Two more finished projects

The scarf is finished!I finished the scarf of the Pendragon wool. I love, love, love the way it turned out. It's about seven feet long, and about eight to 10 inches wide. I used a wavy ripple pattern from "The Crochet Stitch Bible" by Betty Barnden.

I wanted some kind of fringe on it, but not traditional. So I used a chain stitch fringe. It adds just a nice finishing touch. I think the stitch pattern really let the colorway show through and set it off without being too intricate to take away from it.

And it matches my coat perfectly! It's long enough that I can wrap it and tuck it, wear it loosely if it's cold at work, and I love the colors. Love it, love it!

Then, while I was at SnB on Thursday night, one of the gals showed me this great Noro yarn, Noro Daria in color no. 2 (red/olive/magenta) and she had just stitched together a small case for her mp3 player in another color. I listen to my iPod at work sometimes, but I have to set it on my keyboard tray. I get tangled in my headphones, or I knock the iPod off or whatever. So, I took her idea, bought a hank and made this handy iPod holder. I shaped it to fit my iPod mini.

I wanted something sturdy, but that still had some interest. So I single-crocheted the base of the pouch, then added a row of double crochet, a few more rows of single, another double, and finished off with a couple rows of single. The handle is a chain (125 chains), attached with a slip stitch on the other side and slip stitched back around to the other side.

I still wanted a little more finish, so after making the strap, I slip stitched around the top edge. I really like the extra bit of finishing it provides, and now I have a hands-free way to listen to my iPod while doing other things, and I can keep cords from interfering with whatever else I'm doing. Ta-da! And it came from my own mind, just using the size of my iPod as the determiner of size.