Let the Music Play!

I know, I know, I've been away for a while - but I'm back!

I've been working on a few projects lately. First a sage green and ivory Tychus hat for Geah, then a pair of fingerless Irish hiking gloves for me, and in the middle of all that, I had a request for an iPod cover from RonDog.

This post will cover the cover, and I'll get to the other items later.

The request for the cover came with a couple of caveats: dark grey in color, no openings inside (which would have allowed for using the iPod while it was in the cover), and a flap that comes down over the front. He described what he wanted as an "iPod sock with a front flap".

Of course, I interpreted that to mean I could add some fun details if I wanted to, as long as it met that criteria. Which I did.

I had a skein of Bingo yarn (German merino, worsted) left over from a hat I had done, and it was the perfect dark grey for the project. I knitted the body of the cover in the round on sz. 6 dpn's, in reverse stockinette, with a knit stitch ridge up each corner. I made a mini-buttonhole at the center of the beginning of the flap so the headphones could be plugged in while the iPod was in the cover, cast off the stitches around the front, and continued on with the flap (putting 3 sts. of seed stitch on each side of the flap to prevent curling). I added a buttonhole towards the end, and finished up with three rows of seed stitch to finish off the flap.

I picked up stitches across the front of the body towards the bottom, and reverse stockinette knitted a pocket for the headphones, making sure to end it with three rows of seed stitch. I then seamed both sides of the pocket.

I left a 1 1/2" opening on the bottom of the body so the USB cable could be plugged in without removing the iPod by just seaming the corners of the bottom, leaving the middle open.

I did attach a really cool button, though. It's bronze, and looks like a cross between a star and a shell - two of the things Ron collects and prominently displays in his home. One accidental benefit of the button placement is that it sits right over the play/pause button, so if the iPod is being used while in the cover, just press the big bronze button to pause or play.















Voila! - an custom iPod cover is born.

These pictures don't do it justice, but alas, those are the limitations of a cameraphone. It really is much nicer than it appears in the pics. In the first image, it looks a bit messy, but that pic was taken when the cover was empty - the iPod fills it out and squares it off. Also, in the tall image, the iPod is pushed up a bit so you can see it - normally it's hidden inside. The horizontal one is taken "fully loaded" and closed - the bump in height is caused by the headphones tucked into the pocket.

By the way, please ignore the Scottie Original tag which appears so prominently in the 2nd pic - the explanation for that will be in a future post - one that I'm really looking forward to writing.

I'll keep you posted.