Heroes in a Halfshell on a Coffee Mug

Last week I was talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with some friends (don't ask me why... it just happens), I looked down at my mug cozy and thought "hey... the ties could totally be headband ties. I bet a TMNT cozy would be fun to make." I pesterd my best friend to discover that her favorite turtle is Raphael so I made my test pattern in red for her.

I posted this cozy to my Harry Potter DADA class (gotta get those points for Slytherin, you know!) and was blown away by the response so I agreed to write up the pattern. Raphael was awesome, but he wasn't quite there so brought it to work with me the next day and the TMNT fans around the office decided that his headband ties needed to wider and the eyes a bit smaller.

Last night I tried again with Michelangelo (he's my favorite!) and I'm really happy with the results. Without further ado, here is the pattern for the Mikey version.

Turtle Power! Mug Cozy

Materials:
-Worsted weight yarn in green, white, black, and orange (substitue red for Raphael, purple for Donatello, or blue for Leonardo). I used Vanna's choice for everything but the headband which I used Red Heart.
-G Hook for cozy and whites of eyes
-E Hook for pupils
-Tapestry needle

Gauge:
Base rounds 1-7 = 3 inches = Base of a standard coffee mug

Special Stitches:
hdcdec: Half double crochet decrease (yo, insert hook in next st, yo pull up loop, yo, insert hook in next st, yo pull up loop, yo, pull through all 5 loops on hook)

Base worked in continuous rounds
R1: With green and using G hook, ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook (6sc)
R2: 2 sc in each sc around (12sc)
R3: *2sc in next st, sc* 6 times around (18sc)
R4: *2sc in next st, 2sc* 6 times around (24sc)
R5: *2sc in next st, 3sc* 6 times around (30sc)
R6: *2sc in next st, 4sc* 6 times around (36sc)
R7: *2sc in next st, 5sc* 6 times around (42sc)

Sides worked in rows back and forth
R8: ch 1 (does not count as stitch now and throughout), in back loop only hdc in each st around. ss to first hdc. ch 1, turn (42hdc)
R9: Working in both loops, hdc in each st around. ss to first hdc, ch 1, turn. (42 hdc)
R10: hdcdec over next 2 sts, 38hdc, hdcdec over last 2 sts, ch 1, turn. Do not join to first stitch of this row. (40 hdc)
R11: hdcdec over next 2 sts, 36hdc, hdcdec over last 2 sts, ch 1, turn. (38hdc)
R12: hdc in each st around, finish off, cut green. (38hdc)
R13: join orange with ss, ch 1, hdc in each st around, ch 1, turn. (38hdc)
R14: hdc in each st around, ch 1, turn. (38hdc)
R15: hdc in each st around, finish off, cut orange. (38hdc)
R16: join green with ss, ch 1, hdc in each st around, finish off, cut green. (38hdc)

Ties
Using G hook join orange with ss at end of R14, ch 30, sc in second ch from hook and in next 3 sts, hdc to end of ch, ss to end of R15, cut orange. (4sc, 25hdc)
Repeat tie on opposite end of mug.

Eyes
R1: With white and using G hook, ch 2, 6sc in second ch from hook. Do not join to first st. (6sc)
R2: 2sc in each st around, ss to first st, cut white. (12sc)
R3: Join orange with sc in any st, sc in each st around, ss to first st, leave long tail for sewing and cut orange. This last row will want to curve a bit. That's ok. It will flatten when you sew it to the sides of the cozy.

Pupils
R1: With black and using E hook, ch 2, 6sc in second ch from hook, ss to first sc, leave long tail for sewing and cut black. (6sc)

Assembly
Sew pupils to eyes using black tail from pupil.
Fold cozy in half, place one eye on orange headband to left of fold and the other eye to the right leaving a small space between. Sew eyes to headband using orange tail from eyes.
Weave in ends.