Cabled iPad cover

I made a sewn cover out of recycled red denim jeans in the past, but was never really comfortable using it because I felt that it could scratch the screen.  Which meant that I always wrapped it in a piece of cotton t-shirt fabric before putting it in the cover.  Sort of defeated the purpose...

I had seen pictures of knit or crocheted covers, but it wasn't till I saw a pic of a cabled tablet cover made from cotton yarn that I thought - this is it.  Cotton yarn is soft, so no scratching, and cables are thick and more cushiony.  And I happened to have some aran weight cotton yarn that I got at a fabric/yarn sale that I went to at a Church that was fundraising for a charity.  It was green, and I got 10 balls for $5.00!  The only thing was that is green I like, but not one that I wear, so I wasn't sure what I'd make out of it.  This was the perfect project.

Naturally the patterns are never exactly what I want, and my tablet was not the same size as the tablets the pattern were designed for, so I wound up making my own pattern to fit my tablet, and to match the gauge of my yarn, which wasn't the same as the yarn the pattern called for.  

I also found the perfect buttons in my button stash.  And it took less than one 50 gm ball of the yarn (Willow Yarns - Meadow).    There is definitely something to be said for making your own design.  Especially for something small and square or rectangular.  It's an easy way to try out designing for yourself.

I still have several balls left but have started knitting kitchen hand towels out of leftover cotton yarn, and I will use the rest for that.

Upcycled Red Shoes

I make a practise of visiting used clothing stores, especially when they are having a good sale, for used leather clothing which I upcycle - usually into the uppers of hand made shoes.  Here is my most recent pair...

The colour red is hard to change, at least in my computer's photo editing, so these shoes are actually a deeper burgundy colour than shows in these pics.   This is leather from a used woman's red leather jacket.  I lined them with chrome free pigskin, and on the floor of the shoe you can see the fuzziness of lambskin.  I bought the lambskin totally on a whim, thinking I could line a pair of boots with it, but I have to say that it is lovely underfoot.  Especially walking on the concrete floors at my place of work.

The ties are made with leather from the same jacket.  As always, I can think of something I will do differently next time.  Part of the fun of the process....