Birthday Present

Look at my new toy! It's DH's (belated) birthday gift to me. I knew that it would need charging when I open it and was I thinking this would take several hours. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it took under an hour. It's not as if I actually measured how long it took.

So what did I get?

A box:

This is what I found when I opened this little black box. Here are all the contents, with the exception of the dollar bill which I threw into the photo for sizing purposes:

There are 2 white Apple stickers. I remember when they had multicolored striped stickers. I might still have some some where, in a box. There is also documentation & quick start guide, although not really necessary since it's pretty self-explanatory with the exception of two plastic pieces which I have not yet discovered their purpose. That would be the transparent square piece at the upper right (above the earbuds) and the white rectangular-ish piece at the lower left. Any ideas what these are? The black thing on the right side is a cleaning cloth. The white cable to the left of the iPod is the USB cable that connects between iPod and computer; the iPod charges while it is connected to your computer.

It's still shiny. No fingerprints yet. Now I'm thinking about knitting a "sock" for my iPod Touch. I'm thinking of cables on the front side. Why? Because cables make a thicker fabric. I figure that this would offer slightly more "padded" protection for the screen. I do have some sock yarn which has been sitting around for years. And it's purple! My favorite color!

So I sat down, pushed some wool around some needles and out popped this:

Pattern: Four-Rib Braid iPod Touch Sock (pseudo-pattern below)
Yarn: Sock It To Me 4 Ply
Needles: 2.75 mm (US2)

I've had a post-it flag on BW2 pg 177 for quite some time now because I liked the Four-Rib Braid pattern. I'm really surprised that Miss M hasn't yet pulled this sticky out. She usually pulls out any post-its I have protruding from my books. I've gotten into sticking them on the page, without them protruding, which usually works out better until she happens to see them when I'm flipping through a book. Anyhow this one survived and I was reminded of the pattern as I turned to it. It is a cable panel (what else would it be?) that seemed about the right width using sock weight yarn. So I decided to use this for my iPod Touch sock and converted the row-by-row intsructions for knitting in the round cuz there is no way I am going to do any seaming if I can avoid it. I am excessively lazy when it comes to that. Oh, if this cable pattern looks familiar, it's because I had also used it in my 3rd Cable Bag. :-)

I did cast on 40 stitches for my iPod Touch sock, but then reduced it to 39 after working the K2P2 ribbing. This really isn't necessary, I just wanted my sock to be a wee bit snugger. Now you're probably wondering how I divided my stitches onto 2 needles before grafting. I just put 19 stitches in front (I slipped 1 purl stitch from Needle 3 onto Needle 1 and slipped 1 purl stitch from Needle 2 to Needle 1, so that the 17-stitch cable pattern would be centered) and 20 stitches in the back. And while grafting, I worked 2 stitches from the back needle as one.

Even though I made my iPod Touch sock snug, I can still slip the earbuds (on the backside, cuz I don't want to scratch up the front screen) inside the sock when not in use.

I do love how the iPod Touch connections are all located at one side (viz. the bottom) as this allows me to keep the iPod Touch inside the sock while I have the USB cable or ear buds connected. It would have been trickier to create a sock for my older 4th generation iPod where the earbuds connected at the top and the USB cable connected at the bottom.

This is a simple no-frills sock with a simple cable pattern slapped onto the front side. I thought about shaping the end before grafting and then decided it wouldn't make much difference to me.




Here's an outline of how I made this iPod Touch sock:

Four-Rib Braid iPod Touch Sock
© Designed by S.M. Kahn, May 2008
Smariek Knits -=<>=- http://smariek.blogspot.com

YARN, NEEDLE & GAUGE:

Sock-It-To-Me Essential 4-Ply

2.75 mm (US2) Double Point Needles
(or other needles of your choice for knitting in the round)

My gauge was in the neighborhood of 7.5 stitches per inch. However you can cast on more or less stitches to make size adjustments to fit your MP3 player.

NOTES:

K = Knit

P = Purl

CB4 = Slip 2 stitches onto CN and hold in back. K2. Then K2 from CN.

CF4 = Slip 2 stitches onto CN and hold in front. K2. Then K2 from CN.

BPC = Slip 1 stitch onto CN and hold in back. K2. P1 from CN.

FPC = Slip 2 stitches onto CN and hold in front. P1. K2 from CN.

TB5 = Slip 3 stitches onto CN and hold in back. K2. Slip the purl stitch from CN back to left-hand needle and purl it. Then K2 from CN.

TF5 = Slip 3 stitches onto CN and hold in front. K2. Slip the purl stitch from CN back to left-hand needle and purl it. Then K2 from CN.

This is how I made my iPod Touch Sock which fits my iPod Touch whose dimensions are 21 cm long (4 3/8 in) and 14 cm around (5.5 in). You can cast on more stitches to make a larger sock (such as 44 sts or 48 sts so that the K2P2 ribbing still applies).


PATTERN INSTRUCTIONS:

Cast on 40 stitches, divide stitches onto three needles, and join into round.

Work K2, P2 ribbing for 8 rounds.

Begin cable pattern:

Round 1, 3, 9, 11: (P2, K2) twice, P1, (K2, P2) twice, knit to end of round
Round 2: P2, K2, P2, TB5, P2, K2, P2, knit to end of round
Round 4, 12: P2, FPC, BPC, P1, FPC, BPC, P2, knit to end of round
Round 5, 7, 13, 15: P3, (K4, P3) twice, knit to end of round
Round 6, 14: P3, CB4, P3, CF4, P3, knit to end of round
Round 8, 16: P2, BPc, FPC, P1, BPC, PPC, P2, knit to end of round
Round 10: P2, K2, P2, TF5, P2, K2, P2

Work Rounds 1 to 16 of cable pattern, three times total.
(Or work Rounds 1 to 16 until sock reaches desired length)

Divide stitches onto 2 needles and graft them (kitchener or 3-needle bind off).
Note: You should divide stitches onto front & back needles in such a way that the cable pattern will be centered before you graft.

Weave in ends.

Stitches used in this scarf include:
Knit-Two Purl-Two Ribbing, BW1 pg 39
Four-Rib Braid, BW2 pg 177
Stockinette Stitch, BW1 pg 10


.