What do you knit for a very Geeky man (I say that affectionately) who has everything knitted he wants and a couple of items over that requirement?

“Nothing!” I hear you cry, “Knit  for yourself!”

Hmmmm…that might work but I’m a generous soul….some people even call me “pushy”…

“You need a lovely scarf now the weather is turning cold” says Susan, jealously remembering the lovely Alpaca scarf her friend Anita is making for her husband.

“No I don’t!” says Ben. “I’ll look like an pillock in a scarf and I’d probably loose it anyway – then you’d kill me.”

Hmm…he has a point… I would kill him if he lost a lovingly hand crafted scarf!

At this point Susan sulks – her generosity has been rejected.

Ben redeems himself…

“Honey…would you knit me something? I need a cover for my new Ipaq smartphone, PDA, gadgetty thing? ”

This is the beast requiring dressing..

Ben had exacting requirements – mainly based on the rejection of the commercially available cases for PDAs which are garish, franchised and double the size and weight of the carefully designed phone:-

• It must be stretchy and grip the phone.
• It must fit snugly.
• It must not be bulky.
• It must reach to the top of the phone but not enclose it.
• It must not have big seams.
• It must be plain and totally devoid of embellishment.
• It must be a “blokey” colour – preferably black.

Gulp – could I stand the excitement? 😉

Hmmm. Black you say? I have some black Jaeger Siena…

After a couple of false starts, I ended up with a tube of K1, P1 rib in Jaeger Siena (Mercerised 4 ply cotton) on 2.5mm dpns. I used a longtail cast on (so it would be stretchy) and had decreased halfway down the tube so it was more “grippy at the base. I  carefully shaped the corners to match the phones gentle curves. I’d then grafted the bottom edge with Kitchener stitch.

This was it…

Inspiring huh?

Ben was really pleased! He used the “phone cosy” all the time (the best compliment) and even showed his colleagues. His geeky colleagues were impressed and even uttered the evil phrase that haunts us hand knitters, “You could sell these!” If they understood the cost in materials and time and skill they would never say that.

Then it went a bit wrong.

I  had made a blunder choosing cotton. Cotton doesn’t have much “memory”. When it stretches, it stays stretched. Ben’s phone cosy was getting saggy and baggy. Not the right look for the Geeky executive about town!

Ben looked at me imploringly (using techniques learnt from Thug and Mewsley). How could I refuse to make Mk2 Phone cosy?

This time I consulted my stash for a yarn that would be “sproingy” when knit into a rib. I also needed a blokey colour.

The winner of the stash trawl was a part ball of Rowan 4 ply soft (100% Merino wool) left over from making Eveleen in a very dark, bluey grey.

I decided this was the best excuse to use my new Lantern Moon 2.25mm Sox Stix to make the gauge a bit tighter. I also abandoned the “decrease halfway down” idea – it just looked bad and didn’t really help grip.

Here’s my final pattern:-

Materials

2.25mm dpns

1/4 ball Rowan 4 ply soft

Pattern

Cast on 52 stitches using long tail cast on.

Knit in the round in K1, P1 rib for 11cm.

Shape corners:

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K21,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K19 (48 st)

Next row: K1, P1 rib (matching knits and purls to existing rib)

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K19,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K17 (44st)

Next row: K1, P1 rib (matching knits and purls to existing rib)

Next row: k2togtbl, K1,K2tog, K17,k2togtbl, K1,K2tog,K15 (40st)

Divide remaining stitches between two needles with decreases at the ends and kitchener stitch together.

Darn in ends.

Want to see the finished beast?

Lovingly Kitchenered base?

“Half dressed” shot

Ben is really pleased ! 😀