Saturday, February 25, 2012

Rosalie's Knit iPad Case


I love my mom very much. She loves the colorwork that I do, but since she lives in Florida she has no need for hats or mittens. We thought for a long time about a project that would work well for her, and finally settled on designing an iPad cover with a zipper closure.


The dimensions of the Generation 1 iPad are 9.56 in (243 mm) (h), 7.47 in (190 mm) (w), .5 in (13 mm) (d). Mom requested the case be a little bigger than the iPad to make it fit loosely. If you want a tighter fit, then you can achieve this by adjusting your gauge.

Materials

  • MC: 2 balls KnitPicks WOTA Coal (50 g/ball; 58 g consumed in this project) Note: KnitPicks just released new colors of Chroma, including Black and Gray. Next time I would choose one of these as the MC in stead of Wool of the Andes.
  • CC: 1 ball KnitPicks Chroma Worsted in Galapagos (100g/ball; 34g in this project)
  • Size 6 round knitting needles, or size needed to obtain gauge.
  • 12" Zipper (I would err on the side of getting a zipper too large and then letting some of the end hang into the case.)
  • Yarn needle to weave in loose ends
  • Sewing needle and Black thread to sew the zipper onto the case.
  • Gauge: A gague of 22 sts/4 inches; 18 rows/3 inches will give an iPad case that is 10" x 8". I purposely knit this case looser so it would be larger per my mother's request. I knit this case with 20 sts/4 inch; 15 rows/ 3 inch for final dimnesions of 11.5x 9.5 inches.
  • Finished Size: depends on gauge (see above)

The Chart

The chart is 49 rows x 112 stitches. Click on the link to open the chart in a new window to view it larger. This chart is also available as a downloadable PDF so you can get better resolution.


The Pattern
  • Cast on 112 stitches in MC (If you did a long tail cast-on this can count as row 1 of the chart)
  • Start the chart, working from the bottom up, right to left. (49 rows).
  • Bind off knitwise.
  • Finishing: Loosely stitch the base of the case together, making sure to align the two different sides properly. Tip, I basted up the sides of the case with the right side out, and then flipped it inside out to sew up the bottom. This made sure that I stitched the bottom closed in the correct orientation.

    The case, before (left) and after (right) sewing the bottom closed.

  • Weave in all loose ends.
  • If necessary, lightly felt the case if you need to reduce the size.
  • Block the iPad case, then sew in the zipper. Tip: Pin the zipper to the bind off edge to the first size zipped close, then unzip the zipper to pin it to the other size. Test opening and closing the zipper to make sure it is aligned correctly before you start sewing it on.

Other Pictures From the Construction:

I ran out of yarn with 3.5 rows to go. :( I thought I had more coal WOTA around, but I guess I was mistaken.


Where I was in the iPad case when I ran out of coal WOTA.

To block the case, I just pinned the top edge closed and laid it flat to dry.

Blocking will help the curling edges.

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Abbreviations Used in this pattern:
Kfb - increase by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch.
M1 (Make 1)- increase stitch by picking up yarn between two stitches, twisting and knitting.
K - knit
P - purl
I-cord - knit stitches on dpn's without ever turning the needle (effectively knitting in the round with a small number of stitches.)
SSK - decrease by slipping two stitches then knitting them together. Alternatively, you could slip one stitch, knit one stitch and pass slipped stitch over.
K2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.

This knitting pattern was created by ChemKnits for your personal or charity use. You are not to sell, to distribute or reprint this pattern without the permission of ChemKnits. © 2012 ChemKnits