Tech-Cozy DIY

Hi everybody. Welcome to our live event. I'm Brenda Kaby Anderson. I'm a crochet designer, um, and a crochet teacher. Also, I do knitting and sewing and all kinds of other crafty things.

Um, I'm glad you guys are here. Hello, um. So today we're going to be talking about how to make a cozy for something like specifically technology, you know, you may have like a little handheld game or maybe you want to make something for a laptop, an iPad, your phone, you know, we all have these little gadgets we bring around with us and. It's nice to be able to throw them into a backpack or a bag or something like that and not have to worry about them banging into something or the cover opening up or you know your keys scratching the screen um so it's kind of nice to have like a little sleeve just to keep them in when you're if you're bringing them out and about with you, um, wherever you're going so. That's what this is about.

If you guys have questions, especially if you have something like you're thinking about making a cozy for but you're not really, maybe you have some specific needs for it, you know, throw that in there if you want any like suggestions on anything or if you have any questions about, you know, like how to make a flap to cover the top or how to, you know, just if you are having any questions like if you're thinking about anything and you're like, I wonder what it would be like to do this but I'm not really sure how to do that, then definitely put that in the chat. Um, so hopefully this can be kind of like a problem solving area for all of us, you know, we could just kind of talk about what we're working on and I can maybe help give you some suggestions. um, OK, so this whole thing started because there was, we had, um, a viewer who had asked for a pattern for a laptop or I think she said a, a tablet or a laptop sleeve and so I started. Working on that and researching and realizing that there are so many different sizes of these things, you know, I mean, I think, I mean I already knew that but I thought, uh. Am I gonna do am I gonna write up, you know, design a specific thing with maybe like a certain stitch pattern and then say if you want to alter it you have to do all these things and I thought, you know what, maybe I should just do a live event on like just being able to make it up as you go to fit whatever the thing is that you have.

So that's what this is going to be about because I feel like that's gonna be really useful. Um, to most people, you know, you might have something, you find a pattern for it, but it's not really the right size, and then you can't really use it. So, um, this is kind of more of a utilitarian, I guess tutorial, so you can make, make something that fits whatever whatever device that you need a cozy for. All right, so, um, yeah, so I had already been working on that a little bit and then my brother came over and he had this little handheld video game and let me pull this out. Actually, I don't even know what this is called.

So my brother had this and we were playing games on it and he, and then I can't remember what happened but um I was wandering around picking up stuff in my living room. I have kids and there's just a bunch of stuff around and I picked up uh like one of those um. I forget what they're called, but like the little pop mailer sleet like uh it's like a little bag and it's plastic and it's got the little air pocket things that protect stuff and I thought that it maybe came from one of my kids' toys or something like that and I just picked it up and I threw away um into the kitchen garbage which was you couldn't pull anything out of the kitchen garbage. So anyway. That happened and my brother's like, oh, where's my where's my sleeve for this?

And I was like, I don't know. And then basically I found out that he had been carrying this around in that little plastic thing and I thought, oh, come on, I can make you something. I mean, I threw away basically your protective covering for this. I'll I'll make you one. So, um.

So yeah, so that happened and I thought, OK, I'm gonna do a live event on this so that you know if other people want to make some cozies for their technology that they'll know how to do it. So one of the things that I learned when I was working on these types of projects is that I really like to use thicker yarns because I feel like it gives it that cushioniness. Now this will just sort of depend on. What it is that you're using it for, but to me when I'm making a cozy for technology, it's because I don't want it to get bumped, hit by something, scratched with keys, those sorts of things. I'm not actually these are not gonna protect it from, you know, anything that's wet like I would never put my water bottle inside my bag where my laptop is um it's not gonna protect it from anything like that but you know if if it's.

You know, I just wanted to make something that was nice and thick and cushy so that you know something bumped into it or hopefully you wouldn't drop it, but if you did drop it, it would help it a little bit more so I started using these types of t-shirt yarns for this project and I don't know if you guys watched my live events at like um. Um, I don't know, a few weeks ago I did two live events. One was how to make t-shirts, uh, how to how to make t-shirt yarn out of old t-shirts, and then the next live event, uh, 2 weeks later was how to make a basket out of that, um, out of that t-shirt yarn that we, we made in the previous um previous live events, so. That that was a great use of that type of yarn because when you crochet it up, it makes a really nice thick and sturdy and it doesn't get all super stretched out like some yarn does because when I've made a cozy before and I made this really lovely cable cozy, but it kind of stretched out a little bit after using it a lot um and I was like I want something that's a little bit like firmer and more like you can see this sleeve, it's pretty. It does not really floppy.

It doesn't, I mean, it can be floppy. That's not like it's not gonna work if it's floppy, but I just kind of liked having like a slightly stiffer cozy like that, um. Just because I felt like it was gonna really protect it if if I drop it or bump it or um yeah it doesn't kind of slouch around it so anyway that's where I'm going with this, this live event um but if you guys have questions and maybe you're thinking maybe you were thinking that oh I have this worst of weight yarn can't I make that into a cozy? You absolutely can and you can use the same techniques that I'm gonna be showing you here. It would just be like the stitches would be much smaller scale so it would certainly work though.

All right. So, um, so to start, and actually let me just mention kind of the difference between these two here before we start. Um, I really don't like putting like a hard closure like snap or uh a hard button or um a zip zippers are OK. I just wanted to avoid having Um, something that could either scratch a screen or get pressed up against it and hurt it in some way. So I was just kind of going for a softer, just a softer cozy, um, plus I didn't, I didn't really feel like going out to get a specific kind of closure, and I thought, well, I have yarn, I can make it closed somehow.

I could tie it or whatever. And so what I came up with was this method, which is you're crocheting it around and around and around and then on the last round, you just make this loop. And when you place it on, you just twist twist the loop like this and then you can pull it on over your project. It has to be just the perfect size so it closes it up for you and it'll keep it from falling out and that that was, um, this is the method that I have used um a few times now. And then I was making a phone cozy for my kid's friend.

Um, she always, whenever we go places together, she always hands me her phone because she never has pockets and I thought, OK, I'm gonna make her a pocket that she can wear. And so I made her this cozy for her phone and it's out of this interesting, it's called t-shirt yarn, but I don't know if you guys can hear this. But it is actually like um Like a thin vinyl kind of stretchy stretch vinyl and actually I've got the yarn here that I can show you. Um, I just thought it was very interesting. It's stretchy and it's kind of this shiny leathery vinyl stuff.

um, but I what I liked about this was that her phone went in it and it's very, it's kind of sticky and it stays in there. And also I made it small enough that her phone would just fit. So it can't fall out. So I'm not worried about her phone coming out because you actually have to, you know, physically pull it out to get it to come out of here. And instead of making the little loop to go around it, I just crochet a little strap so that she can just hang this on, you know, like wear it crossbody or however she wants to, um.

And then it's like basically having a pocket with you for your phone. So, yay. All right, so in order to figure out how to make this thing, how to make the size, you know what it is, um, like the construction method. I'm just going to be using my phone for an example here. So I like to start out if you're making a pouch that's like these where they're vertical and they have a hole in the top, um, then I start out at the bottom of whatever it is that I'm making and I just make a little chain that's the same width as that.

So I'm going to be using this 6 millimeter hook here and I'm using a t-shirt yarn. This is Big Twist brand. I know Joanne's is gone, but I did, I heard though that Big Twist is going to be, I don't know about this particular brand, or I mean this particular um type of yarn from Big Twist, but I know that Big Twist is going to be sold by Herschners I've heard, so it's not totally going away, you guys, um. OK, so I'm just going to start out with a little slipknot, place that on my hook. And I'm gonna chain as many chains as you know, we'll reach from one side to the other.

So I like to create this out of something where the the gauge is gonna be fairly dense. I don't want it to be loose because then it's just gonna get more stretched out. So that's just something to think about when you're doing it, but you can use anything. You can use worst of weight, bulky, super bulky, t-shirt yarn, um. Um, acrylic, wool, whatever, whatever you like, but just make sure when you're crocheting it up that it has, it has a firmness to it and um it's not, you know, when you feel it, it should feel like it's not something that's gonna get have a lot of stretch or get stretched out, um, you know, when you use it a lot.

OK, so we've got a few more to go here. I'll do one more maybe. So what I'm thinking about here is if it gets um too big, then my phone might fall out of it, even though I'm going to put these loops on it um so it shouldn't fall out when it's got the loops on, but I like it to have, I like it to be close enough fitting that it's not just going to fall out. But I don't want it to be so tight that it's hard to get my phone in and out of it, so because that's going to take extra time and it's going to annoy me, and then I know I won't use it. So that seems good.

Um, and so then I'm going to add just one more chain, and this is not going to count as anything. We're just using that to kind of get up to the next level. It's just going to be like our beginning chain, and we're going to start in the second chain from the hook, and we're going to work underneath the second stitch, um, the second bump. OK. So here's, here's the first one that we just made.

We're going to work starting right there. And I'm going to do a single crochet here just for this bottom row. So I'm going to insert. And then I'm gonna yarn over, pull up a loop. Now, there's 2 loops on my hook.

yarn over, and I'll pull through 2. That's gonna be my very first stitch. I'm gonna put a stitch marker in there just so we can keep track of that. And then I'm going to do a single crochet into each of the rest of the stitches across. OK, so insert, yarn over, pull up a loop, yarn over, and pull through too.

Those are single crochets, that's the most basic. The most basic stitch in crochet, that's what people often learn first. All right. And so then, after you do this, this is going to be the very bottom of that pouch, OK? Now we're going to start working in the round, around this, um, and you can choose whatever stitch pattern you like.

You can do it all in single crochet. You could if you wanted to, if it was in a thick t-shirt yarn and you weren't worried about it getting too stretched out, you could do single crochet through the back loop and it would leave like a little nice um ridge around it. You could do. have double crochets. I would just think maybe do a test if you're gonna do something that has more drape to it like a double crochet or treble crochet, even though this work up quickly and it's kind of satisfying, I would probably avoid those, you know, those types of stitches because they have, they're a little bit looser, they might get more stretched out plus there's going to be holes between your stitches.

There's nothing you can do about that. Um, so I would avoid those, but you could do like a linked double crochet. There, there are videos, um, there's tons of different stitch pattern videos on the Creative Crochet corner website if you want to just kind of peruse through there and pick out a stitch pattern. I'm going to be showing you the one that I use for these samples and the one that I really, really love using for this type of thing, which is I call a knotted double crochet. If you work the stitch pattern back and forth and turned rows, people generally call it the herringbone half double crochet.

I've seen that more often, um, but I called the knot a double crochet. I had seen that terminology a long, long time ago in a stitch dictionary before I had even seen a half herringbone half double crochet fabric, and so I know it is the knotted knotted double crochet, um, but there's a lot of confusion over that anyway, so I'm gonna be calling it the knotted double crochet, but um, it, yes, it is the same thing as the herringbone half double crochet. All right, so I've worked across. This little strip here and now I'm going to start working around and around and around. So I'm just going to rotate this.

I'm keeping the same side facing. I'm just rotating it so I can work into the opposite side, and I'm going to just going to pull that yarn tail to the back so it's out of the way and I'm going to work into that very first stitch right there. So I'm going to do a knotted double crochet by making a yarn over and then I'm going to insert. Gonna yarn over, pull up a loop, and now you have 2 loops or 3 loops on your hook. I am going to pull this loop through this loop, OK?

Just like this. And then I'm going to yarn over again and pull through two stitches. I'll show you that again. So we yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up a loop and pull that loop through the next loop on the hook. That's what creates that little knot there.

Then we're gonna yarn over and pull through too. OK, so I'm gonna place that stitch marker in the first stitch. That I worked, it's right here. Just so I can remember where the beginning of my rounds is. So I did 2 knotted double crochets in that very first stitch, OK.

I worked 2 of them into the into that first stitch, and I'm going to work 1 into each of the remaining stitches until I get to the last stitch. OK? So let's do that. We're going to make those knotted double crochets. So yarn over, insert yarn over, pull up a loop, and pull through the first loop.

Or really that was the 2nd loop. And then we'll yarn over and pull through too. So, yar aren't over insert, yarn over, pull up, pull that same loop through the next loop, that creates the knot. And yarn over and pull through too. Yarn over insert, you're an over, pull up, pull through.

The next loop, you're and over, pull through too. This stitch. Oftentimes when I explain how to do the stitch, people think, wasn't that just a half double crochet, and it's, it's almost a half double crochet. It's also almost a double crochet, um, but it's neither of those. So we yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up.

The difference is, is here, if we were doing a half double crochet, we would yarn over and pull through all three, but we're not yarning over at this point. We just pulled up our loop and we're going to pull that loop through the next loop, then we yarn over and pull through 2. So you're over insert, you're an over pull up, pull through one. Yarn over pull through too. You aren't over insert, you aren't over pull up, pull through one.

You're an over pull through too. And the reason that I like this stitch pattern for this particular use is because it has, uh, it has a decent amount of stretch, but it it springs back. I, you know, when we make all these crochet stitches, they have just a different every time you make a different stitch it's got like a different anatomy, you know, like you're twisting the yarn in a different way and this just makes a fabric that stretches, it stretches but it snaps back. It also has this nice little knotted look which I think looks really cute. It looks all bumpy and it gives it that extra like gripines so you can hang on to it, but also um just the extra cushion of the thick the thickness of that stitch.

OK, here we are at the very last stitch. So we're gonna do 2 knotted double crochets in there. So, yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up, pull through 1, yarn over, pull through 2. There's the first stitch, and then we're going to do another stitch into that same spot. OK, so so far we've got 2 stitches in the first stitch, and not a double crochet all the way across, and 2 stitches in the last stitch.

Then we're going to rotate our work and see we had marked that first stitch that we did on that very first synch crochet row so that we know that is our next stitch to work into. And we're gonna do 2 knotted double crochets right here. 1 And 2. And then we're gonna do not a double crochet all the way across till we get to the last stitch before the marker. So if you're going to pick a different stitch pattern, um, You know, I would recommend going for something that doesn't have like a um a very long stitch repeat like a one stitch or two stitches kind of stitch pattern, um meaning you just make that one stitch all the way around, you know, you don't have to, it's not a combination of like 5 different stitches because once you start picking combinations, then you have to really figure out how many stitches around you're gonna have, make sure that you know it's gonna fit within that, um.

You can absolutely do that, especially if you are somebody who's designed things before or you're good at math or you just want the extra challenge of figuring that out. Then if you were going to do something like that, then I would, once you start and then you work all the way around the first time, which is, um, actually no, once you do that first row of single crochet stitches, then you can. Add up like all the stitches on the top, the same amount of sample crochet stitches you had, and then you'll have the same amount on the bottom. So basically, you can count up your stitches and multiply by 2. And then add 4 stitches to that and then see what your stitch count is and then see what stitch patterns can divide out into that amount of stitches.

Um, you can also just increase the stitch here or there. One stitch is probably not going to make a big difference even in something this big, um, one stitch would be OK, but if it's something that's what I mean by this big is I mean the the stitch, um, the yarn thickness is pretty big, is what I mean. Um, so once you, you know, start adding and subtracting more than that, like 2 or 3 stitches out of something that really doesn't have that many stitches all the way around, then it's gonna start being the wrong size. So that could be a problem. So that's why I'm suggesting you stick with a stitch pattern where it's just like you do the same stitch all the way around, um, or maybe it's a combination of two different stitches, something like that would be fine too.

OK, so we're just continuing across. Making those knotted double crochets until we get to one stitch before our marked stitch. Which is right here, and we're going to put 2 knotted double crochets into that stitch. So the reason why we started out by making this the same. Width as our piece, and now we're adding stitches to it, you probably noticed, like, why am I increasing?

Isn't that gonna make it too big? Um, but the thing is, is this is fairly thick yarn, and we want this to go around, we want the phone to be able to fit in here and If we just kept it to that same distance and then we started working around and around, first of all, you get these sort of puckery like pointy bits that hang out down here. So that's why I like to to do some increases here. It rounds out the bottom and it makes it look really nice, um, but also you need that extra thickness because first of all, your piece is has a thickness to it, um. And also because of the thickness of the thing that you're making.

So you might be thinking, well, isn't that going to be too big, but this is the kind of thing where it's like trial and error, you just have to kind of, you know, follow these steps and then try it and see if it's working and then go back and make adjustments if you need to. So if you're making something for a piece that's a little thicker like this, so this, let me pull this out. See, there's a thickness to this, that there isn't so much with my phone. My phone is a bit thinner here. This is less of an issue, but for something that's thicker like this, or even if it's, you know, thicker than that.

Um, then you're gonna want to add more stitches. You're gonna want to do another round just like we did this, where you're kind of increasing at the beginning, working halfway, increase, increase, and working across an increase. So you would have an increase here and here and here and here, OK? So that way it's going to be basically what you're kind of doing is you're making a rectangle shape. For the base for the bottom, to be the thickness of this piece, and then you're going to start spiraling around that if that makes sense, um, just to accommodate for something that's a little bit thicker like something like this.

If you're making it for a phone, laptops are usually pretty thin, um, iPads pretty thin, those types of things, then you don't need to do that extra round where you're adding more increases. You could just start at this point working in the round. OK, so, this is our first stitch. I'm gonna pull this out, and we're gonna do just knotted double crochets all the way around here. There we go.

This is this type of yarn, and because I'm crocheting it up at a pretty tight gauge, it does take a little bit of extra time, you know, and it's one of those things if you find your hands hurt when you crochet, this might be something where you wouldn't want to use this thick t-shirt yarn. You would want to do something out of like a worst of weight acrylic or something like that because this might just be. Um, a little too strenuous for your hands. I don't want anyone to get like a repetitive stress injuries or anything like that. I know that it can happen sometimes when we're pulling on things pretty hard.

So you can see those little bumps starting to become more obvious now when we're doing that 2nd round. Of the knotted double crochet. Oh, Belle, Belle, yes, I just saw your note, Belle. You were the person who asked for the, for the iPad sleeve or yeah, iPad sleeve, yeah. I'm glad you're here.

OK. I was trying to go back and figure out who it was that asked that, but I couldn't find the, the comment because that was quite a while ago and thank you also for being so patient. That was like months ago and I feel bad it took me this long to get to it. I'm so glad you're here. OK.

Yay. OK, so Leah's Leah's wondering, is it cheaper to make your own yarn or to buy it? It is, I think it's cheaper to make it, um, but I think that depends on what it is. How you are like how you're sourcing your t-shirts, um, because, so if you want, uh, if you haven't already watched watched my t-shirt yarn making live event, you might wanna check that out later. I I do think, I think I talked about that a little bit, um, but I went to a place that has um.

It's like a place where, OK, so we have a thrift store called the Goodwill. I don't know where you're from, but here it's pretty common, um, pretty common second use store, um, secondhand store. And the things that they don't sell go to like a Goodwill outlet, and I have one of those that's not too far from my house. And so that's where I got my t-shirts um for that basket that I made in the live event because I needed a ton of them because I was making multiple samples um and I needed I think something like 11 t-shirts or something for a basket. The baskets are about this big, they're quite large.

Um, but because I went there, they charge for t-shirts by the pound, and they charge for everything really, I think by the pound, you can buy them by the pound, and it's very inexpensive. It ended up being like maybe. A couple do a dollar or possibly $2 for a t-shirt, probably closer to 1. So if you're able to get t-shirts at like a garage sale or the a Goodwill Outlet or if you already have a bunch of t-shirts, or another thought is people, almost everybody ends up with t-shirts that they don't want um. You know they might be something from like a sports team and they don't you know I mean I know some people like to keep all of that for sentimental reasons which is fine but I know that there are a lot of people they'll just get a t-shirt for that summer and then they don't really care about it after that um so we always, you know, there's just so much everybody has so many extra t-shirts so if you just put a little note in like in your like neighborhood like.

Like a neighborhood next door or something like that, um, you could just ask people for extra t-shirts and I'm sure there would be people who would be like, hey, you can have these, come pick them up. Um, so then it would be free for you. So it does take time to make a t-shirt yarn, but it's not, I don't know, I just find it like a really satisfying thing to do because um I really enjoy making things out of stuff that would have ended up in a landfill and then making it into something that's really cool. So I like to do it, but I know like, you know, it does take the extra time and if you just really just wanna crochet, it, you know, t-shirt yarn isn't too expensive and they do have t-shirt yarn that is made out of recycled materials. I actually think the yarn that I'm using might be.

I'm trying to remember, do I have the yarn label here? Yeah, this is, so this yarn that was sold at Joanne's sad, Joanne's is gone, but um it's a big twist and it is made out of recycled materials, so that, you know, that's another aspect too that I, I do like about that, um. But yeah, that's, it's pretty inexpensive and they do have lots and lots of t-shirt yarn on other like Amazon has tons of t-shirt yarn. You can find all kinds of stuff, um, and it's not too expensive. Good question, cause you know when you're crafting.

Sometimes, you know, things can really add up and sometimes, you know, people have this idea that, oh, if you make it yourself, it's gonna be cheaper because you're just using the raw materials and you're But that's not always the case, is it? Well, a lot of times you're the thing you're making is more expensive than if you buy it, but you can make it very high quality and you can make it exactly how you want it to be, and you can make yourself a cozy that exactly fits your phone or exactly fits your whatever it is that you're you're working on. Whatever you need a cozy for. OK. I think I'll do one more round here, and then I will show you my method for making that loop.

Um, but once you get a little ways into your project, like even just this much, that is a good time to try your start trying it on your device, because, you know, to me, this looks like it's going to be too big. But I'm not looking at the interior circumference, so that's one of those things where I feel like you really should just try it on as you go. After you get a couple rows in or a few rounds in, if you're doing like a lighter weight, if you're doing something in um you know, worse weight acrylic or something like that. That maybe wait until it's about, you know, 1 inch and a half or something tall and then start trying your your device um in on it. See, this looks good to me.

To me, I, I like to make it so that it doesn't fall off, but it's easy to put on. Does that make sense? Um. So I will just kind of stop and test it out at that point. All right.

I'm gonna get around one more time and then I will show you how to make that little loop for the closure. Um, I do have lots of other ideas though for the, the top. It was kind of a tossup how I wanted to finish this, but I was thinking Um, when I was coming up with this, I thought at first I really wanted a flap, but then I was like, oh, that's just gonna make it too bulky in this, this yarn. I don't think I really want the flap anymore. So I left it off of this one.

But if you really wanted the whole thing to be really covered, like, or if you're using um you know, like an acrylic worsted weight or or wool worsted weight or something like a thinner yarn, um, than this one, then you could definitely make a flap that has like. Um, let's see how to explain. So you can just work back and forth here like after you have made this loop, and I'll show you how to do this in a little bit, but you can work back and forth for a little rectangle, but leave a little tiny hole, like do a chain one, skip over a stitch, and then continue and then work back into that chain. So you end up with a tiny little window so that way you can feed this through the hole in your cover. And your flap can go down here and then you can twist this and put it on top and so it'll hold your flap down if that makes sense.

I can kind of explain that a little better if you are having questions about that, but that's something I was thinking about. I didn't want to do it with these because they're just, I just feel like they're extra bulky, you know, with this thicker yarn, which I like, but I just thought that adding the flap would just be like a little overkill. My brother definitely did not need to put a flap over this little handheld game here. I wasn't too worried about it. All right.

Just have a few um about halfway around. And then I'll show you how to do that little loop. Oh, Leah's asking, is Big Twist your favorite T-shirt yarn brand? You know, I, I do really like it because it's just a nice weight and I like the colors that they have, but. Um, I don't know.

I, I feel like. I, it's really hard for me to say I have favorites because I like different yarns for different reasons and, and um I really especially like trying out new to me yarns, um, and, and just sort of seeing what I think, um, and then. Yeah, I like to try out some unusual things like this, this weird, this weird one here. That was a fun one for me, but I feel like as far as I could go to if I'm making something that like if I was gonna make a a trivet or potholder or um actually this is polyester I think so I don't think I could use this for a trivet or pot. That's another, that's another bonus actually for making your own t-shirt yarn because most, most of the time when you're cutting up t-shirts, most of the time they're most like almost uh they're close to 100% um cotton a lot of the time sometimes now that you find them with polyester and spandex and other things in them, but um if it's a very high percentage cotton, then you can you could use that t-shirt yarn to make a really nice potholder or trivet for your table, um.

But yeah, if I'm just making a bag or something, you know, I don't where I don't have to have a specific thing, I really do like this brand of yarn. Or this this particular t-shirt yarn. It's nice and thin and it doesn't um. It doesn't have a ton of stretch, which I actually like. I there, so here's a preview for my next live event that's gonna happen, um, I can't remember in like a week.

Um, so this is something that I designed with the t-shirt yarn, and this particular t-shirt yarn has spandex in it. It's very, very stretchy, and I wanted to test it out and see what I thought. It's also extremely soft and it doesn't pill, which is surprising, but so this is what it looks like. It's really, look at how much I can stretch this, you guys. OK, so I'll hold it here.

That's how stretchy this is. So it makes, um, I wanted to try it because I know some people have, you know, issues with hand fatigue and that sort of thing, and I thought it would be a good thing to just test out so I could recommend, um, because working with this, this one doesn't stretch very much, it has a little bit of stretch. I like usually really like that for the structure, but the one with all that spandex in it, that one I got from Amazon, let me see what brand is this? MS yarn. Um, anyway, I, I could maybe find a link for that, but this, this yarn with the spandex in there, it's so much softer to crochet with, and it still makes a pretty firm fabric without holes between your stitches.

The fabric has a little bit of stretch to it, as you might imagine, because it's got that, um. It's got that uh spandex in it but it it does make it easier on your hands so that's I mean that was kind of that was that was an interesting find and I do like how soft it is um to work with it's it's just got a nice feel to it. OK, so let's just imagine. That this was long enough to go around the top of my phone. My phone could sit on the inside here, and I was ready to make that loop.

So in order to make the loop, what I like to do is I like to make it about halfway around, so right here in the middle, and I'll just kind of fold this flat and pick a spot where there are two stitches in the middle. So for me, these two are pretty close to the middle. They're closer than these two would be. So right here and these two, so I'm going to place a stitch marker. In the right one, because I'm a right-handed crocheter.

If you were a left-handed crocheter, you'd place it in the left one, if you're coming around this way. And then we'll get around to that stitch, and that'll be our last stitch we do before we make that loop. So I'm just gonna keep going around till I get to that marker and place. Place my last knotted double crochet into that marked stitch. All right, here we are.

So that's my marked stitch. There's my last, not a double crochet. And then I'm going to just do a bunch of chains. That's all this really was, is just chains, um. So you'll you'll want to chain it so that it is long enough to go all the way around your project when your project is inside of it.

So, For me it's just maybe for the purposes of illustration let's just pretend that I had a really short device here and it was just sitting inside of here so I could see just by looking at this I'd be maybe about halfway around on my strap. So I'll just keep adding those chains. And if you're using a lighter weight yarn, like like a worse weight or something like that. Then you could think about if you want to do um you could do a foundation single crochet or you could work back into that that um slips or the chains that you're making just to make it a little bit more substantial if you're worried that that isn't going to be thick enough. Another thing that you could do is you could just add a second ball of yarn, hold it together as you're stitching it and doing your chains with the um two strands of yarn held together.

Because you don't, you just don't want that, that strap to get all stretched out after you use it for a while. OK, let's see. Almost there, a few more. Excuse me. Oh, it looks like we have some more questions.

Oh, OK. All right, oh, Venus is saying that they just found our channel and subscribed. Awesome. I'm so glad you're here. I'm glad you found us.

OK, this might be a little too long, so I'm gonna just check it. Yep, too long, so I'm gonna take a couple off. Let me check it again. That's probably good. I'm gonna take just a couple off because I think.

Like you can see this is a little stretchy. I want it to have to stretch out. A little bit Because then I think it'll stay in place a little bit better. OK. That seems pretty good.

So, you, you just have to imagine that this is long enough for my phone, my phone actually fits in here, and when I'm wrapping this around, it goes all the way around the bottom, OK? So when I check it, it should go all the way around, however long you make your, your um bag. OK. And then we're just gonna continue making not a double crochets right here. So we're gonna go yarn over, insert, yarn over, pull up, pull through 1, pull through 2, like that.

Um, so if you're having any trouble with that, if you feel like it's kind of getting away from you, you can also just from that chain, you can slip stitch into that stitch and then start working around. Um, I usually skip that because I feel like if you can just do not a double crochet right there, it looks a lot like the other side. It just looks a little bit tidier to me instead of doing a slip stitch and then. Um, and then working your stitch, but, you know. Sometimes you just gotta make accommodations because yeah, especially if you're newer to crocheting.

And then you can just finish up this round. And um. Yeah, OK, so we'll go all the way around to the other side here. So unless you didn't want it to be any taller, so I should point out, when you're figuring out where to, when to, when you're figuring out placement for this loop, know that you're going to have one more round of stitches, OK? So like when you're trying it out and debating on how long to make the bag, you will have one more round of stitches.

So usually when I'm trying it out, I will put it, put it on my bag or put put my cozy on my phone. And then I will wait until my phone can completely fit in there, and then I do one more round so that it's just a little tiny bit longer. Let me show you. See how this is just a little, like one more round, almost or like even just a half a round, but it's a little bit taller than the very edge of this, and I like it that way because then when I put this on, It pulls it in and it's pretty much covered there, you know, it's going to protect the top of it as well. All right, a few more stitches to do, and then I will show you how I like to end off, especially because this is such thick, you know, this is a really bulky yarn here that I'm using.

So if you just sort of fasten off, you're gonna have this stair step thing happening and it just doesn't look very nice. OK, so when you're getting pretty close to where you want to stop, I want to stop right at the side. Um, then, instead of doing a not a double crochet, I will do a single crochet here because it's shorter. And then a slip stitch in the next stitch, and we'll see how that looks. If you if you decrease it too fast, sometimes it'll look like you, um, but that actually looks pretty good, I think.

And then I'll do another slip stitch right here. Actually, I'm gonna leave that slip stitch off and we'll do an invisible joint. I'll show you how to do that cause I feel like that makes things look really tidy at the end. So, Um, I'm gonna cut my yarn so they have a little bit of extra, and I'm just gonna pull it right through that very last slip stitch. OK?

So, so here we have the knotted double crochet, then we have a single crochet, then we have a slip stitch. So we're decreasing the height of our stitches gradually. So that way, by the time we get to that side, it doesn't look, you know, it's not gonna look like a stair step like we just ended it. Um, and then, Going to. Find my yarn needle.

Hopefully this will fit through this yarn needle. Here we go. Um, to do an invisible joint at the end of when you're working in the round, because you can just fasten off and then weave in that end, but you will see a little bit of a bump. But if you want it to look really seamless, what you can do is you can locate where the next stitch is, so that's right here. And then go to one more stitch further than that.

So, here's the next stitch. There's the the stitch following, and we're going to put our yarn needle right underneath there, right underneath both legs of that stitch, and we'll pull through. And we're gonna pull, we're not gonna pull tight, but we're gonna pull until this is the same length as one of these stitches, OK? So about like that. Then we're gonna go down right here.

That's where we came from, and I like to come out somewhere on the inside. Below, a little further below. And we're gonna pull on that until that makes it look like a stitch, like that's the same length as the other stitches, just like that. And so see how. That really blends that in.

It just makes it look so nice. This is not something that's super important, you know, you, it's not a big deal. Um, you can certainly fasten off and weave it in in any way, but when I, I find when I'm working with a t-shirt yarn, especially, um, bulky yarn that shows all of, you know, it just, it's so smooth and so big and you can really see all those stitches. It has so much stiff stitch definition, um. That I like to do this kind of invisible joint at the end because I just feel like it looks really nice.

And then you can just go ahead and weave in your in your yarn tails, and that is it. And then so when you put it on, you will twist it. Basically all the way around. So think of it as being like this, twisting it around, and then putting it over your project like this. And that makes it nice and secure.

It's not gonna fall out of there and it it also doesn't have anything hard on it that's gonna scratch anything or um you know, cause any issues. So there it is. That's it it's very, very, very simple. um I hope that this was helpful for you guys. Oh looks like we have another.

Oh, OK. Never thought to use the loop wrap to close. Definitely doing that in the future. Yeah. Yeah, it's the one thing though with this loop wrap thing.

Um, it's difficult to use this if you also have a strap on it because you have to be able to put it from here over the side. So like, imagine. If you had a purse like this, you couldn't use the loop wrap thing because it would come from here and then you'd have to put it somehow over this and it would get stuck and twisted up in the way. So that's really the only drawback I feel like to this loop the loop wrap thing. This thing is just great because you don't have to go and get any, you know, you don't have to go get any accessories, no buttons, no nothing, and you don't have to tie it.

It just is easy. You just twist it and pull it on and it really keeps it in there really well. It's just a nice, um. Yeah, it's just a nice solution. All right, well, I'm glad that was helpful for you, Kimmy, and thanks for thanks for popping in.

All right, thank you guys so much for being here. I really appreciate it. Um, we do have another live event coming up in about a week um for this bag if you guys are interested in learning how to make a dot kit bag, uh, and that uses that t-shirt you're on that I was talking about earlier. Uh, there is a there is a link for the download for that as well if you guys are interested. I do wanna say, um.

In case you're thinking about making this, this is something that I designed for Father's Day. This is, this one is gonna be for my dad. I'm pretty sure he will not be watching this, so that's good. Um, but I got these little personalized, they're like a little leather tag. This one says best dad since 1974 because that's when he had his first kid.

Um. So if you're interested in doing something like this, I did put a link in the download for this project on where I got these, um, and the important thing to know is that they do take like, I, I think this took about 6 days to get to my house. So the reason I'm bringing this up is in case you're thinking about making this for Father's Day, that is something that you would want to jump on pretty quickly, um, so that you have enough time to get that before it's Father's Day. All right, thank you guys so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.

I hope to see you guys soon. Bye, everybody.