Checker Knitted Mug Cozies and Coaster Set

Christmas Spoiler Alert: If you are a member of my extended family who still believes in Santa, you may want to skip this post!

Okay, that said, I am very proud of myself with Christmas dealings this year. I started making gifts in October and am still trucking away. In my extended family holiday gathering the kids all get individual presents and adults take part in gender-divided gift exchanges. Usually my mom and sister and I plot together for children's gifts and gift exchange gifts both, but that's a little harder when I am five states away. So, when my mom and sister started telling me their plans for the kids' gifts I pouted. I figured I would chip in for those and then we would all be on our own for the gift exchange. Then I pouted some more. Then I stopped pouting and offered to make gifts for both of them to bring to the gift exchange as my contribution to the Christmas spirit.

I recently made a mug cozy set based on a pattern from "Winter Knits Kit", a set published by Chronicle Books, and gifted to me from Connor for our first Christmas together. It inspired a cozy-fervor and I immediately made up patterns for three different sets.
Here's set #1:

Easy Checkered Knit Cozies and Coasters

Cotton yarn is best for kitchen-y crafts that, if you're anywhere near as clumsy as I, will soon be soaked in the hot beverage of your choice. These are made from Lily Sugar 'n' Cream yarn in Tangerine, but any similar worsted weight cotton should be fine. I used two skeins to get four coaster/cozy sets and had quite a bit left over from the second skein. I used size 8 needles, with a gauge of 16 stitches across equaling 3.75 inches.

For the Cozy:
Cast on 44 Stitches.

Row 1: K4, P4 across, K last 4
Row 2: P4, K4 across, P last 4
Row 3 (a button hole row!): K2tog, yarn over, K2. Then, P4, K4 across.
Row 4: P4, K4 across, P last 4
Row 5: P4, K4 across, P last 4
Row 6: K4, P4 across, K last 4
Row 7 (another button hole!): P2tog, yarn over, P2. Then, K4 P4 across.
Row 8: P4, K4 across, P last 4

Rows 9-16: Repeat Rows 1-8
Bind off.
Weave in your ends and sew cute buttons. Now make yourself a nice coffee/tea/mug of vodka and enjoy how classy you are!
Wait, if you're going to be enjoying your drink in your fancy new mug cozy, you probably want something to set it on. On which to set it. Whatever.

For the Coaster:
Cast on 16 Stitches.
Rows 1-4: K4, P4 across
Rows 4-8: P4, K4 across
Rows 9-12: Repeat Rows 1-4
Rows 13-16: Repeat Rows 5-6
Rows 17-20: Repeat Rows 1-4
Bind off.
Weave in ends and block that sucker (iron it all flat and square and pretty.)

Come back next post for the excitement of that dreaded foe, cables! I promise they're easy, pretty, and with my pattern there are no extra "cable needles" required!