New pattern - will need a stitch guide

I am finally getting round to putting together the pattern for my kindle cover ..

I have used some "aran" style crochet to make this. When I started to crochet I never knew that you could do this sort of thing with  hook - I thought aran was the preserve of knitters.

For my cover I use  a sort of roaming cable, that drifts back and to across the front ....

And a sort of vines & berries pattern on the back

I've started writing out the pattern, but without photographs of what I mean by a "front post double crochet worked in front of the previously  missed stitch" its going to be almost unintelligible !

I think that this is providing me with the perfect opportunity to create a proper stitch guide that I can add to all my patterns & also include here.

Hopefully next update will be to say the pattern is finished & I have a full (or at least the start of) my stitch guide.

Kindle Cover

I got a kindle for Christmas and I decided to put my skills to good use and create a cover for it.  It gave me a great excuse to try out some cable stitches I've been wanting to crochet.

I created it using Anchor Style Creativa100% cotton yarn, its DK weight.  This yarn comes in wonderfully vibrant colours, I've done the front side in bright red and the back in lime green.

For the front I worked drunken cables, they wander back and forward across the work.

And for the back I worked some linked bobbles.



The back needed to be worked a little longer so that it creates a flap to cover the top of my kindle, it also has a couple of little button holes worked near the top edge.

I very rarely block my work, but as you can see from the pictures above I needed to this time.  The drunken cables tends to pull the sides in and out along with the wondering of the cables.

I blocked them by soaking in cold water for around 20 minutes, then rolling them in a towel to remove excess water.  Then I pin them out to the shape and size I wanted and leave them to dry naturally and completely.

In my case because these are relatively small pieces of work I pinned them out on my ironing board.

Once they were completely dry I backed them with felt.  I sew them using a bobbin thread that matches the yarn colour and a sewing thread that matches the felt.



I also sew around the button holes and cut through the felt. 



The last things to do is sew the front and back together





...... and add the buttons.  I added a couple of little flower buttons with crystal centers just for a little glam.



Now my kindle has a cosy new home.