Blackberry Cozy Design -- Part III

I've started work on the BB cozy, and it is just as obnoxious to knit as I suspected it might be. That's not to say that it isn't coming out lovely, and I am very pleased with it thus far, but holy heck! After this project, if I ever have to bobble again it will be too soon.

I decided to build the cozy from the bottom up, as you would for a toe-up sock. A few months ago, Knitty ran an excellent article about different styles of toes for toe-up socks, and it was to this I turned. I decided to go with a figure-8 cast on, since A)I had used this cast on previously, for a pair of Baudelaires, and B)It didn't involve a ding-dang crochet hook. I don't begrudge people enjoying crochet. I have even gone so far as to do crocheted edging...for knitted pieces. However, I can't get excited about using a crochet hook, and when you have the option of using a cast on that's as clever and cool as the figure-8...well...why wouldn't you? It's sort of a tricky thing, but the neat little pocket it creates is worth the first, oh, 10 rows of fiddliness. The essential idea of the figure-8 is that you wrap your yarn around two dpns, in a figure-8 motion (over the left-hand needle and up between the needles, over the right-hand-needle and up between the needles, and so on and so forth) until you have the desired amount of loops-cum-stitches, and then, using two more dpns, you knit into those loops and turn them into real stitches. That first row is a HUGE bitch, but it turns out as neat and sweet as a little pie.

After casting on the bottom of the cozy, I worked a few rows in stockinette, and then a few rows in moss, before beginning the bobbling. I decided to only bobble the front of the cozy because really, that is the only part that will be seen, and bobbling on the back would make it more difficult to see where the opening needs to be for the holster clip. Also, if I had to bobble the entire thing front and back, I would probably go crazy. Bone-crazy.

The bobbles start small and numerous on the bottom, and progressively get larger and more spaced out towards the top, so as more of the cozy gets worked, it gets less fiddly. I predict the body of the cozy will be done sometime next week, but there are still a few issues to be ironed out.

• The cozy is going to fit up underneath the clip on the holster, and also is going to have a flip top, for easy access. This means that there will have to be an opening on the back for the top of the holster clip to fit through, as well as a large opening in the front.
• The top needs to be kind of rounded, which means a succession of decreases to make a nice, smooth curve.
• Leaf and stem for the top, still not a big deal, but I thought I'd include them so there could be a third item on the list.

Stay tuned...