip 2, K2, Kskipped2, P2
Row 4: K2, P4, K12, P4, K2

Repeat Rows 1-4, five times.
Repeat Rows 1-2.
Cast off.
Put that drank on that coaster!

Next week, in the final installment of coaster+cozy sets, we'll swap out and be hookers. I mean, we'll crochet! Won't that be fun?