Steeked Coffee Cozy

I recently joined Simply Notable's group on Ravelry. Their summer challenge is to make a colorwork coffee cozy (or two). Now, I've actually dabbled in colorwork. Really, is there anything I HAVEN'T dabbled in? One member recommended the pattern Steek this Coffee Cozy. This seemed like a good idea. I'd never tried steeking before and my colorwork had been limited to 3 colors max. So, I dug through my wool stash and found a turqouise for the MC. Then, I found a brown, rust and tan. Still needed one more color. Decided a Navy blue would look good. I'd buy that later. I could still cast on and knit quite a ways before I needed that Navy blue. Who knew I wouldn't be able to FIND a Navy blue. After checking 3 stores,  decided to go with a purple in place of the Navy.
Now, this seemed a little strange to me, you knit the bottom ribbing flat. When you finish the ribbing, you join in the round to knit the chart. Then you go back to knitting the ribbing flat. Once I finished all the knitting it was time to prepare the piece for steeking.

Reinforced area before cutting

Then, I just took out those scissors and cut between the reinforcement. I tried to be careful not to cut the tails. Does it make a difference if they're cut or not? I don't know. So, I just avoided doing that.

After cutting

After that, it's just a matter of picking up stitches and knitting the button and buttonhole bands. OH! and weaving in all those ends of course. I still have to find and sew on buttons, but otherwise......FINISHED!