Torchwood Cups
In honour of Ianto Jones, Master of Coffee and Sarcasm, I bring you the knitted Torchwood Cup!
It's a simple pattern that can be made more complicated if so desired.
The basic pattern is very simple: A tube sock folded double and stiffened up with
paper/cardboard, and sewn together in the bottom. It can be any size you want, as
long as you have paper/cardboard enough that fits.
Below are the directions for the cup I made with the Torchwood symbol:
I've used:
Yarn: Rubin (DK / 8 ply wool) ca. 25 grams
Needles: 3mm / US 2 1/2
Tapestry needle
A sheet of A4 thin cardboard
Tape and scissors
Waste yarn
To understand the concept of the cup, it's best to read the whole thing before you
begin knitting. (Not that it's so complicated, but it's a good rule.)
Cast on 60 stitches (sts) (if you leave a long tail for the sewing later, that's fine).
Join the ends and knit stockinette for 8 rows before you begin on the chart.
Take a 1m long thread of yarn in contrast colour (CC) and find the middle of
the thread. This is where you begin with the CC stitch in the first row.
On the second row in the chart, knit 3 sts with one of the CC ends. Now you have one
long tail hanging from the first CC stitch (B), and one long end to the left (A).
NB! Always keep the main colour thread (MC) above the CC sts, to tie in the CC sts.
Use the left end (A) to knit the sts on the left hand side of the chart and the other
end (B) to knit the sts on the right hand side. Begin on a new piece of CC thread for
the bottom of the T (C), and another for the top of the T.
The handle:
The handle is placed 8 sts to the left of the chart. After the two last CC sts in
row 5 of the chart, knit 10 sts with MC. Place the next 4 sts on waste yarn and
pick up 4 stitches from the row below, from the backside of the work. Let the sts on
the waste yarn hang to the front of the work while you continue to knit the cup and
the chart.
After row 14 of the chart, knit 9 sts. Then bind off 2 sts (arrow in next picture).
Leave the cup for now and begin on the handle with a new MC thread.
Place the 4 sts from the waste yarn on a double-pointed needle and knit an I-cord.
(To make the handle thicker you can put a shoelace or something similar inside it.
I didn't do it on the cup in these pictures, but the blue cup has a double shoelace
inside the I-cord.)
It can be a bit fiddly in the beginning, but just make sure you wiggle the sts every
few rows, to avoid laddering. KNIT TIGHT!
When the I-cord is long enough (matter of preference), knit 2 sts together, twice.
The 2 remaining sts will be knit into the cup on row 15 of the chart, where the bind
off sts are. (Arrow: If you've used a shoelace, let it hang through the hole made by
the bind off.) Continue to knit the cup.
The rest of the cup:
The outside of the cup is done approx. 8 rows after the chart is finished. Keep
knitting the tube until it's twice as long. Then begin decreasing as follows:
Row 1: *Knit 4, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Row 2: Knit
row 3: *Knit 3, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: *Knit 2, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Keep decreasing like this until there's ca 5-10 sts left. Cut yarn and loop it
through the remaining sts and fasten the end.
Weave in the yarn ends from the I-cord (and the shoelace, in both ends of the
handle), while making it as neat as possible from the front. Do the same with the
CC yarn ends.
Before weaving:
After weaving:
The right side now looks like this:
NB! I noticed after I'd finished this cup that I had made a mistake. The chart is
correct, but I skipped row 15 on this cup. Look at the blue cup for the correct
version.
The shaping:
Take a sheet of thin cardboard. Roll it up (don't tape it together just yet!) inside
the yarn tube and push the the top of the fabric down and inside the paper tube.
When the top edge of the cup is where it should be (approx. 8 rows after the chart is
finished), stretch the paper tube as wide as you can. This is to avoid
wrinkles inside the cup. Pull the paper out of the cup and tape it together.
Put it back into the cup and find out where you need to cut off the bottom end (if
you need to). Make sure you stretch the fabric enough, but not too much.
The bottom of the cup is formed by sewing the cast on edge together with the inside
of the cup, right where the decreasing began.
The paper tube is now completely covered by yarn:
You can cut out a piece of cardboard and put it in the bottom of the cup.
And then it's finished, ready to hold all your spare sonic screwdrivers. ;-)
It's a simple pattern that can be made more complicated if so desired.
The basic pattern is very simple: A tube sock folded double and stiffened up with
paper/cardboard, and sewn together in the bottom. It can be any size you want, as
long as you have paper/cardboard enough that fits.
Below are the directions for the cup I made with the Torchwood symbol:
I've used:
Yarn: Rubin (DK / 8 ply wool) ca. 25 grams
Needles: 3mm / US 2 1/2
Tapestry needle
A sheet of A4 thin cardboard
Tape and scissors
Waste yarn
To understand the concept of the cup, it's best to read the whole thing before you
begin knitting. (Not that it's so complicated, but it's a good rule.)
Cast on 60 stitches (sts) (if you leave a long tail for the sewing later, that's fine).
Join the ends and knit stockinette for 8 rows before you begin on the chart.
Take a 1m long thread of yarn in contrast colour (CC) and find the middle of
the thread. This is where you begin with the CC stitch in the first row.
On the second row in the chart, knit 3 sts with one of the CC ends. Now you have one
long tail hanging from the first CC stitch (B), and one long end to the left (A).
NB! Always keep the main colour thread (MC) above the CC sts, to tie in the CC sts.
Use the left end (A) to knit the sts on the left hand side of the chart and the other
end (B) to knit the sts on the right hand side. Begin on a new piece of CC thread for
the bottom of the T (C), and another for the top of the T.
The handle:
The handle is placed 8 sts to the left of the chart. After the two last CC sts in
row 5 of the chart, knit 10 sts with MC. Place the next 4 sts on waste yarn and
pick up 4 stitches from the row below, from the backside of the work. Let the sts on
the waste yarn hang to the front of the work while you continue to knit the cup and
the chart.
After row 14 of the chart, knit 9 sts. Then bind off 2 sts (arrow in next picture).
Leave the cup for now and begin on the handle with a new MC thread.
Place the 4 sts from the waste yarn on a double-pointed needle and knit an I-cord.
(To make the handle thicker you can put a shoelace or something similar inside it.
I didn't do it on the cup in these pictures, but the blue cup has a double shoelace
inside the I-cord.)
It can be a bit fiddly in the beginning, but just make sure you wiggle the sts every
few rows, to avoid laddering. KNIT TIGHT!
When the I-cord is long enough (matter of preference), knit 2 sts together, twice.
The 2 remaining sts will be knit into the cup on row 15 of the chart, where the bind
off sts are. (Arrow: If you've used a shoelace, let it hang through the hole made by
the bind off.) Continue to knit the cup.
The rest of the cup:
The outside of the cup is done approx. 8 rows after the chart is finished. Keep
knitting the tube until it's twice as long. Then begin decreasing as follows:
Row 1: *Knit 4, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Row 2: Knit
row 3: *Knit 3, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: *Knit 2, knit 2 together*. Repeat *-*.
Keep decreasing like this until there's ca 5-10 sts left. Cut yarn and loop it
through the remaining sts and fasten the end.
Weave in the yarn ends from the I-cord (and the shoelace, in both ends of the
handle), while making it as neat as possible from the front. Do the same with the
CC yarn ends.
Before weaving:
After weaving:
The right side now looks like this:
NB! I noticed after I'd finished this cup that I had made a mistake. The chart is
correct, but I skipped row 15 on this cup. Look at the blue cup for the correct
version.
The shaping:
Take a sheet of thin cardboard. Roll it up (don't tape it together just yet!) inside
the yarn tube and push the the top of the fabric down and inside the paper tube.
When the top edge of the cup is where it should be (approx. 8 rows after the chart is
finished), stretch the paper tube as wide as you can. This is to avoid
wrinkles inside the cup. Pull the paper out of the cup and tape it together.
Put it back into the cup and find out where you need to cut off the bottom end (if
you need to). Make sure you stretch the fabric enough, but not too much.
The bottom of the cup is formed by sewing the cast on edge together with the inside
of the cup, right where the decreasing began.
The paper tube is now completely covered by yarn:
You can cut out a piece of cardboard and put it in the bottom of the cup.
And then it's finished, ready to hold all your spare sonic screwdrivers. ;-)