Very few things compare to the feeling of a warm coffee cup in your hands especially when trying to beat winter chills. Cool fingers wrapped around smooth ceramic as the toasty liquid inside spreads its warmth through the mug can be oh-so soothing. Then, just as it hits the perfect, cozy warmness, it sneak-attacks with a fiery scald and you realize, in that moment, that all 10 fingers might just burn straight off. The hot, hot, too-hot mug bites at your hands while you dance your fingers around its edges touching as little of the cup as is physically possible before, ultimately, one weak little finger will slip and the bitter blackness splashes across the floor. Or your lap. Inevitably, your lap.
As an undiagnosed beverage addict, I maintain a minimum of 3 drinks on my desk at all times. And during the winter, it isn’t unusual to see hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate all in rotation at the same time. Being burnt by my mugs is now standard practice — I hate it, I suffer through it and I drink my drinks…somehow that’s kept me going.
It wasn’t until I saw a friend’s Facebook post last month that I realized there might actually be a solution for me. Wrapped around her ceramic travel mug was a pretty crochet sleeve — a cup cozy. Adorned with a vintage-styled silver button, it was quickly obvious I would have to have one.
The cozy I admired turned out to be the handmade brilliance of Sara Ayers, owner of Yarned & Dangerous. Based out of Junction City, Kansas — Sara creates home decor, gifts and more including an amazing collection of crochet pieces, one of which is my beloved cozy.
A stay-at-home momma, Sara enjoys crafting as a way of exercising her creativity. Yarned & Dangerous actually grew out of that craft passion as her friends urged her to start a business and Facebook page. From there, things took off. Her hand-crafted products now include personalized vinyl decals, custom designed buckets and lighted glass blocks in addition to the trendy crochet items.
Having loved crochet for quite awhile, Sara picked up her first pattern — chicken pot holders — from her husband’s grandmother. After finally getting the hang of it, she started expanding to other patterns and adding her own custom twists. Now, she creates beanies, newborn caps, diaper covers, baby sandals, ruffled booties, tiaras caps, baby dresses, Frozen-inspired yarn braids/hats, adult cowls, scarves, cup cozies, slippers, boot cuffs and, of course, those adorably funny chicken pot holders.
Her pricing is reasonable and most easily quoted based on the product you’re most interested in and how you might like it customized. If you’d like to order multiples — that’s also doable with a bit of a discount! “I put my heart into every single item I make,” said Sara. And that’s incredibly clear in every detail of her fantastic items. Especially that cup cozy.
Want to see for yourself? Yarned & Dangerous has sent us 4 fun cup cozies to protect your hands from the dreaded hot cup or cold can — and we’re passing them along to you and your bestest friend! Enter to win our cup cozy giveaway below. Two winners and their tagged friends will be selected and each will receive a random cozy in the mail. Hurry! This giveaway closes Wednesday, March 11, 2015, at 11:59 p.m.
That’s it. We’ll take it from there. Winners will be contacted via the medium in which they participate (Facebook, Instagram, whatever) shortly after our drawing. Unresponsive winners or failure to provide an address for delivery of the cup cozy may result in us choosing another winner and you, well, losing. Let’s not let that happen!
This post originally appeared on Prettyography.
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