Thanks for stopping by NY Times readers

The cassette tape cozy was such a hit that I decided to make the Ipod Tape Case Redux. this one is crocheted from a VHS tape instead of knit from a cassette tape.

A VHS tape is essentially bulky weight, so it works up quickly. For inelastic materials crochet is certainly an improvement over knitting. I was motivated to craft this because of the Upcycle contest over at etsy. the contest is sponsored by the good people at Bazaar Bizaare, and some of the prizes include a free table at the Bazaar to be held at the Maker Faire this spring. I want in on that! I attended the Maker Faire last year and enjoyed all of it, including the bazaar. oh, to have my own table there….

Finally to indulge Helen a meme about how weird I am follows

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

I don’t know if I will spread the meme, but I will play along.

1. I don’t let my feet touch the ground. My bare feet to be exact. I don’t walk around barefoot, I hate flip-flops, and my little feet pretty much only ever touch my own shower. Laugh if you will, but as a result my feet smell like roses.

2. I prefer my pop warm. It is fizzier that way.

3. I can twirl fire. BRHS featured twirler 1993-94.

4. I can stuff a mouse. A while ago I took a mouse taxidermy class and learned what I consider a priceless skill. Meet snowflake. I accidentally cut off his tail.

Since I can’t think of any more weird things about myself and there are countless others, leave a comment with a weird thing you know about me.

In fact, when I wanted to find an audio cassette I had to trek myself out to my 13 year old car to dig around for one (it is a bit of a time capsule – with a cassette player). All of the tapes had made their way into the trunk, usurped by my FM transmitter and ipod and languishing in the sun in the back. But i did find one. I started eviscerating it.

And then i started knitting.

The theme for this month’s whiplash challenge is “Alt Craft” and i decided to focus on the ‘nontraditional materials used with traditional techniques’ aspect. I already knew that though I could post instructions for my project, I want mine to be entered in the design category.

Knitting with audio tape isn’t one of the most pleasureable knitting experiences (tips at the end of the post). First, I wanted to liken it to knitting with Red heart Acrylic… But a more evil ribbon form of the yarn that twists up. then i started to get the hang of it. The crackling and crunching of the tape, and the squeaking of it against the knitting needles is actually pretty cool if you think about how its job it is to make sound.

A few inches of garter stitch later, I was finished. I constructed a cozy for my ipod from the innards of an old audio tape. My old and new music together at last.

It knit up into a loose fabric and you can still see the ipod inside. the “fabric” is crackly and really really shiny. I can’t believe how shiny it is. I haven’t seen a metallic brown quite like it.

I added two buttons so it would look like an audio tape, and a loop closure that wraps around the button to keep the ipod snug inside.

If you are thinking about knitting with audio tape, here are some tips:

• Cast on with large needles – I cast on with 4’s and ended up knitting with 2’s the rest of the time.
• Knit loosely – Knit looser than you have ever knit. Take the time to pull each new loop through all the way without stretching the tape. Sizing up to larger needles won’t necessarily be effective because that would just increase the amount of tape in contact with the needles. you don’t really want that since the stuff is kinda sticky and crinkly.
• Try all of your needles – Plastic, wood, metal, give ’em all a go. You might be able to tolerate the feel of the tape against one more than the others. I settled on metal myself.
• Audio tape is not elastic – and it is not forgiving. if you stretch out the tape when you knit a stitch, you probably won’t be able to get your needle through it on the next row. i found it to be much easier going once I stopped stretching out the tape.

Updated to add an official review
The donut itself does an excellent job of covering the entire wheel and has a ton of glowing power. It is one of the better glow-in-the-dark stickers I have ever seen. The screen protector is durable, and not sticky around the edges. I can also verify that you can peel them off if you need to, and they don’t leave any residue behind.

for $3.95 i got a glow in the dark wheel protector, a screen protector, and shipping from japan (the protectors for the newer models are on sale for $6.95). The best part was following their instructions to install it.

• Please remove catching up and fingerprints from your ipod before installing iPoDonut. After that, pick up your iPoDonut like the picture under below. Peel the transparencie side film. (Do Not touch the adhesive side by your fingers.)
• Put on your iPoDonut on your ipod wheel and adapt the location
• Enjoy it!

and I am enjoying it!

needles: 4 double pointed US#4, 4 double pointed US#5
yarn: Endless summer collection lara – main color (MC) less than 50m, small amount of a complimentary color
(CC) for the stripes (currently available at elann.com). you could use just about any sport
weight
yarn.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.