Mug Cozies and Baby Cocoons.

This is a late posting, but I made a large group of Ninja Turtle mug cozies for Christmas gifts, and forgot to take a picture.  I made my husband one as well though, and for his I added an "angry mouth" as per his request.  This is Donatello.  The idea for this is the same as any mug cozy, you just make the tie a different color to create the eye-mask.  I added the eyes and mouth later.  If you are too lazy to make one of these, or just not a crocheter, you can buy one from this nice lady on Etsy who makes better ones than I do.  I didn't use a pattern for this because I didn't have one, but the idea itself wasn't mine originally.

I made all the turtles but still need to make myself one.  I'm a Leonardo girl, but I've been sort of feeling like making a pink Ninja Turtle just to be weird and calling her Georgia O'Keefe or something.

I did make myself this cozy though.  I added a few rows of shell stitching to the top because I wanted it to have a scalloped edge.  I will share the pattern for this one since I created it out of my own head and it fits a standard coffee mug.

Bethany's Scalloped Mug Cozy:

SC = Single Crochet
DC = Double Crochet
Made with hook size J, Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

(If you want to alternate colors after each row like I did, feel free to do so)

Chain 4, then slip stitch to form loop.

Row 1:  DC 10 times in this loop to make your foundation circle then connect with a slip stitch.

Row 2: Chain 3.  * DC twice in next stitch, then make one chain. * Repeat around the ring, connecting with a slip stitch.

Row 3: Chain 3. *DC twice in each DC from the previous row, and once in each chain. *Repeat around the ring, connecting with a slip stitch.

Row 4: Chain 3.  DC around entire ring, connect with slip stitch.  (This row has no increases since you are now forming the body of the mug)

Row 5: Chain 3.  DC around entire ring, stopping then you have two stitches left to complete the row.  This gap is where the base of your mug handle will go.

Row 6-9: Chain 3 and turn work. Do 2 DC in the base of your chain.  * Skip 2 stitches and SC, skip 2 stitches and DC 5 times in same stitch. * Repeat this to the end of the row.

After finishing row 9, chain then length of your desired button loop (approx. 5-10 chains depending on the button size you are using and how far from the handle you want to place the buttons).  Connect this chain with a SC to one side of the middle of the length of the gap for the mug handle.  The chain the same length for the next button hole and connect it with a SC to the same side of the gap at the base.  You should now have two button loops.

Now you can sew on your buttons (or tie them on with yarn).  I went back later and added another button loop to the top of my cozy to connect over the top of my handle to the top button, just to really secure the cozy and keep it from sliding down.  This is totally optional.

If my tutorial is too hard to understand since I'm not very good at writing them, here are a few basic mug cozy tutorials I've found on the web:

Diyods Mug Cozy
Debbie Jeans Mug Cozy
Mimi's Mug Cozy

I also wanted to post pictures of the "baby cocoon" I made for my son yesterday.  I found this pattern here.  I pretty much followed it exactly, except that I added a decorative edge to the top using back-post double crochets and front-post double crochets to give it a ribbed look, and topped it off with one row of blue single crochet.