Finally, a Ta-Da and a knee

Here it is, finally. My hodge-podge of a DIY project is done, and it’s a—tablet cover!!

Not the best picture and actually not as necessary now, since my sweet sister bought me the cover/bluetooth keyboard for my Lenovo Yoga tablet.

However, since I added a pen/stylus clip and a pocket to hold the cleaning cloth, the crochet cover has its uses. Plus, I won’t always want to use the keyboard, so keeping it in this cover will give it a bit of protection.

It was a fun little project, with only some minor problems due to my totally winging this. It is made out of Serenity Garden Yarn, and a wood button I bought once upon a time and can’t remember what the original purpose was for. This isn’t really a tutorial, as I had intended to follow a pattern I KNOW I have but cannot find, so I made it up as I went along and took some pictures along the way.

I started with a chain about 1/2-inch or so longer than my tablet. Then I started using the Bosnian stitch, or slip stich back loop only, around the chain. I added about three stitches at each end of the chain, and then just worked in a spiral. I worked the Bosnian stitch about an inch up the side of the tablet, and then I switched to waistcoat stitch.

I like waistcoat stitch and it makes a nice, sturdy knitted look. The striping in the yarn showed up very nicely with it also. Below are a few pictures I took and an explanation, or you can hop on over to A Crochet Journey for a far better tutorial on waistcoat stitch.

The first pic is just point out where the stich will be made. The working loop is the pale pink on the hook, and I’ve slid the hook under the two vertical bars of the next stitch to show you where to work.

The hook will actually go from the front to the back THROUGH the vertical bars.  Then yarn over and pull the loop through the bars to the front,

and complete the single crochet. Very easy.

When the cover was long enough for my tab, I bound off and then joined the yarn to the top edge to add a flap. I used single crochet and a bit of waistcoat stitch that didn’t work as well, and just eyeballed the decreases until I liked it. I then single crocheted all around the top edge. There should have been a few more rows at the end because the button is so large, so I’ll watch that the next time.

I added the pen loop and then a pocket. I used Tunisian knit stitch to make the pocket so to join I just started pulling up loops across the back and did a standard Tunisian return pass

And it’s done! Except, well, now I went and splurged on this impressive bag ( I have a good reason). And I selected it for two three reasons: they’ve added a padded tablet pocket; and I should be able to carry my normal purse stuff, plus my crochet and lunch and maybe my camera if needed; and it can be worn on one shoulder or cross-body style. And the reason I need to be able to carry my life in my bag is that come the first part of March, I will be getting my very own, brand-spanking new, shiny titanium knee. Yep, one of my knees is giving up the ghost thanks to the genetic cesspool I’ve apparently inherited, and it’s time to upgrade. And since the recovery/rehab (aka torture) period requires me to use a walker for 4 to 6 weeks, I need a hands-free option. Probably won’t have my lunch in it, since I won’t be working for at least a month. On the positive side, I’ve had at least two different patients tell me they spent the first two weeks post surgery wondering why they ahd it, and by week six they were wondering why they hadn’t done surgery sooner. So it WILL be worth it!