Meet the Little Bee Cozy!

As promised, here is the finished work in progress: the Little Bee baby cozy.  These are also known as sleep sacks  or cuddlers, but being a fan of all things cozy (mug cozies, travel mug cozies, egg cozies...I love me a cozy), I like to think of these as a "baby cozy".

Just put your baby in it and keep 'er warm, folks.

I also promised the pattern, in case you were wanting to make a Little Bee cozy of your very own.  We all have a little bee in our lives, at some point or another, and what better way to welcome the new addition to any hive than with this?

The Little Bee Baby Cozy

You'll need:  US size 7 needles, 16 inch circular and DPNs; 220 yards of worsted weight honey-colored yarn; 110 yards each of dark brown or black, light yellow, and orange-spice colored worsted weight yarn; stitch markers; yarn needle.

All yarns for this product were purchased at www.knitpicks.com, from the Swish worsted line: two skeins of honey, one each of cornmeal, allspice, and lava heather.

Cast on 86 stitches of the honey colored yarn (MC) onto circular needles and join to work in the round, placing marker to note beginning of the round.  Cast off the first stitch to close gap (85 stitches) and work all stitches in knit around.  Continue to work in knit around until work measures three inches from cast on edge.

Next round:  *Knit 14, knit into front and back of next stitch.*  Continue until the end of the row, increasing by five stitches total (90 stitches).  Knit around next row.

Here's where you need to begin the Little Bee Chart by Sandra Jager.  You will need to purchase this from her ravelry store; follow this link right here to make your purchase and download it.  You will make a total of nine repeats of the chart.  I found it helpful to place markers to indicate each of the chart repeats; my brain works better this way, but however you like to handle working chart repeats, please use your preferred method!  It is a really fun and simple chart to follow.

After completing the chart, continue to knit in MC for five rows.  Then begin the faux-honeycomb stitch described below.  You'll do a total of two and a half repetitions of the faux-honeycomb stitch, you can do more if you wanted a really long cozy.  Of course, you will need more yardage of your MC yarn to do this!

Faux-Honeycomb Stitch:

Row 1: knit two, slip two as if to knit, knit 6. *Slip two, knit 6.  Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2-8: repeat Row 1.
Row 9: Knit across all stitches.
Row 10 & 11: Repeat row 8.
Row 12: *Knit 6, slip two as if to knit.  Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 13-17: Repeat row 11.
Row 18: Knit across all stitches.
Row 19 & 20: Repeat row 18.

Repeat these 20 rows once more, and then Rows 1-11 once.  Next round, *knit 15, place marker.  Repeat from * to end of row.

Now you will begin your bottom decreases, to close up the cozy.  This is pretty simple, and involves two rows repeated until you have ten stitches remaining.  You will need to switch to DPNs to accommodate the gradually reducing number of stitches.

Decrease row 1:  Knit two stitches together, knit to two stitches before marker, knit two together.  Repeat across row.
Decrease row 2: Knit all stitches.

When you have ten stitches remaining, break MC yarn and using yarn needle, thread through the remaining stitches and pull tight to close end.  Tie of yarn and weave in ends,  Block lightly to preserve the faux-honeycomb texture.  Be sure to weave in any ends and fasten down any long floats of yarn at the colorwork band.  Your finished Little Bee Baby Cozy will be just about 14 inches long when completed as measured from the cast on edge.  Blocking also helps with rolled top of the cozy.

I found that I had just enough yarn left over to whip up a teeny matching hat:

Stay tuned for this cute pattern to come tomorrow!