People love their iPhones, but the cases for them often feel industrial and cold, not a good match for what people actually feel for their electronic babies.
This knitted case uses a soy-wool blend and a silvery silk yarn to make a carrier that feels good in the hand, fastens shut securely with no buttons or clasps to scratch, and is thick enough to offer real protection.
Patons SWS is a wonderful yarn that can felt up to about a centimetre. I combine it with the non-felting Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (colour 020). The Patons shrinks and felts, crinkling the Debbie Bliss, giving it a boucle effect.
Materials:
-One skein SWS Patons Natural Garden
-One skein Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, colour 020
-4.5 needles, straight or circular
-5.0 DPNs (only two needed)
-One medium-sized tapestry needle
-Felting equipment: washing machine, detergent, old jeans or old, previously washed, sneakers (that you're certain won't bleed colour in the wash), tennis balls, and possibly an enamel or glass pot
-One third of a pack of index cards wrapped in cellophane to help shape the case as it dries (optional)
Skills:
-Doubling up two balls of yarn
-Garter stitch
-False-rib stitch (described below - requires knowing how to slip a stitch)
-Decreases
-Button-hole
-Binding off
-I-cord
-Felting
It takes about four to six hours to knit, then at least one pass through the washer to felt - it shouldn't need more than three. The case takes two days to dry.
What's fun is that you felt the I-cord along with the case, in effect making one long attached dreadlock. The felted I-cord has enough friction that you can secure the case by wrapping it around the case and tucking it under itself.
This project takes less than a skein each of the Patons SWS and the Debbie Bliss. So I suggest first knitting a 20 x 15 stitch swatch in the false-rib stitch, then felting it in your dryer. Shrinkage on SWS Patons ranges from 15 to 20 per cent. Block and measure your swatch before and after, to see what your method gives you - every washer and every pot seems to felt differently. However, if you've felted before, or are simply brave, there's a good chance it will work if you wing it.
I throw my felting projects into the washing machine on hot with an old pair of jeans and three tennis balls. Other people use sneakers, but make sure they're a pair you know won't bleed in the wash. Sometimes in addition to washing, I'll boil my felting projects in a glass or enamel pot for 45 minutes (with SWS Patons, this will significantly lighten the colour).
There's a lot of wiggle-room with this pattern, but if your swatch felts near 15 per cent, use the 33 stitch. If it felts near to 20 per cent, use the 31 stitch alternative.
1) (Optional) Double up the Patons and the Debbie Bliss and cast off on 4.5 needles. Make a 20 x 15 stitch swatch in false rib (see step four). Block the swatch and measure it, then felt the swatch and measure it again. Calculate the amount of shrinkage.
2) On the 4.5 needles, cast on 33 or 31 stitches, depending on how your swatch felted. If you aren't sure, use 33.
3) Knit five rows in garter stitch
