Cuddlie Steggie

What is it about toy manufacturers that they tend to market trains, cars and dinosaurs at boys? My little girl has always liked trains and cars, and has been bugging me for what seems like forever to get her a dinosaur. She doesn't stray too far from the sexual stereotypes though; she likes Rosie from Thomas and his friends, and cars need to be pink and sparkly.  Of course she doesn't want a gnarly dino with sharp teeth and claws like the ones her brother has - it has to be pink with big eyes.

Well, I can tell you that I've given up on trying to find one in the shops and instead got out my knitting needles and some odd balls. With just less than a 50g ball of Rowan all seasons cotton, less than 20g of Debbie Bliss Amalfi, a pair each of 4cm and 3.75cm needles I managed to rustle up a 28 cm long, 12 cm high, 9 cm wide steggie =)

I knitted mine in the round using circular needles, but have written the pattern for straight needles so as to not scare anyone off! You don't need any fancy techniques, but sewing on the feet can be a little fiddly. If you'd like a go at knitting the body and feet in the round, just knit every round and knock a knit stitch off the beginning and end of each row.


You will need:

• Yarn and appropriate needles.  I like to use needles smaller than the ball band recommends when knitting toys to give a tighter finish that the stuffing won't show through
• Stuffing
• Safety eyes, buttons or felt circles
• Yarn needle

Techniques used:

• Cast on, cast off
• Knit
• Purl
• Garter stitch (knit every row)
• Stocking stitch ( knit a row, purl a row)
• k2tog: knit two stitches together for a right-slanting decrease
• k2tog tbl: knit two stitches together through the back of the loops for a left-slanting decrease
• m1: make a stitch by picking up the horizontal strand between stitches and knitting into the back of it
• kfb: increase by knitting into the front of a stitch, then into the back of it before slipping it from the left needle
• pfb: increase by purling into the front of a stitch, then into the back of it before slipping it from the left needle

Body:

Starting at the head, work the head, body and tail in one piece as follows.

Cast on 8, leaving a 60 cm tail for seaming.

Row 1: k2, m1, k1, m1, k2 , m1, k1, m1, k2 [12]
Row 2 and all even rows: purl
Row 3: k2, m1, k1, m1, k2, m1, k2, m1, k2, m1, k1, m1, k2 [18]
Row 5: (k2, m1, k1, m1, k4, m1, k1, m1) x2, k2 [26]
Row 7: (k2, m1, k10, m1) x2, k2 [30]
Rows 8-12: Work in stocking stitch without shaping for 5 rows
Row 13: (k2, ssk, k8, k2tog) x2, k2 [26]
Row 15: (k2, ssk, k2tog) x4, k2 [18]
Row 17: k6, ssk, k2, k2tog, k6 [16]

Start increasing for body.

Row 19: (k2, m1, k5, m1) x2, k2 [20]
Row 21: k3, m1, k6, m1, k2, m1, k6, m1, k3 [24]
Row 23: k4, m1, k7, m1, k2, m1, k7, m1, k4 [28]
Row 25: k5, m1, k8, m1, k2, m1, k8, m1, k5 [32]
Row 27: k6, m1, k9, m1, k2, m1, k9, m1, k6 [36]
Row 29: k7, m1, k10, m1, k2, m1, k10, m1, k7 [40]
Row 31: k8, m1, k11, m1, k2, m1, k11, m1, k8 [44]
Row 33: k9, m1, k12, m1, k2, m1, k12, m1, k9 [48]
Row 35: k10, m1, k28, m1, k10 [50]
Row 37: k11, m1, m13, m1, k2, m1, m13, m1, k11 [54]
Row 39: k12, m1, k30, m1, k12 [56]
Row 41: k13, m1, k30, m1, k13 [58]
Row 43: k28, m1, k2, m1, k28 [60]
Rows 44-48: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 5 rows
Row 49: k28, k2tog, ssk, k28 [58]
Row 51: k13, k2tog, k28, ssk, k13 [56]
Row 53: k12, k2tog, k28, ssk, k12 [54]
Row 55: k11, k2tog, k12, k2tog, ssk, k12, ssk, k11 [50]
Row 57: k10, k2tog, k26, ssk, k10 [48]
Row 59: k9, k2tog, k11, k2tog, ssk, k11, ssk, k9 [44]
Row 61: k8, k2tog, k10, k2tog, ssk, k10, ssk, k8 [40]
Row 63: k7, k2tog, k9, k2tog, ssk, k9, ssk, k7 [36]
Row 65: k6, k2tog, k8, k2tog, ssk, k8, ssk, k6 [32]
Row 67: k5, k2tog, k7, k2tog, ssk, k7, ssk, k5 [28]
Row 69: k4, k2tog, k6, k2tog, ssk, k6, ssk, k4 [24]
Row 71: k3, k2tog, k5, k2tog, ssk, k5, ssk, k3[20]
Rows 72-74: Knit 3 rows
Row 75: k2, k2tog, k4, k2tog, ssk, k4, ssk, k2 [16]
Rows 76-78: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 3 rows
Row 79: k1, k2tog, k3, k2tog, ssk, k3, ssk, k1 [12]
Rows 80-82: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 3 rows
Row 83: k2tog, k2, k2tog, ssk, k2, ssk [8]
Rows 84-86: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 3 rows
Row 87: k2, k2tog, ssk, k2 [6]
Rows 88-90: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 3 rows
Row 91: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1 [4]
Rows 92-94: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 3 rows
Row 95: k2tog, ssk [2]

Cut yarn and pull through two remaining loops. Weave the tail yarn at the nose for a neat finish, pull tightly then use invisible stitch to join the tummy along the two sides of the work, stuffing as you close the seam.  If you are using safety eyes, remember to attached them before you completely close the seam! Hide ends inside the work.


Spine:

I originally worked the spine as a single layered zig-zag.  After sewing it on however, I found that it kept curling and wouldn't stay upright.  I ended up cutting the whole thing off and making the spine from scratch, but this time as a double-thickness zig-zag worked in one long garter stitch strip (bear with me - you will quickly see it take form).
 
There are three sizes of spike and I have broken them down as such. DO not break yarn between spikes; work them as a continuous strip.  At the beginning of each spike there will be 4 stitches.

Work a strip of 1 small spike, 2 medium spikes, 3 large spikes, 2 medium spikes, 2 small spikes.

Cast on 4 leaving a 60 cm yarn tail for attaching spine to back.

Small spike:
[4]
Row 1: k1, kfb x2, k1 [6]
Row 2 and all even rows: knit
Row 3: k1, kfb x4, k1 [10]
Row 5: k1, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k1 [6]
Row 7: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1 [4]
Row 8: knit

Medium spike:
[4]
Row 1: k1, kfb x2, k1 [6]
Row 3: k1, kfb x4, k1 [10]
Row 5: k3, kfb x4, k3 [14]
Row 7: k3, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k3 [10]
Row 9: k1, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k1 [6]
Row 11: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1 [4]
Row 12: knit

Large spike:
[4]
Row 1: k1, kfb x2, k1 [6]
Row 3: k1, kfb x4, k1 [10]
Row 5: k3, kfb x4, k3 [14]
Row 7: k5, kfb x4, k5 [18]
Row 9: k5, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k5 [14]
Row 11: k3, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k3 [10]
Row 13: k1, k2tog x2, ssk x2, k1 [6]
Row 15: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1 [4]
Row 16: knit

Final row: K2tog, ssk [2]
Cut yarn and draw end through final 2 loops.

Feet, make 4

Cast on 8, leaving a 30 cm tail for seaming and attaching to body

Row 1: k1, kfb x6, k1 [14]
Row 2: p1, (p1, pfb) x6, p1 [20]
Rows 3-10: work in stocking stitch without shaping for 8 rows

Cast off, seam, stuff and attach to body

All that's left is to sew on eyes if you haven't already attached saftey eyes.  I am unashamedly cheap and always cut the buttons off clothes before I cut them off and I used ones from one of the boy's old shirts =)

New Year, New Post!

Happy New Year!!!!  I can't believe we're in 2013 already, and I can't believe how long it's been since my last post...  Actually I can; I've been so caught up with a house move and returning to work in November after four years as a stay-at-home Mum that I haven't really put time aside for blogging.  Of course I've carried on crafting, but I've just been too lazy to dig out my camera and charger to take photos!

Christmas is almost over (it's not over until the Epiphany as far as I'm concerned) and the decorations will be coming down on Sunday. Every year, I let the children each choose a decoration for the tree.  This year the girl chose a little Kokeshi doll.  Not the most traditional of choices but it's so cute that I agreed to it.   She was not a happy bunny when I told her the tree and decorations would be coming down she requested 'but not my Mummy Doll' (I've got black bobbed hair so I guess it does look a little like me) so I decided to crochet her her own little Kokeshi doll =)

Why not make your own one for Chinese New Year (yeah yeah, Kokeshi dolls are Japanese but it'd still look cute for Chinese New Year) which falls on 10th February this year? I made mine using various oddments I found.  It doesn't really matter what type of yarn or hook you use provided you use a combination that produces a tight piece of work because it won't look very nice if the stuffing shows through.  I used a 4mm hook with yarn that knits to 4mm needles (but you may need a smaller hook as I crochet quite tight) and my doll stands 14cm tall.  This project is worked in continuous rounds starting with a magic loop.  See my tutorial on working crochet in continuous rounds for more details.

What you'll need:

• Yarns in main dress colour, black for hair, ivory for skin and various scraps of yarn for embroidery detail.  I used a bit of gold fingering to add a bit of sparkle
• Crochet hook
• Yarn needle
• Polyester toy stuffing
• 2 safety eyes (optional).  These plastic eyes that can be bought in a number of sizes really add to the professional finish of your toy.  Make sure to insert them securely.  If you are giving the toy to a baby, you may prefer to embroider the eyes
• Small piece of plastic that can be cut with scissors for reinforcing the base (a clean piece of milk bottle 5x5cm approx is ideal)
• Small ball for adding weight to the base (optional) 

Techniques used (UK terminology):

• ch: chain
• dc: double crochet (US single crochet)
• slst: slip stitch
• inc: work 2 dc into next stitch
• dec.  You can use dc2tog, double crochet 2 together: insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (2 loops on hook), insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull up loop (3 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through all 3 loops on hook.  If you prefer to use invDec, invisible decrease: then hook through front loop only of next two stitches, yarn over, draw through loop (3loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 2 loops (2 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through both loops on hook
• back loop only
• working in continuous rounds.  Unless otherwise stated, all parts of toy are worked in continuous rounds

Hair:

The hair is constructed of four black pieces: two overlapping circles (one larger than the other to create a 'side-parting') and two small balls for buns.

Circles:
Make two

Round 1:  Ch 2 and work 6 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 6 dc into a magic circle) [6]
Round 2:  Work two stitches into each stitch round [12]
Round 3:  (1 dc, inc) x 6 [18]
Round 4:  (2 dc, inc) x 6 [24]
Round 5:  (3 dc, inc) x 6 [30]
Round 6:  (4 dc, inc) x 6 [36]

For the smaller circle, work two rounds without shaping and fasten off.  For the larger circle, work five rounds without shaping and fasten off.  Leave long yarn tails for attaching to the head.


Buns:
Make two


Round 1:  Ch 2 and work 6 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 6 dc into a magic circle) [6]
Round 2:  Work two stitches into each stitch round [12]
Round 3:  Work 1 round without shaping
Round 4:  Dec x 6 [6]

Close the hole and leave long yarn tails for attaching to head.


Head:

Round 1:  With ivory, ch 2 and work 6 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 6 dc into a magic circle) [6]
Round 2:  Work two stitches into each stitch round [12]
Round 3:  (1 dc, inc) x 6 [18]
Round 4:  (2 dc, inc) x 6 [24]
Round 5:  (3 dc, inc) x 6 [30]
Round 6:  (4 dc, inc) x 6 [36]
Rounds 7-13:  Work 7 rounds without shaping [36]
Round 14:  (4 dc, dec) x 6 [30]
Round 15:  (3 dc, dec) x 6 [24]

If you are using safety eyes, insert them now between rows 13 and 14 before the hole becomes too small.  You may want to position the hair on the head to help you decide where to insert the eyes.

Round 16:  (2 dc, dec) x 6 [18]
Round 17:  (1 dc, dec) x 6 [12]

Fasten off but do not close hole.


Body:

Round 1:  With dress colour, ch 2 and work 6 dc into 2nd chain from hook (or work 6 dc into a magic circle) [6]
Round 2:  Work two stitches into each stitch round [12]
Round 3:  (1 dc, inc) x 6 [18]
Round 4:  (2 dc, inc) x 6 [24]

Round 5:  Work 1 round without shaping, working into back stitches only (This produces a ridge so the doll has a 'base') [24]
Rounds 6-7: Work 2 rounds without shaping [24]
Round 8:   (3 dc, inc) x 6 [30]
Rounds 9-20:  Work 12 rounds without shaping [30]

Before starting the decrease rounds, trace the bottom of the body onto a piece of thin plastic (I used a clean takeaway container):

Insert the plastic disc into the bottom of the body:

Inserting the disc into the base of the body ensures it stays flat after it is stuffed.  You could also add a
plastic bouncy ball to provide extra weight to the base.

Round 21:  (3 dc, dec) x 6 [24]
Round 22:  Work 1 round without shaping [24]
Round 23:  (2 dc, dec) x 6 [18]
Round 24:  (1 dc, dec) x 6 [12]

Fasten off but do not close hole and leave long yarn tail for attaching head.


You have now finished making all of the components of the doll.  Stuff head and sew on hair and embroider a smile.  Stuff body and attach the head to the body by aligning the stitches - both openings have the same number of stitches.

You could leave the doll plain, but I received strict instructions from a certain bossy four year old to embroider cream flowers on her dress!

Trick or treat!!!

I love Hallowe'en.  I remember dressing up as a kid and going trick-or-treating with my friends.  When I was younger it was always done while it was still bright, when I became a teenager I went along as a chaparone for the younger kids.  My husband is against it because he says that it encourages begging but I won't deny my kids or other peoples' the fun I had as a kid and for that reason, since having children of my own, I always carve a pumpkin as a beacon that I welcome trick-or-treaters.  This year I decided to do two, one for the girl and one for the boy.... 

I did a web search for 'free pumpkin carving templates' which returned loads of results but I ended up on Celebrating Halloween and the kids chose a skull and Tinker Bell.... No prizes for guessing who requested which! The templates are downloadable and printable and clearly state which region of the template needs to be carved.  I carved the skull one first, and rather liking the way it turned out changed the Tinker Bell one to be similar by drawing an oval around her such that it didn't go all around her but met her feet and wings.  There are so many silhouette images available on the net that I'll probably just 'make my own template' next year =)

Every year since I have struggled to get my lit tea light into my pumpkin without burning myself so started using a candle lighter.  This year I decided to be a bit smarter and cut it a bit differently so as to make my life a little easier.  The kids loved scooping out the seeds!

After printing out my templates, I cut out the 'carve sections' and stuck them to my pumpkin using a glue stick.

 Not trusting myself to keep the stencil in place, I drew around the cut edges with a drywipe marker.

And off I went carving it with a good old paring knife.  In previous years, I scooped out the flesh to make pies, soup and cake (I have a fantastic pumpkin cake recipe that tastes like carrot cake but better) but was under such pressure from the kids to just get on with it that I just thinned out the front of the pumpkin where I'd be carving.  Ta da!!  Hmmm...  Pretty anti-climactic - it doesn't look that great when it's not lit up =(

All lit up.....  Much better!

Still making a mess, but just a little bit less =)

I've been a bit absent from the whole blogging world for a while.  There's something about moving house that seems to sap away all notions of wanting to start a new project.  We're all settled in now, having moved a month ago.  We were stuck for a week in an Internet black hole (what on earth did we do before the Internet???!!!!!), went on holiday for a couple of weeks to the south of France (I wasn't very well going to spend my time in an Internet cafe when there's sun-bathing to be done now am I?), then I used last week to sew some rather uncreative curtains and blinds (I love my sewing machine but I really do find curtain making terribly tedious).

So, I'm back to my usual sewing thing of using up random bits of old fabric.  As much as I love collecting fabric from the kids' old clothes for my craft projects (they so love seeing their old clothes being given a new life), every so often something made from a rather unattractive utility fabric breaks and I put the fabric aside for when it might come in handy.  When my husband's big black umbrella broke in the wind, I cut out the fabric.  I didn't imagine I'd actually need it, but hubby has this unique skill of dreaming up seemingly pointless items that he wants me to sew.  He wondered in after work one day and said 'My butt is soaked: can you make me a waterproof bicycle seat cover so I can keep my seat dry when I leave it outside in the rain'.  Of course I scoffed, thinking him a mite dramatic, but I went ahead and dug out my umbrella material all the same and made him one.  I wasn't laughing a few days later however when I left my bike outside the gym....  I returned from my gruelling workout (it probably just felt that way because I am so unfit) to find it had been raining.  I cycled home with a rather wet bottom, cursing myself for not having made myself a waterproof sodding seat cover.... That teaches me for laughing at him!

I've got a great big massive scrunched up bundle of red waterproof fabric sitting about in the garage from when both of our pop-up gazebos decided to fly over the fence into the neighbour's garden....  You'd think that planning a barbeque for July would be a safe bet wouldn't you?  No.  Not in England!  Not long ago I was asked to make holder to stop hubby's bike lock (he has a rather dodgy looking chain one that looks like a pair of handcuffs!) from rattling as he's cycling.  He dragged a waterproof tent bag out from nowhere (I don't know where he has all this stuff hiding).  I made it and put the rest aside.... Until yesterday....

The kids were feeling rather bored and neglected while I was updating my CV (indeed, the time has come to get back to work, pay some taxes and get left with pretty much not much else after childcare costs) and decided upon themselves to get the paint out.  The girl found herself a nice floral artwork apron (I think my niece grew out of it and left it to her) so of course the boy got jealous.  That's when I remembered the random waterproof fabric I'd stashed away:

Not very glamorous is it?  Good job it's for the boy!  With him measuring 24cm across the shoulders, the scrap was just the right size for me to cut two rectangles and add neckline scoops, a lower one for the front.  I then placed the pieces right sides facing and sewed the shoulder seams.

With my fabric being so boring and green, I couldn't resist binding the edges with some of my gorgeous check bias binding that I picked up a while back, without a plan for it, but hey it came in handy =)  I bought myself a binding foot but just can't get used to using it and prefer to do it using the tried-and-trusted method that I've always used.  It can take a bit of practice, but I've found that by putting my needle in its left-most position, I can align the right-hand-side of the presser foot with the raw edge of the work and the needle with the crease in the binding.  Start by sewing the binding to the wrong side of the work.  I like to fold down a piece at the start for a neater look:

Attach the binding all the way to the end, remembering to fold the end up for a neat finish:

Turn the work over so the right side is facing and finish top-stitching the binding in place, making sure to cover the stitches from attaching the binding to the wrong side:

 

I like to start the top-stitching by stitching around the corner before proceeding to stitch along the length, but that's just a matter of preference:

 

I finished the apron off by adding bias binding to the neck-line and adding two straps complete with some poppers attached using my beloved Prym Vario Plier:

He looks pretty smart in it, and it might even keep him clean and dry (who am I kidding?) while he's doing artwork.  In fact, he's just emerged from washing his paint brushes and is actually quite dry.  My toilet room floor didn't survive, but a two year old and a three year old wandered into there, filled the basin and washed their brushes by themselves and I've not had to clean/redress either of them so I can't complain =)

A littl loo-roll love....

I love doing artwork with the kids, even if it all they're doing it dipping their hands into paint and smacking it onto paper!!!  Sure, they make an awful mess and I find myself cleaning paint of faces, legs and hair, but they have fun and it kills at least an hour a day (yes, my three-and-a-half year old and two year old really do love artwork that they will sit still for that long!).  Plus, making controlled mess develops their co-ordination skills so I really don't mind the mess.


I try to vary what they do and if a holiday or birthday is coming up, I let them loose decorating hearts, Easter eggs, Christmas trees or whatever else is appropriate at the time.  When I was teaching them shapes, I cut up manky potatoes and made carved stampers out of them.  Today however, we are living in the Hubbard house (because we're off away for the weekend) and there's absolutely no fresh produce in the house.

Then the kitchen roll ran out too so I decided to make some very simple stampers with the cardboard tube.  I cut it in half to make a circle 'stamper' (no explanation needed there!) and turned the other half into a heart stamper.  I folded it so as to flatten the circle, then turned one point inwards to make a heart shape.  After reinforcing it with a little masking tape to hold its shape, I handed over to the kids and let them do their thing.

So simple and hardly worth posting about, but it kept two pre-schoolers very happy this afternoon!  And the best thing is, I don't have any stampers to clean because they'll go straight into the recycling bin =)

Fatten up hubby and bag yourself a new, erm, bag!

Okay, I'm not actually suggesting that you go ahead and feed your hubby to chubbify him in order make him throw out loads of his clothes under discrete duress so you can plump up your crafting stash.  Neither am I suggesting that mine is a porker - he just loves  a bargain: 'it was less than half price but I've never worn it'.....  I thought it was only us chicks that suffer from that philosophy!!!  But, thanks to his impulsiveness, I have a 'new' bag!

I love books and we have four 3" x 6" book cases filled with books.  Despite loving owning books, I still love my local library service because it allows me to try books without obligation, or indulge what may just be a passing crafting phase without forking out.  Although I love taking the kids to the children's section of the library, I don't like the scowls I receive when I try to look about the adult section ('adult' sounds pervy, but you know what I mean!).  We have a wonderful mobile library service that visits us once a fortnight, which I'm sure there are many available up and down the UK.  Oxfordshire library service has an excellent web interface that allows one to browse the entire county catalogue and even links to Amazon so the user can take a peek through the book.  A few clicks later and a small fee (£1), and the books of interest can be added to the mobile library round for convenient pick-up. 

I've always felt rather daunted by the thought of making handbags, in particular in the lining of them, until I came across this book by Emma Brennan (if you're interested in looking it up, it has ISBN 978-1-86108-502-3 and belongs to the Dewey Decimal classification 646):

I have to say, it hardly is a sewing book for the faint-hearted, but Emma Brennan does go into amazing detail about lining, zips, fastenings and embellishments.  What I love most about her book is the way in which she gets the creative juices flowing by (for many of the bags) using the same template but finishing them differently for two very unique looks.  You can probably tell from the photograph that I opted for 'Vivien'. 

Now that my little ones are out of nappies and I have them carrying their own snacks and drinks, it's high time I ditched the nappy bag and start something more grown-up.  I love that 'Vivien' is a fairly compact bag that is plain enough to use during the day but also feminine enough to use as an evening bag. 

I made a few modifications to the pattern to make it work for my Mummy lifestyle.  Rather than simply sewing in both sides of the handle, I salvaged a metal rectangle from a 'free' belt that came with one of the boy's pairs of shorts and attached it to the main body of the bag where the handle should have been attached.  I cut the handle one and a half times longer than the pattern required and sewed some velcro to the underside of the handle (don't make the mistake of thinking that buying stick-on velcro will help hold it in place while you sew - it will just stick to your sewing machine needle and jam!).  I used approximately 10 cm of hook at the loose end and 25 cm of loop immediately after that.  Why on earth would I do such nonsense?  My pushchair has a single bar for the handle instead of two handles so I can just throw my bag over it.  Of course, I could also attach my bag to the handlebar of my bike.  I photographed it looped around a dining chair and like to think that it adds a bit of security when I'm out and about because it makes it harder to pinch.

Emma Brennan's bags use magnetic handbag fasteners, but I couldn't find any so instead added some jeans poppers.  I have a Prym Vario Plier and absolutely love adding no-sew fasteners to my projects (I cannot stand it when my duvet covers come with button fasteners and add poppers to the opening as soon as I buy a new one).

Of course, I used the jacket lining as the bag lining and salvaged the buttons.  The central navy velvet ribbon ribbon detail, although disguised as a continuity stripe following from the handle, is in fact hiding the seam that I had to add due to the narrow sections of fabric I managed to un-pick from the discarded jacket.

I'm very pleased with my first handbag project and will promptly be making a patchwork bag for the girl but will fashion the bow detail such that it looks like a butterfly =)

More stash-busting mug hugs!

I am absolutely itching to get out to buy some gorgeous yarns for some new projects but my new-found self-discipline that has come with having children (who am I kidding?  It's purely single-income-family-induced!!) tells me I have to use up all of my stash first.  What better way of using up little odd balls than making a whole load of mug hugger coasters?  With only three mug huggers in the house, we didn't have enough for when gets were round!

My original mug huggers had button loops that passed over the handles of the mugs but I decided to make my new ones with button hole bands that pass under the handle for two reasons: the mug huggers are more versatile and can be used with different height mugs and hubby kept complaining that the mug hugger came up too high on the mug and got in the way of his lip as he drank his tea!!!

Here's how I did it: 

Button hole row 1:  After working the mug hugger 1" shorter than I wanted its finished height to be, I started the button hole band.  I like my buttons to face outwards when I hold my mug with my right hand, so after reaching the end of a wrong-side row, I worked a chain of length 8. 
Button hole row 2:  I turned and started the next row in the second chain from the hook.
Button hole row 3:  Work the row until 6 stitches remain, chain 4, skip 4 stitches, work the last 2 stitches
Button hole row 4:  Work first 2 stitches.  When working button holes, I find it easier to work the stitches to wrap the chain rather than work into the chains.  Work 4 stitches to wrap the chain, then work to the end of the row

Work 2 more rows, break yarn and weave in loose ends.


I like using quite large buttons, or indeed co-ordinating crochet ball buttons (see my water bottle carrier pattern for how to make a crochet ball button).  You may find you need to alter the size of your button holes depending on the buttons you decide to use.

I think I'm well on my way to banish these resilient and pesky odd balls!