Coffee Cup Sleeve- Seam help

How-to Questions
1

I’m hoping that a kind and more experienced knitter can help me out with a coffee cup sleeve pattern. :slight_smile:

I’m not able to post links in this forum post, but the pattern is the first search result for “canadian living coffee cup sleeve” in Google (it starts with 34 stitches).

I can successfully do the entire project but I’m completely stuck on the seam (sorry-- as you can tell, I’m pretty much a total beginner). The pattern says “sew back seam to form a tube.” I’ve looked at different how-to posts online for seams (mattress stitch, etc.) but I don’t have the nice, neat knit stiches required for this to work.

I have two questions:

  1. Is there a specific “type” of seam I should be using for this pattern?
  2. Is there a special edging technique I can use so that the stitches on the sides of my project (the ones that will be seamed together) won’t look so knotted and messy?

If anyone can provide help, I would greatly appreciate it!

2

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knit_a_coffee_cup_sleeve.php is your pattern.

and you can post links now, just can’t do it in your very first post (an anti-spam feature).

if you haven’t started yet, and you feel comfortable, you could do this project in-the-round, using double pointed needles, or circular needles using the 2-circs-at-a-time or magic loop methods.

then you wouldn’t have to seam the sides, but you would have to modify the directions some…

if you’ve already started, or don’t feel comfortable with in-the-round projects yet, you can try a slip-stitch edging, that creates a nicer tighter edge, that will be clear and easy to see where to stitch into after the fact, using a simple mattress stitch.

3

Welcome to KnittingHelp!
I think you may be able to use mattress stitch on this project anyway. You’ll need to seam one stitch in from the edge.
It may also help, in addition to X’s good suggestions, to move the increases (or decreases) one or two sts in from the edges for a cleaner seam.

4

Mattress Stitch

I agree with the other posters.

5

Thank you all! :slight_smile:

I don’t feel comfortable enough (yet) to try knitting in the round, but I will try some of your other suggestions. This project is quick to do so I don’t mind starting over again. Actually, I’d like to make a few anyway so this works out well.

6

If you have the needles to do it I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how not difficult working in the round really is. When you’re ready to try, we’ll do all we can to help. Happy knitting.

7

Hi again. I’ve managed to do the mattress stitch relatively successfully. However, the top and bottom of the seam look puckered. I have a nice straight line across the top and bottom of the project but it “dips in” at the seam, which really messes up the look of the project.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem? I have a feeling I may need to make the corners sharper so that the edge of the seam is straighter, but I’m not sure how to do this.

Thanks!

8

Sometimes if you pull to tightly on the strand that’s used to do the mattress stitch it’ll pucker the beginning of the seam. I usually start the seam with a knot to join the corner sts on each side. When finished seaming, stretch the seam so that there’s not too much tension. That may help with the dip at the ends, too.