Designer’s email: dichroic@riseagain.net

Designer’s website: http://riseagain.net/wp

Wooldridge is the name of a winery in the burgeoning wine region of the Rogue Valley in Oregon where the yarn for this project was purchased and the idea conceived. I was visiting relatives there when I finished the knitting project I’d brought, and a wine-tasting tour sparked the idea for this cozy. (We visited several wineries, but Wooldridge had both some of my favorite wines and by far the most appropriate name for a knitting pattern!) This cozy will not only help insulate your wine and keep it cool, but the dark color will camouflage any drips and keep them off your tablecloth.

This pattern is a: Knit Pattern

Skill Level: Easy: needed skills include knitting in the round, increasing, and crocheting trim on a knitted piece.

Credits: All photos by Paula Berman

Materials:

Yarn:

Color #1 (Main Color): Cascade 220 (220 yards/100 grams), Fiber Content: 100% wool, Color: #2404 Ruby, one skein, worsted weight yarn

Color #2 (Contrasting Color for trim) : Cascade 220, #8308 Navy, Cascade 220 (220 yards/100 grams), Fiber Content: 100% wool, Color: #8308 Navy, one skein, worsted weight yarn

One skein of each color will give you enough yarn to make two cozies, swapping main and contrasting color on each.

Knitting Needles and Crochet Hooks:

Crochet Hook(s): US # G / 4.25 mm
Knitting Needles: 2 pair US# 8 / 5.0 mm circular needles, in two different lengths.

Notions and Accessories:

10 stitch markers

Finished Product Measurements :

Before felting: 5” diameter, 11.5” high
After felting: 4.25” diameter, 8” high

Pattern Stitch :

Stockinette stitich, single crochet for trim
kfb: Increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch.

Gauge: 20 stitches / 26 rows = 4 inch (10 cm) in pattern stitch

Design Notes:

One nice thing about crochet is that you can crochet onto anything you can stick a needle into. For this cozy I have crocheted around the top and bottom edges and added a spiral linking the two, but you can trim the cozy in any pattern you like - vertical or horizontal stripes, a geometric pattern, or whatever you can think of. You can also use any crochet stitch you want; single crochet, double crochet or even a simple chain stitch - the choice is yours. This is a quick and easy gift idea - so how about crocheting on the recipient’s initial?

Pattern:

CO 5 sts in MC. Place 2 sts on the shorter needle, 3 on the longer one, and join.
Row 1: Kfb every stitch (10 sts)
Row 2: Kfb every stitch again (20 sts)
Row 3: *PM, kfb, k*around
Row 4: K

Slip marker and kfb at each marker on every odd row, knitting every even row, until you have 70 sts or the work measures approximately 4.5” in diameter. Purl around one row to form a ridge at the edge of the bottom of the cozy. Knit around with no further increasing until the cozy is approximately 11.5” high. Crochet (using any crochet stitch you are comfortable with) around bottom purl row in yarn color #2. Crochet into each next stitch above and to the left, continuing until you reach the top, then crochet around top edge. (Or substitute any trim pattern you like for this style.)

 

 

 

 

Finishing:

Place cozy in a pillow case and felt in hot water in your washing machine until it’s about the size and thickness you want. I left mine a little large, because wine bottles vary in size, or to allow room for a wine chilling sleeve (that can be precooled in the freezer) in case I wanted to serve the wine outside on a warm day. After felting, I placed the cozy on a bottle of champagne, because champagne bottles tend to be a little larger in diameter, and propped it upside down to dry to make sure the sides wouldn’t slump while drying.

Meet the Designer:

Paula has been knitting for 2 years now. In addition to knitting, she reads constantly and rows competitively. She decided to learn to knit because it was something she could do while reading or while riding in the car on the way to regattas. She was bemused to find out that knitting is in fashion, but has been grateful for that since - not because she wants to be in style but because it’s so much easier to find luxurious yarn and interesting patterns, though she firmly believes that knitting patterns are only suggestions.