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Crochet mug cozy: a buttoned band for a retirement gift

Chain 12 and work 23 rows of half double crochet, the mug’s round less the gap at the handle. Then work a 4-stitch tab with a buttonhole from the middle of the end, and sew a button to the other end.

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A band with a tab through the handleUS termsHook: 5 mm (US H-8), or the size that gives you gaugeSize from your washed swatchEm portuguêsworsted yarn

Know these stitches: chain, half double crochet, slip stitch

The finished mug cozy.

Materials and yarn planning

Yarns we’ve reviewed that suit it: Knit Picks Dishie Cone yarn, Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton worsted yarn, Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran. For the hook, choose by size and handle.

Yarn estimate: the 242 half double crochets at about 6 cm of medium yarn each come to about 15 m.

For an exact figure in your own yarn, weigh a washed swatch in the pattern stitch: the weighed-swatch yarn calculator scales it to each flat panel or strip. Allow a little more for seams, edging and tails.

Finished size and gauge

Measure round your mug just below the rim, and across the handle where it meets the mug, plus about 1 cm. The example is a mug 26 cm round with a 3 cm gap at the handle, so the band is 26 − 3 = 23 cm long. At 13 half double crochets and 10 rows per 10 cm, its 10 stitches make it about 8 cm tall and its 23 rows 23 cm, one row for every 1 cm of band; the tab’s 3 rows cross the 3 cm gap to the button. For a taller or shorter mug, change the stitches 2 at a time, so the tab stays in the middle. These are calculations from the counts, not a measured sample.

The gauge calculator compares your swatch with the pattern. A stitch name you do not know is in the abbreviation chart; a UK pattern’s names are in the US/UK term reference.

The pattern

Count rows for this pattern

Band

  1. Chain 12. Row 1: half double crochet in the third chain from the hook and in each chain across: 10 stitches.
  2. Rows 2–23: chain 2 and turn (it does not count), half double crochet in each stitch across: 10 stitches.
  3. Wrap the band round the mug: its two ends should sit just either side of the handle. If they do not, add or take out rows.

Tab

  1. Row 24: chain 1 and turn, slip stitch in the first 3 stitches, chain 2 (it does not count), half double crochet in the next 4 stitches, leaving the last 3 unworked: 4 stitches.
  2. Row 25: chain 2 and turn, half double crochet in each stitch across: 4 stitches.
  3. Row 26, the buttonhole: chain 2 and turn, half double crochet in the first stitch, chain 2, skip the next 2 stitches, half double crochet in the last stitch: 4 stitches. Fasten off and weave in the ends.

Button and gift

  1. Sew the button to the right side of the band, in the middle of Row 1.
  2. Put the band round the mug with the tab at the handle. Pass the tab through the handle, between the handle and the mug, and button it.
  3. Slide the cozy off before the mug goes in the dishwasher or the microwave. For a retirement gift, tuck a packet of their favorite coffee or tea inside the mug.

Check the work

23 rows of 10, then a tab from the middle 4: 3 + 4 + 3 = 10. The buttonhole row is 1 + 2 chains + 1 = 4.

Stitches in every row of the band, and in the tab10 · 10 · 4
  • If the cozy slides down the mug, the band is too long: take out a row.
  • If the button pulls the tab out of shape, the band is too short: add a row.
  • If the band ripples along its foundation edge, the chain was tight: start again and work the chain with a hook one size larger.

Updated . Stitch counts checked row by row; we haven’t crocheted a sample of this one yet. How the patterns are checked. Keep your yarn label, hook and swatch on the printable project worksheet.

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