handled cup sleeve and the cuppow

Thanks so much for your kind words about my rocky start yesterday. Simply writing it out always releases a bit of stress for me. I also think my very special cup of tea on the drive in to town helped. I often steep some some tea in a mason jar and screw on a lid for my morning country-to-town commute. As you can imagine, drinking out of  a widemouthed jar in a moving vehicle is not advisable. Therefore, my tea is often cold by the time I get to it. I kind of got used to that over the years, but last month I discovered a brand new device invented for folks just like me. I'm totally excited about The Cuppow! It arrived right before we left for the beach, so yesterday was my first time really trying it out. Love!

Knowing that I will now be able to sip my tea while it's hot, I decided I needed to make a sleeve to keep my hand comfortable around piping hot glass. Laura got a Cuppow too and had a similar idea... she's got a very sweet knitted cozy tutorial right here.  I wanted a handle... a slot really, to slip my hands in for a secure hold.  I used a scrap of wool from an old army blanket that I've been reinventing for the last couple of years.

I knew it would shrug off tea and coffee stains and insulate as well as add comfort. I made it in 5 minutes!
fast+simple+useful= happy

I cut a rectangle long enough to have the ends overlap and another one with an equal width for the handle.

My jar of choice has a narrower bottom so I adjusted the wool to fit securely and pinned in place. Note the angle.

I zigzagged one layer to another along the angle and covered that seam with the handle piece.

The handle was sewn to the bottom and top with a simple straight seam. It was reinforced with multiple back stitches for added durability. Note the white thread below. It's strong! Because the bottom is only slightly narrower, I added a tiny strip of cloth... a tag at the top to make it easy to know which side to slip the cup into. Although I'm holding it from the bottom in this shot, I soon learned it's totally sturdy... that cup isn't going anywhere. Good stuff.