iSpangled

Skill level: Intermediate Skills required: Cast on, Cast off, Knit, Purl, Change yarn at end of row, Change yarn mid-row, Simple crochet stitches, dc (sc in USA) You will need: Pair of 4.5mm straight needles 3.5mm crochet hook DK weight yarn approx 50g each - Red (A), White (B), Blue (C) suitable for flag colours. 1x25g ball of Twilley's Goldfingering in Gold for the crochet edging 50x5mm star sequins. I used silver.

Gauge: 19sts x 28rows = 10cmx10cm(approx 4") Stocking Stitch

Start here:
Front. With 4.5mm needles, CO 45sts using A.
Rows 1 - 3 = knit

Stripe Pattern
Change to yarn B, carrying yarn A along edge, 4 - knit 5- purl 6 - knit 7 - purl Change back to yarn A, carrying yarn B along edge 8 - knit 9 - knit 1

10 - knit 11 - knit Change back to yarn B, carrying yarn A along edge Continue with stripe pattern as set until you have 3 stripes each of yarn A and B ending with a purl row in yarn B. (23 rows total so far)

Still carrying both yarns A and B along edge of work, continue as follows; Row 24 - With yarn A, knit 27sts,drop yarn A, introduce yarn C and knit the remaining 18sts 25 - With C purl 18sts, then knit 27sts with yarn A 26 - A x K27, C x K18 27 - C x P18, A x K27

Next stripe will begin with yarn B 28 - B x K27, C x K18 29 - C x P18, B x P27 30 - B x K27, C x K18 31 - C x P18, B x P27 Continue in stripe pattern as set. Repeating rows 24-31 twice more. You should now have 3 of each red and white stripe with the blue corner almost complete.

Secure yarn B as you will no longer need to carry it. Last stripe begins with yarn A 48 - A x K27, C x K18 49 - C x P18, A x K27 50 - A x K27, C x K18 Approx measurement 25.5cm x17.5cm unblocked and still on needles. 2

Row

51 - Cast off loosely continuing colour pattern (27 sts in Red and 18 sts in Blue)

Front complete. Sew in all ends. With 3.5mm crochet hook and Gold yarn dc (sc in USA) around entire edge of front.

Back.
With yarn C, CO 45 sts. Starting with a K row continue in St St until piece measures same as Front. Approx 50 rows.

Cast off loosely. Block both pieces.

Difference in size when joined as will give extra room for hard case or other iPad accessories. With your chosen sequins, sew on all 50 with appropriate sewing thread ( I used an 'invisible' thread bought from my local haberdashery store). Make sure that the arrangement of the sequins is similar to the arrangement on a 'real' American flag. 5 rows of 6 stars alternating 4 rows of 5 stars.

To make up.
With wrong sides facing and yarn C, secure the corners of the pieces together. A simple stitch or two will suffice. Make sure these secured stitches are below the gold edging on the Front and are not visible on the right sides. Once all four corners are tacked in place, pin pieces together along both long sides and only the short side opposite the stars. With gold yarn and 3.5mm hook, join pieces together using evenly spaced dc (sc in USA).

When you reach the short side not pinned together continue the dc edging along solid blue side only. This creates a neat opening to your cover/cozy.

Sew in all ends and adorn with a military inspired button if desired.

I have written this pattern exactly the way I made my iSpangled . The photos are true representations of the orignal iSpangled I made. Alternate pattern suggestions. For more equal stripes you could use st st throughout the stripe pattern instead of garter st for the red or reversed st st if you want to keep the textures different. This would increase the finished measurements slightly. If you did not wish the crochet an edging you could just sew together with a suitable thread yarn.

Feel free to personalise your iSpangled in any way you desire. I must ask however that you do not alter my pattern in any way and only use this pattern for personal use. Any errors or comments should be sent to me directly at this email address lady.s.j.birch@googlemail.com