I woke up one morning and with a desperate need to knit and design a mug cozy. There are four characters, Santa Claus Mug Cozy or Father Christmas Mug Cozy if you prefer, Elf ‘n’ Safety Mug Cozy, Gingerbread Man Mug Cozy (or lady) and a Snowman Mug Cozy (or lady).

I wanted to add a hood to make it stand out from the crowd and folksworthfarmer suggested that if that hood would hold biscuits, then she was sold, she also kindly sent the Christmas tree buttons used on the Elf Cozies and black buttons for Santa’s jacket.

Thanks also to bluesocks who brought a selection of bells in assorted colours and sizes, which went on the points of the cozy hoods and served as buttons on the snowman cozy.

The body of the cozies are knitted sideways and it’s easy to customize the length to fit the circumference of your favourite mug. Stitch counts are include for 3 1/2 inch depth and 4 inch depth standard mugs and as written they will stretch to go round a 10-11 inch round mug.

The cozies have knitted arms with mittens, the arms are worked from the fingertips up to the top of the arm/sleeve. I used Judy’s Magic Cast On, but feel free to just use longtail cast on and seam afterwards.

The Snowman has optional twig arms or you can make the mitten/sleeve arms to match the other cozies.

Instructions are included for striped options for arms and hoods. I used duplicate stitch to add a belt for Santa, Elves or the Gingerbread Man and also to add a ribbon for the gift embellishment. I’ve had fun sewing on bells to the hoods, using them instead of buttons or ‘coal’ on the Snowman and adding the Christmas Trees, Sacks and Gifts.

The expected gauge/tension is 20st/28 rows per 4 inch/10cm and I used a variety of yarns from DK, Aran, Worsted, 4ply/fingering weight double stranded. It’s a great way to use up scraps. Use the needle size that gets you 20 sts over 4 inches and it’ll work just fine. The length is easily adapted to fit a wider mug, or smaller one.

Make as many or as few as you like. I hope you love them as much as I do. The pattern includes instructions for making the cosy left or right handed to suit the intended recipient.

With grateful thanks to bluesocks, who test knitted the pattern, tried them with a variety of yarns and is the most amazing friend.