mk carroll

Knitters Without Borders: Smocked Mug Jacket (revised)

I started a Mug Jacket sample in Peace Fleece and got annoyed with myself. If you check the Ravelry projects for this pattern, you'll find a lot of very smart revisions to modify the pattern for different purposes (like travel mug sleeves) or just to make it easier to knit. Sometimes I think my desire to get something knit-to-fit or easily resized overrides my desire to make something easier to actually physically knit, which is how I wound up wrestling with the smocking stitch for a couple of repeats before deciding to just rewrite the pattern already. And so there is now a revised version available for sale - knit from the top of the sides, down to the base. The hand-drawn graph paper chart for the smocking stitch has been replaced with a chart done in Knit Visualizer. Additional photos have been added - each section has a small photo of the section being worked (the base, for example, includes a photo of the finished base).

The previous version is still available for free in the original blog post and as a free PDF download. The fundraiser version price has been raised to $5.50, with $4.50 going to Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. MSF/DWB is always in need of funds; sadly there is no shortage of people world-wide in need of medical care. If you are reading this, there is a very, very good chance that, compared to most of the world's population, you are wealthy. If you are planning to knit a warm jacket for a mug or French press coffeemaker, chances are you can spare a few dollars to help others in need.

Ravelry users, you may have noticed that the free Ravelry download for the PDF has been disabled; while I work on figuring out how best to offer different pattern versions for free and for sale, that link will remain disabled.

For those who purchased the earlier version of the pattern, as a thank-you I sent a new download link for a free download of the revised pattern. If you did not get an email from me with the download link, please let me know so I can send you the link.

Knitters Without Borders: Smocked Mug Jacket

Remember this? The Mug Jacket and French Press Cozy went up as a free pattern in July 2007. More recently, I decided to offer the PDF as a fundraiser for Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres/Knitters Without Borders and as a free download on Ravelry.

So far, the cozy pattern has raised $99 for TSF/KWB!

May 07, 2008: I have revised the for-sale pattern; it is now written to be knit from the top of the sides to the base, and the chart has been done with Knit Visualizer. The price has increased to $5.50, with $4.50 of the proceeds going to TSF/KWB's fundraising. The free PDF version is still available for free.

If you would like to purchase the PDF for $5.50, you can either use the buttons below or go to my Etsy shop. $4.50 of each sale goes to TSF/KWB; the rest covers PayPal and hosting fees. You can still get the pattern for free here on the blog or as a Ravelry download.

Price Increases: January 31, 2008

After sitting down with all my sales info from last quarter, I have been both thrilled (if you have purchased a pattern or finished item from me, you have directly contributed to things like replacing the badly balding tires on my car), and dismayed (PayPal gets more money from my business than my state and federal tax collectors combined).

I have been reluctant to raise prices. However, the cold hard numbers staring back at me from my computer screen say that if I would like to be able to offer my customers more (like, say, nice professional charts with all patterns), a price increase would be a good business move.

Business: that's the third time I've used that word in this post. I'm trying to use it more often, to remind myself that this isn't a hobby for me any more. Last September, I was holding down 3 part-time jobs. In October, I found myself with just 1 job. I'm enjoying the extra time I get to spend with my family (outdoors, even), and I'd like to continue doing something that feeds my creative side and gives something back to the knit/crochet community. Fingers crossed: and price increases to go into effect January 31, 2008.

Mug and French Press Jacket

A French press is also called a cafetiere, press pot, coffee press, or coffee plunger.  More information in this Wikipedia entry. 

Mug & French Press Jacket

Size:  to fit a mug or French press with 3.5" diameter base; pattern can be adjusted to fit different sizes.
Materials:
Yarn: 1 skein Elann Peruvian Highland Wool (worsted weight 100% Peruvian wool, 109 yds/50g).  You may need more than one skein, depending on how high you want the sides to be.
Yarn subs: A smooth worsted weight yarn with good stitch definition and a little bounce; suggested subs include Cascade 220, Cascade Sierra, Plymouth Encore worsted, Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, Southwest Trading Co. Karaoke.
Needles: US 6 (or size to get gauge), 1 set dpns or two circs [dpns or 2 circs for base, 1 circ for sides (sides are worked flat but with built-in base, the flexibility of a circ is important)]
Gauge: 24 sts/32 rows = 4"/10cm
Notions: buttons (1 for mug, 2 for French press), tapestry needle

Basic concept:
Knit a circle from the center out large enough for base (80 sts).  Work sides for 1” or up to base of handle.  BO 2” or enough for width of handle.  Work in desired pattern (e.g. smocked cables) for about 3” or desired height.  BO all sts.  Make a loop closure and sew to one open side, sew button to opposite side (two for the French press)
Variations: replace smocked pattern with plain ribbing, replace smocked pattern with stranded colorwork and bands of ribbing or moss st at top and bottom.

ABBREVIATIONS:
k = knit
beg = begin
inc = increase
kfb = knit front and back (increase)
p = purl
sl = slip (in this pattern, slip stitch as it is presented: that is, slip knit sts knitwise, purl sts purlwise)
st = stitch
sts = stitches

 

STITCH PATTERN

Smocking (from Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns)
Multiple of 8 sts + 2
Rows 1 and 3 (wrong side): k2, *p2, k2*
Row 2: p2, *k2, p2*
Row 4: p2, *insert right-hand needle from front between 6th and 7th sts on left-hand needle and draw through a loop; sl this loop onto left-hand needle and knit it together with the 1st st on left hand needle; k1, p2, k2, p2*
Rows 5 and 7: Repeat rows 1 and 3
Row 6: repeat row 2
Row 8: p2, k2, p2, *draw loop from between 6th and 7th sts as before and knit it together with 1st st, then k1, p2, k2, p2*, end k2, p2
Repeat rows 1 - 8

(click on the image for a full size 6" x 2.5" version of the chart - will appear in a pop-up window)

BASE
kfb = knit into front and back of stitch
inc 1 = increase one = for this pattern, I prefer k1 into row below
With dpns or 2 circs, CO 8 sts.
Round 1: *kfb* (16 sts)
Round 2: *k2, inc 1* (24 sts)
Round 3: *inc 1, k3* (32 sts)
Round 4: *k4, inc 1* (40 sts)
Round 5: *inc 1, k5* (48 sts)
Round 6: *k6, inc 1* (56 sts)
Round 7: *inc 1, k7* (64 sts)
Round 8: *k8, inc 1* (72 sts)
Round 9: *inc 1, k9* (80 sts)
Round 10: p all sts (80 sts)

SIDES
Round 1 - 7: *k2, p2* (80 sts)
In the next round, switch from dpns or 2 circs to 1 circ
Round 8:  BO 6 sts, sl1, p1, begin smocking pattern, end p2
Next 24 or so rows : work smocking pattern.  On RS rows, replace first two sts of smocking pattern with sl1(purlwise), p1, and end the row with p2.  On WS rows, replace first two sts of smocking pattern with  sl1(knitwise), k1, and end the row with k2.
Note: work last smocked row when sides are 1" shorter than desired, then work last 8 rows in 2x2 rib.  The mug used 2.5 repeats of the smocking pattern; the French press will probably use about 4.5 repeats.
BO all sts in pattern

LOOP: (for French press, make 2)
With dpns, CO 3 sts
Rows 1 - 28: work i-cord
BO

FINISHING
Exact placement and position of loop and button will vary depending on the design of the mug/French press.

Slip jacket onto mug or French press.  Pin ends of loop to one of the open sides and determine placement for button on opposite open side (French press will likely need two loops and buttons).   Slip jacket off and sew loop and button into place.  Weave in all ends.  To block, wash gently and then slip onto mug or French press to dry, turning mug or french press upside down.  If you are using a French press with metal components, you may wish to wrap it in a plastic bag or plastic wrap first to keep the metal dry.

A photo tutorial for Row 4 of the Smocking Stitch pattern is available on my Flickr page. 

[updated May 07, 2008]
A revised and nicely formatted PDF with instructions for knitting from the top of the sides down, as well as a chart done in Knit Visualizer, is available for $5.50 (you will need a PayPal account or a credit card). $4.50 of the purchase price will be donated to Knitters Without Borders.

The free PDF download (instructions the same as in this post - starts from the center of the base and goes up) is still available.

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In the comments for August 01, 2007, KC asked:

Hi. Just wondering how you would adjust this pattern to fit a cup (say starbucks or the like). Perhaps in the round? This is a great pattern! I would love to use this instead of the cardboard sleeves they give you. Thanks.

KC, if you measure the cup you want to cozy, you can use a stitch count that is a multiple of 8 (if you are doing this in the round), or, if you want to knit it flat, a stitch count that is a multiple of 8, +2 (e.g. 18, 34, or 42). The ribbing and smocking are stretchy, so I'd guess that if you measured the narrow part of the cup and the wide part of the cup, then got an average of the two and figured out your gauge (stitches per inch) off that, you'd be able to knit a sleeve that would fit most of the cup. If you want the cozy to have a base, knit the base of the cozy to fit the base of the cup. Using the pattern, you'll have a multiple of 8 sts in each round of the base, so you could just start working the smocking stitch pattern after the base is completed. It might not stretch quite enough to fit around as you go up the cup, though - with some graph paper and a pencil, you could work out where to place increases and adjust the stitch pattern.

Or, if you crochet, you could try out my Crochet 16 oz. Coffee Cup Cozy pattern (check the left sidebar under "Free Patterns"). Hope that helps!

In the comments for August 10, Lizzie asked:
"When the smocking pattern begins, row 1 of the stitch pattern says "wrong side." Does this mean that we should turn the work so we're stitching the wrong side?

And then you write "work smocking pattern beg s1, p1, ending p2."  Does this mean that the "sl1, p1" replaces the "p2" of the stitch pattern?  Or do we "sl1, p1" and then use the stitches in the pattern?"

Lizzie, you've got it! 

1) In this case, "wrong side" means the side that will be on the inside of the jacket, pressed against the mug.  The base is worked in the round, but the sides are knit flat.  I included the "wrong side" note, which is in the original stitch pattern instructions, partly because I did a chart of the stitch and it's important to know what the right side/wrong side (public side/private side) of the stitch pattern is so that the knitter knows if they read that row from left to right or from right to left.

2) Yes, "sl 1, p1" replaces the "p2" of the stitch pattern.  Slipping the first stitch of each row results in a smooth edge, so you don't have to go back and do any finishing work (like a hem or crocheted edging).  I should have noted that you will slip that first stitch purlwise (that is, you insert the needle as if to purl, with the yarn held in front).  I'll add that in to the pattern now.

Mug and French Press Jacket by MK Carroll is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.