Thursday, November 18, 2010

Need a Little Coffe Cup SIZZLE?

Each year (okay only since last year) Ashley and I look for a fun creative gift to make for the holiday season. Last season Ashley knitted kitchen wash cloths and I etched on glass baking dishes. We also made layered recipe jars with brownie mix inside.

This year I came across this craft project. I immediately fell in love. Knitting runs deep in my family. It's something that all of us "Pieper" women know how to do and it's a wonderful tradition that has been passed down and will continue to be passed down to all of the women in the family. I am very blessed to have had an amazing great aunt who loved to knit. It is in her spirit and in remembrance of her that we all learn to knit and pass it onto anyone who is eager to learn.

So I knew that this project was just what I was looking for! I also loved the idea of making a cup holder to replace the wasteful cardboard that I always grab at Starbucks- mostly out of habit. I thought how cool would it be to pull my crafty cup warmer out of my purse and add a little decorative earth friendly sizzle to my coffee cup! And better yet, maybe I can make this for other people! Win-Win-Win.    
(http://www.etsy.com/listing/61615665/cream-speckled-knit-coffee-cozy)

I immediately emailed Ashley my great idea and started looking for patterns. I couldn't find one as cute as this picture so I thought I would recreate it. I found some yarn in my stash and started on the project with this picture in mind.

I should have reminded myself that even though I know how to knit, I'm not an expert! I ended up having to start over more times than I can count and I had to switch to a more workable yarn. Well here is my finished project (try not to laugh).
Notice how my recreation doesn't look as put together as the picture above! My ends didn't match up, I dropped a couple of stitches, I made it too big, and I didn't really think through how I was going to connect the two ends with buttons.

This morning The Hustler had a good laugh at me and my coffee warmer. He didn't quiet see the brilliantly hand crafted warmer that I saw! But I'm not letting his obvious lack of creative view stop me from making one of these for everyone that I know! Watch out- YOU might get one of these for Christmas!! 

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