I added some tweaks to improve my I-Pad Cozy. I use my I-Pad to read while I am knitting. In the past I've had to search old fat books with loose bindings that would lay flat but with the I-Pad that is all old problems from the distant past. I wanted to make the I-Pad cozy reading friendly and figure out a way to use it to prop things at the perfect reading angle. This is the result. I added these little corners and also added a flap to close the top of the envelope and to hold the roll that creates the prop for the optimum reading angle. The pattern for the cozy is available on Ravelry and you can click through by going to the pattern page here. This is what it looks like without the I-Pad, but with the sleeve rolled and the closing flap buttoned down to secure the roll. This pattern uses Peacefleece worsted yarn and a size 6 needle. I also used Peacefleece buttons to secure the flap. The colors of this yarn are rich, heathery and beautiful and the wool makes the texture of the cozy cushiony and delightful to touch. If you button the flap the other way it closes the top of the case and makes everything nice and secure. It completely enhances my knitting and reading experience, and just when I thought it couldn't possibly be any better.
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I wanted to try out some of the slipped stitch patterns I was researching for my Color Knitting Class at OLLI, so I pulled a couple of balls of leftover worsted weight wool in interesting colors, grabbed the tiny little bit of red that might prove useful somehow, and cast on. This is the result. This is knit in one long piece which is then folded in half, bound off with an I-Cord bind off on the edges to join the sides, and then used again for the red corded finish at the top of the I-Pad Cozy. There are two different slip stitch patterns used here. One of the beauties of slip stitch patterns is that you only knit with one color at a time. It gives a very interesting fabric structure....sort of thick and nubbly and cushy...the perfect thing to protect your I-Pad. I also sewed in a linen lining, which could easily include a small inside pocket. And, as you can see in this picture, it is possible to roll one end of the cozy to prop up your screen at a nice angle for reading. The I-Cord bind off makes a perfect rolled ridge to hold the edge. This works even though this table is very smooth and the I-Pad itself is slippery. I will be providing the pattern shortly. Here is Salem, multitasking in the Studio. She is cleaning the drum carder with that wire brush in her right hand, and she is also graciously modeling Devan's Pink Hat. Devan is back at Bennington and so her head is unavailable for modeling. This hat is knit from a blend of alpaca, silk, and Bella's white wool which was dyed a really bright pink. Blending on the drum carder with the white alpaca/silk and some peachy merino got us this specific color. Devan was quite particular about the color....a pink that wasn't too purple, nor too peachy. Also Dev is quite sensitive to scratchiness in wool so the blend with alpaca and silk helped to ameliorate that. Once the fiber was all carded together I spun it up at roughly a worsted weight (2 ply) on my trusty Ashford and knit it according to the directions for Ann's Red Hat. I am including a picture of it before I felted it to give you an idea of how the hat looks at this interim stage. Not too promising is it? It is best when you are going to felt, particularly if you are going to felt with handspun, to knit up a swatch and throw it in your washing machine to see what happens. I got a 20% shrinkage, from 5 sts/inch to 4 sts/inch. The felting also changed the texture quite a bit, from this really open loose knitting to a lovely thick tweedy felt. The felting process also raised the halo of the alpaca which you can glimpse here at the very top of the hat. See that fuzziness? The embroidery is done with left over bits of sock yarn before folding up and sewing down the facing. I thought you would like to see how fetching the hat is in pink.....I'm seriously thinking about making one in purple for me. In the meantime I'm shipping it off to Devan today as her early birthday present. Hopefully she'll be able to wear it a couple of times before spring comes to Vermont. My son Blake took this picture this morning at Bintliff's, where we meet for breakfast once a week or so. As you can see what came off the blocking board is really more of a handkerchief style scarf than a shawl. I am finding it surprisingly useful wrapped around my shoulder or neck in chilly inside corners or outside under my coat. You can see that it is actually made with three different colors, although the colors are not drastically different. If you are the kind of person who buys one lonely skein of some irresistible yarn, or who spins up 4 oz of irresistible fiber which results in odd lots of handspun sitting around in the stash this scarf/shawl is an excellent project for you. The pattern is now posted under patterns and through Ravelry. It is free!!! These are pictures of one hat, Ann's Red Hat, on several heads. This picture is Ann's Red Hat on my lovely and cooperative daughter, Devan. The pattern can be uploaded at Ravelry or at etsy where you can also get some of the yarn I used to make it. Ann made the original hat herself from a pattern that I designed for her. Unfortunately it was tucked in the sleeve of her coat when it was stolen a couple of weeks ago. She was waaay too sad to make it again herself so I made this one for her. It is knit from a hand dyed red alpaca/wool blend. The green edging is the same blend, also a hand dye. After it was knit up I washed it in my front loader with some towels and, when it wasn't quite small enough, tossed it into the dryer for 15 minutes. One hour later I remembered it and went to check. It was perfect!! Evidently my karma is very good, unlike the karma of whatever scofflaw took Ann's original Red Hat. I then did the embroidery with scraps of sock yarn and tossed in a little needle felting to fill in the flowers and leaves. I was so happy with the results that I took it with me to my Tuesday spinning group for Show and Tell. They all decided that showing and telling were insufficient and felt that showing, telling, and modeling would be better. This is a picture of Roberta in the hat. You can tell that this modeling thing is not new to her. And this is my friend Margaret who came with me to the lunch meeting. She is looking out the glass doors into Beatrice's expansive and beautiful back yard....perhaps looking for glimpses of the sheep. We quite often have our monthly lunch meetings at Beatrice's house where the soup is excellent and served in Beatrice's own handmade pottery bowls. She is a woman with many, many talents and a very generous character. And here is a picture of Beatrice herself in Ann's Red Hat. Where is a picture of Ann herself in the Red Hat? That is a very good question. I took the hat home with me that night and gave it to Ann at the Tuesday Night Knitting Class but mid-winter evenings in Maine are really dark. If Ann comes to one of the Monday lunch time classes I'll try to get a picture of her in it and add it to the queue. |
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