No Sew Cup Cozy and Travel Jar Tutorial

Do you have a box, bag, or bin of orphaned socks at your house? I do. I hide it in the back corner so I don't have to look at it. Every so often I'll find a use for one or two, but they keep multiplying. Here is one I came up with this winter to solve a problem involving hot drinks and cold hands: the No Sew Cup Cozy!

Start with a selection of single socks. The pictured group includes one ladies' sock and two sizes of children's socks.

Cut off the toes of the socks.

Now fold each sock tube evenly in half -- the cut edges should be close to the cuff of the sock.

Slide onto your desired cup and enjoy a double layer of recycled sock cozy-ness!

If you find that adult sock cozies are too long for your selected cup, cut the sock off above the heel instead of at the toe. Fold the resulting tube in half, slide on your cup, and go!

But, wait, you might be saying . . . where did I get that cool glass tea sipping setup? I DIY'd it (and you can, too)!

Start with a plain-old 8 oz to-go coffee/tea lid. Trim off the bottom edge so that it will fit inside a standard wide mouth canning lid.

This is showing the inside of the canning ring and lid. You want the flat lip of the lid to be as close to the threads of the ring as possible (for leak prevention).

Not all brands of lids will work. The larger lids technically still fit (as shown below), but the hole opening below the top of the ring makes for drips (not as many as an open jar ;), but more than a smaller, above the ring lid).

Screw the lid/ring combo onto a 1-pint wide mouth canning jar, slide on a recycled sock cozy, and enjoy your favorite hot (or cold) drink in comfort!

The inspiration for the lid alteration came when I was pregnant with my daughter. I was constantly carrying around a quart jar to drink out of because I was easily dehydrated. I had several spills, but the worst was being bumped while in the act of sitting down with a full jar of hot tea. It spilled all down my front and pooled in my lap (and I wasn't at home, making it even more embarrassing). I tried drilling holes in the plastic lids that are meant to fit on wide mouth canning jars, but it didn't work that well. Then DH came home with a rare to-go coffee. The trimmed lid fit perfectly! Imagine my surprise when DH directed me to this site last week -- I guess it wasn't a problem unique to me!

Have fun!

Jaye Jaye is an industrious mom of three with a passion for transforming raw concepts into sharable tutorials and printable patterns. You can find her most recent brainstorms in the MLL forums (username yellowhibiscus) or at her blog dedicated to supporting Create H.O.P.E. Designs.