finished steering wheel cozy

And here we have the first finished object of 2008.

And what is it? I hear you ask, gentle reader.

This, my friends, is a steering wheel cozy.

As soon as I saw this pattern in the Son Of Stitch ‘n Bitch book while I was doing a little knitting at Tangle, I knew that I needed to knit one because this was simply an accessory that my car needed badly. A cabled steering wheel cozy. Think how nice that will feel to my cold hands on a dreary winter’s day.

Berroco Suede? I queried Alice.

Let’s see what I have back in the back Alice replied. Come with me.

And there in the bin, right on top, were the perfect colors. So what was I to do? I had to knit one. It was fate.

cozy steering wheel

This did take a bit longer to knit than I thought it would. For one thing, steering wheels have a deceptively long perimeter. And the Suede was just not the most pleasant stuff to knit with at the rather small gauge the pattern called for. I had to take frequent breaks to rest my hands.

I can see why the pattern called for this yarn, though. Once stitched onto the wheel, it’s not going anywhere. There’s no movement at all when turning the wheel. I think that a wool yarn would not have been as sticky and would have stretched more as time went on, leading to rather unpleasant consequences should the cozy slip while the driver was, say, trying to turn a corner.

Imagine trying to explain that to a judge. I’m sorry, your honor, I guess I should have cabled tighter.

Be sure to check out the new Finished Objects Gallery 2008. I’m using a new Dreamweaver extension to build it, and I think it’s pretty cool.

The Particulars:

• Yarn: Berroco Suede (100% nylon / 50g, 111m per skein); one skein of 3725, Tonto, two skeins I think are 3735, Clint (no ball band on these, so I am guessing). I had tons — tons — left over.
• Needles: Knit Picks Options, US#6, on a 24″ cable
• Steering Wheel Cozy from Son Of Stitch ‘n Bitch by Debbie Stoller. Pattern was knit as written without modification.
• Techniques used: Intarsia, with the cable in Tonto and the borders to each side in Clint.