I just put a new tutorial up on the How-to page: How to join I-cord legs together. It’s an essential technique for knitting tiny gnomes, pirates, chefs—all manner of little creatures that walk around on two legs.

So many of you chimed in on my informal cozy poll last week that I just have to share some highlights. These guys can’t wait to hear the results!

As of this writing, we received more than 40 comments with opinions one way or the other on cozies. The pros really won the day—almost twice as many of you support the ideals of a cozy culture than those who are happy with your basic mugs with handles. Maybe this shouldn’t have come as a surprise, seeing as how most of my readers are probably knitters who like the idea of making the world a better place by putting little sweaters on everything.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the comments.

From Katie:

We *all* already use a cozy, the drink sleeve that ends as garbage. A reusable cozy is great for the environment and quietly states: “I’m a yarn lover!”

From Emily:

My daughter takes a hard boiled egg in her lunch every day so I knitted her a little cozy that looks like a bunny. It’s outrageously adorable. I also made some smaller ones to fit on Cadbury eggs. (The pattern is Huggie Bunnies on ravelry.)

From Lorysa:

When one of my fingerless gloves developed a hole, I turned it into a cosy for my travel coffee mug (which doesn’t have a handle. I’m not anti-handle, but this one had a better lid). I use it every single day and plan to knit more, thicker ones.

From Mariette:

Here’s my BIG problem with cozies: they never fit the container that I want to use it on. Seriously.

From Eva:

Cosies are like clunky but warm winter boots. As a teenager, you don’t want to wear them because they look uncool, but as you get older, you realize that what’s uncool is freezing while underdressed because you’re trying to look cool.

From Manisha:

I admit I went through a knitting up cozy phase and handed them out many people I know….. It was fun to have a quick knit but now they are mostly used to dress my daughter’s dolls.

From fillyjonk:

Couldn’t a sweater be regarded as a “human cozy”?

From Yvonne:

I’ve made a couple of “cozies” (more like sleeves — think of what they give you at Starbucks) for my coffee. I have given those away, though, because people (at Starbucks) find them to be really cool, and knowing I can make another one, I just whip off the sleeve and give it to them. I use Cascade Fixation for these.

From LauraSue:

I’ve never knit a cozy and I thought they were kind of…well, useless. But golly, you cozy-lovers are starting to win me over! And if I ever knit a cozy, it would have to be a mochi-mochi cozy. Fer sher.

I appreciate that sentiment, LauraSue, and I second it!

OK, just one more—from Amanda:

My husband bought an ugly Christmas sweater beer cozy from Target over the holidays. He was shopping alone….

And there you have it: cozies win the day. I can’t promise that I’ll start outfitting my drinks anytime soon, but I can’t help getting a little excited for cozies after all your testimonials.

So, what should strange corner of the knitting world should we debate next?

If lately things have seemed a little quiet here on the blog, it’s because I’ve been working round the clock on pieces for my upcoming show in Berlin for the past several weeks. This is what the floor of my bedroom/studio is looking like these days.

Watch your step!

These twigs and branches are what I’m using as the bases for my pieces. I’ve been collecting them in various sizes and shapes, and I’m trying to let the forms of the wood inspire the scenes that play out on them.

I’m knitting my cast of characters at the same time, and most of them get off to a humble start, stashed away in this plastic bag until I need them.

Working on ideas for a piece is a little like playing with action figures. I experiment with using different characters in different colors, and see what I can make them do in the twigs.

(I’ve been leaving the loose ends on most of the creatures so that I can be really precise when attaching each arm and leg.)

Here’s a piece in progress that’s soon to be ready for assembly. It’s fun and challenging to see how many different ways I can make the monkeys interact with each other and their miniature environment.

Just stitching the little guys on each piece can take from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the size and detail. It feels like this show is taking all my time, patience, and creative energy these days, but I love a crazy big project and I hope the results will feel worth the work.

I’ll have the full information and more photos soon, but this show will be on exhibit at Smallspace gallery in Berlin April 10-14th, during the Pictoplasma character art festival. I’ll also be giving a talk (open to festival attendees) and leading a knitting workshop with local knitters. Time and place TBA!

Update: Thank you for all the great comments about your favorite NYC icons! The randomly-selected winner has been chosen!

I have some big-city knitting cuteness to share today! Lauren O’Farrell, my fellow designer of strange knitted things, has a new book of patterns out! And it’s set in my favorite city…

A follow-up to Lauren’s 2011 book Stitch London, the new Stitch New York features adorably kooky versions of icons from the Big Apple for you to knit. Like that precious Woody Allen!

And taxis!

I actually had an unexpected role in this book, when Lauren showed up at my Brooklyn apartment and asked me to model some unusual garments on my stoop…

Don’t worry—I have no ambitions of quitting my day job.

The adorable creature with me is Bandit, my sister-in-law Jenna’s dog who was a perfect model for a number of dog costumes (because New Yorkers dress up their dogs for all occasions).

How cute is he!?! It’s bittersweet to see this silly face, because Bandit sadly passed away on January 1st this year, about five months after these photos were taken. He is sorely missed! But it makes me happy that he could be immortalized in hilarious costumes.

Lauren’s publisher David & Charles was nice enough to send me a copy of Stitch New York to give away, so one of you will get a copy! (And I’m sure the rest of you will buy it!) Just leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite NYC icon. Please leave only one comment per person, and I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday!

And if you haven’t read it, check out the interview I did with Lauren a couple years back. She’s fascinating!