awkwardly

Thursday

Crochet Pattern for CD Player Case or "Cozy"

I bought a more or less circular personal CD player. If you were measuring the dimensions, you could think of it as a very squat cylinder. A circle a little larger than a CD, with a height of about one inch. The crochet case needs to be a slightly larger squat cylinder extending from a circle. Your CD player might be larger or smaller than mine. Try using more or fewer rows to the circle shapes if necessary, and hold your CD player up to the circles as you go to see if it's going to be big enough or too small. You'll be able to stretch it a little bit to fit the CD player inside, but don't count on a lot of forgiveness.

I used a size J hook, 5.75 to 6.00 mm and medium yarn (number 4). Whether you use cotton, acrylic or some other type of yarn is a matter of personal preference. One skein of yarn would probably make 3-4 of these cases or more.

Main part of the case
1. Ch 2. 6 SC in first CH (6)
2. INC around (12)
3. Repeat (1 SC, INC) around (18)
4. Repeat (2 SC, INC) around (24)
5. Repeat (3 SC, INC) around (30)
6. Repeat (4 SC, INC) around (36)
7. Repeat (5 SC, INC) around (42)
8. Repeat (6 SC, INC) around (48)
9. Repeat (7 SC, INC) around (54)
10. Repeat (8 SC, INC) around (60)
11. Repeat (9 SC, INC) around (66)
12-16. 66 SC around. (66)
Leaving a few inches of tail, cut and tie off. 

Lid
1. Ch 2. 6 SC in first CH (6)
2. INC around (12)
3. Repeat (1 SC, INC) around (18)
4. Repeat (2 SC, INC) around (24)
5. Repeat (3 SC, INC) around (30)
6. Repeat (4 SC, INC) around (36)
7. Repeat (5 SC, INC) around (42)
8. Repeat (6 SC, INC) around (48)
9. Repeat (7 SC, INC) around (54)
10. Repeat (8 SC, INC) around (60)
11. Repeat (9 SC, INC) around (66)
Leaving a few inches of tail, cut and tie off. 

The finished lid is actually a hexagon with blunted corners that make it similar to a circle. You can see the six corners at points where there were INC stitches. Try to line up the top and bottom circles by those corners, but it shouldn't matter too much if they're not aligned. Attach the lid to the open top of the case with 40 slip stitches and tie it off. This will leave 26 stitches along the lid and the main part of the case not attached, which is the opening to slip the CD player into. 

You could add a button to one side and a small loop to close it. I used a paperclip stuck through top and bottom stitches, then got sick of it and left it open.

Cases and Cozies for Everything

The basic idea for this case is easy to adjust. I use the same strategy to make cases for cell phones or tablets or anything with a simple shape. I start by making a piece shaped like the bottom of the item to be encased. For a cell phone that's .3" x 3" at the bottom and 5" high, I make a rectangle the same size as the bottom of the phone, .3" x 3". If you learned to crochet by making squares or dish clothes (i.e. squares), then you can probably improvise a rectangle of whatever size. Crochet one row that's as wide as the shape you need (3"). Then add rows of the same length until you have a square or rectangle matching the bottom of your device.

After that you crochet "in the round" to build a cylinder upwards from that bottom shape. Count the number of stitches around each side of the square or rectangle. Add that number of stitches around the square or rectangle. It can't keep widening the shape unless you're increasing the number of stitches in that next row. By keeping to the same number of stitches, it has nowhere to go but up. Continuing to add rows with the same number of stitches will create a kind of tube or cylinder that extends up from your square at the base. If you know how to crochet a circle or oval, then you can count the number of stitches around your final row of the circle and add that same number for each ongoing round, to create a cylinder.

For a cell phone or tablet, I leave the end open, so the case is more like a "sleeve" that it fits in. For something with a wider opening, crochet a separate piece that matches your bottom square or rectangle or circle. Attach one edge of this separate piece and add a button so it can be closed. If you're not sure how to create a button hole, you can use a few chain stitches to create a loop that will fit over the button.