This pattern incorporates a shadow knitted apple - almost as fascinating as the iPad itself. Hold the cover vertically and it's just a plain old striped cover.
Hold it at an angle - the flatter the better and wow! There is an apple.
Materials:
-About 100 yards of a light colored medium weight (3) yarn (A).
-About 100 yards of a dark colored medium weight (3) yarn (B).
-About 1 yard of waste yarn for provisional cast on.
-2 circular needles size 6 (US)
- crochet hook
- sewing up needle.
Measurements:
- 7.5 inches wide x 9 inches long.
Gauge:
20 st /4in in stocking/stockinette stitch.
Make a swatch in your chosen yarn to check gauge and adjust needle size to get the right gauge.
Row gauge isn't quite so important as you can just continue until it is the right length.
Directions:
Base rows:
With waste yarn, and one of the circular needles cast on 39 stitches. This will be removed later.
With the light colored yarn (A),
Row 1: knit.
Row 2: With the 2nd circular needle pick up and knit the 38 color A bumps from the back of the provisional cast on row. This picture shows the bumps in red (color A) against the green waste yarn.
You should now have 39 stitches on one needle - this will be the front, and 38 stitches on the 2nd needle - this will be the back. These two rows form the base of the cover.
Body:
The body is knitted circularly on the two circular needles. If you need help with this technique see this Cat Bordhi video from about 3 minutes in. We have cast on a bit differently to get a closed end so we don't need to join the ends but the way the needles are used is the same. The back 38 stitches stay on one needle and the front 39 stitches stay on the other.
The ridged stripe pattern is as follows:
Round 1: (B) knit
Round 2 (B) purl
Rounds 3,4 (A) knit
Knit rounds 1-4 a total of 5 times.
Apple motif:
Keep the established 4 row pattern for the rest of the cover, but follow the chart for the apple motif centering it on the center front stitch (stitch 20). The first round of each stripe is always all knit. The chart represents only the second round of each stripe. The motif covers 23 stripes = 46 rows and starts and ends with a color B stripe.
White rows are color A, colored rows are color B. The dots are purls, the plain squares are knit.
Back Opening:
The back opening utilizes the buttonhole method in my last post.
There are some border rows on each side of the opening which have two functions (apart from looking pretty!) a) they help stop gaping, b) they stop the edge from curling.
Round 1: (color A) k the round, then wrap the yarn around the first stitch of the next round, turn the work and knit across the back 38 stitches. Wrap the yarn around the first stitch on the other needle, turn the work and knit back again across the back 38 stitches.
Round 2: (color A) unwrap the first stitch and knit the wrapping together with the first stitch. Knit to last stitch on the front, unwrap the last stitch and knit the wrapping together with the last stitch. Purl across the back 38 stitches.
Round 3: (color B) knit the whole round.
Round 4: (color B) purl the front 39 stitches. Purl 2 back stitches, follow buttonhole instructions from the last post covering 34 stitches for the opening.
Rounds 5 and 6 - repeat Rounds 1 and 2 to make the edging rows for the other side of the opening.
Continue in stripes until the cover is 9 inches long after a slight stretch and ending with the second row of a (B) stripe. Typically it will be 4 or 5 repeats of the 4 row pattern plus an extra B stripe. If you have an iPad to hand now is a good time to try it on for fit .
Top:
With color A knit across the front stitches and then break yarn leaving about a 30 in tail. Use the tail to graft the front to the back stitches to form the top of the cover. Here is a video for kitchener stitch . As we have 39 stitches on the front and 38 on the back the way you start and end the graft is slightly different. Thread the tail onto the sewing up needle. 'Needle' unless otherwise specified refers to the sewing up needle from now on.
1) insert the needle into the first front stitch (colorA) as if to knit and pull the yarn through.
2) insert the needle into the first back stitch (color B) as if the purl, pull yarn through.
3) insert the needle into the first front stitch as if to purl, drop that stitch off its knitting needle, and insert the needle into the next stitch as if to knit, pull the yarn through.
4) insert the needle into the first back stitch as if to purl, drop the stitch off its knitting needle and then insert the needle through the next back stitch as if to purl, pull the yarn through.
5) repeat steps 3 and 4 until there is one stitch left on the back and two on the front.
6) repeat step 3.
7) insert the needle into the first back stitch as if to purl, drop the stitch off its knitting needle.
8) insert the needle into the first front stitch as if to purl, drop that stitch off its knitting needle.
The graft should resemble a row of knitted stitches so it is important to ensure that the yarn is not pulled too tightly to maintain the gauge.
Finishing:
Sew in ends. Amuse yourself by holding the cover at different angles and watching the apple appear and disappear.
Resources:
For more patterns and an explanation of this shadow technique see Vivian Høxbro's Shadow Knitting book
Terms and Conditions:
This pattern is for personal use only and may not be used for profit. The apple depicted is actually a Fuji apple and any resemblance to the logo of Apple inc is entirely coincidental.
Cute! I don't have an iPad (yet), but will have to keep this in mind.
Posted by: Cheryl S. | June 01, 2010 at 09:17 AM
I love it! It keeps my iPad snuggly safe!
Posted by: Sam | July 01, 2010 at 10:17 PM
Nothing to do with the apple knit . But i'd like to find the pattern of the shrug knitted in Art yarn Mohair splash. I can't open the corrections of the pattern. Many thanks
Posted by: gris fleur | July 07, 2010 at 07:16 AM
Hello!
I just wanted to leave a comment for you about the charting program you've made available to knitters like me who've been using graph paper and producing huge gigantic disasters by hand.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
I can't afford to buy software at this point, and I'm just now starting to chart my own design ideas, so your generous gift is much appreciated.
It was easy to use, produced a wonderful chart and it was also pretty freaking fun too!
Thanks again,
Linda
Montreal
Posted by: Linda | November 14, 2010 at 08:46 AM
wow now that's a full-featured tutorial on knitting an iPad cover. I'll try to read it again 3-4 times then I'll try to actually make it :) thanks
Posted by: Allison | November 26, 2010 at 07:12 AM
these are the nicest iPad covers i've seen.
Posted by: web designer Philippines | January 24, 2011 at 10:14 AM
I'm new to color patterns let alone illusion patterns so I'm having some major confusion, but I think I've got it. But... i asked to experts to help me and one said that once I get to the apple pattern/design I'm supposed to follow the grid and NOT knit the extra knit row between the grid pattern rows on the picture. The other says yes, keep the 4 row pattern throughout just inserting the design pattern as per the picture. I'm leaning toward the latter but could use some clarification.
THANK YOU!! What a cute and fun thing to knit!
Posted by: Michel | January 28, 2011 at 01:36 PM
Your instinct is right - the latter option is correct. Of the 4 rounds in the pattern the 1st and 3rd round are always plain knit, so I made the chart to just show the 2nd and 4th rounds where the stitches vary.
I am glad you like the pattern, it was fun to design, the illusion technique is fascinating. I would love to see a picture if you make one.
Posted by: Jacquie | January 28, 2011 at 02:43 PM
OK, thank you so much! That's what I've been doing and I'm at the bite in the apple of the logo. But... I made a mistake the last row around (or maybe on all the previous rounds) and knit the first row of color A before doing the logo pattern row. So, on the previous rounds I think I was doing the pattern on row 1 and 3 but i should be doing them on 2 and 4 right? So in the finished piece there should be NO overlap of the 2 colors in the logo part of the pattern, right?
Sorry! I think I bit off more than I can chew. :(
Posted by: Michel | January 29, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Yes,the chart shows rows 2 and 4 of the 4 row pattern. Row 2 is always color B and row 4 is always color A. You never need to use both colors in any row.
Posted by: Jacquie | January 30, 2011 at 01:50 PM
I finished! (the pattern part. Thanks. I'm trying to interpret the rest now. lol Just a suggestion - the chart is so great! Why not include all the rows on it?
Posted by: Michel | January 31, 2011 at 11:25 PM
I emailed you again earlier today but I don't see it posted. I need help! I've taken your pattern to two different knit instuctors who are both as baffled as I am. I've finished the illusion part of the pattern (which looks GREAT!) and am now at the part that starts with "Back Opening". Maybe it's simpler than I think but I'm completely stuck and I want to give this as a gift next week. Is there anyway to talk to you on the phone? Or is there another way to say the last part about wrapping the yarn around the first stitch and turning? My website is rubyslipperscoaching.com and my phone number is on there. I'm around tonight and tomorrow. H-E-L-P!! Thanks in advance. :) Michel
Posted by: Michel | February 06, 2011 at 05:59 PM
Thanks for this awesome tool! I would love to see a feature that allows you to change the colour of the last button so one could use it more easily for colourwork. Right now, I could of course use other buttons to compensate, but it would be so much easier on my brain (which needs all the help it can get ;-) ) to see the different colours on the screen.
Posted by: Marianne | February 14, 2011 at 07:07 AM
Hi Jacquie,
Thank you very much for making your charting program available to us. It has been an invaluable resource to me as a beginning designer - I've since purchased standalone charting software, but it was your applet that helped me to get started!
I just wanted to mention that an important feature is not functioning for me - that is, pasting into the applet to 'open' a saved file. I've googled around a little and it seems like newer versions of java have disallowed pasting from outside the applet? I'm trying to find a workaround but no dice so far.
Posted by: Joyuna | June 08, 2011 at 06:41 AM
Thanks so much for offering this pattern! A friend and I will each be doing one for our iPads but we had a question: if we work these on a set of four (or five) double pointed needles instead of the two circular needles, will we run into any trouble with the pattern? We're excited to try your pattern, but we don't have the sets of circular needles called for. Thanks again!
Posted by: Elaine | July 05, 2011 at 02:38 PM
It would be easiest to use 5 needles so you always have two for the front and two for the back. You might want to put some stitch markers on to mark where the front and the back start. When it comes to the grafting at the top you will probably have to transfer the front and back to single needles to make it easier to manipulate. Other than that I think you should be ok.
Posted by: Jacquie | July 07, 2011 at 10:26 PM
In reply to Joyuna - I am as distressed as you are that copying and pasting is no longer allowed by some browsers - that was pretty much the only way to get data into and out of the program. I keep trying to find time to work on it but so far just haven't.
Posted by: Jacquie | July 07, 2011 at 10:30 PM
Great pattern! I am perplexed by the waste yarn for the provisional cast on. You make reference to removing it later but say no more. Can you please clarify this for me? Thank you.
Mary Ellen
Posted by: MaryEllen Treadway | August 07, 2011 at 08:25 PM
You can remove the waste yarn at any time after the stitches are picked up from it. I usually leave it til the end, or at least until I have established the pattern.
Posted by: Jacquie | August 09, 2011 at 10:22 AM
I was wondering if you could email me the link for your buttonhole method. I'm a little confused on that part. Id like to use it on a piece that's not knit in the round.
Posted by: April Allen | October 20, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Love this pattern!!! Really want to so this but am I doing something wrong? Forgive me I'm a beginner and I am trying to follow your pattern but my light color is coming out as the bump and my dark color that I am Knitting then purling is coming out flat. Im confused bc your photo is showing the opposite, dark bump and the light color (A) is flat.. please help..Thank you so much :)...
Posted by: Stephanie | November 14, 2011 at 11:52 PM
Jacque, I'm planning on making the apple iPad cover and want to make sure you're still on for possible questions.
Posted by: Jean Gross | January 03, 2012 at 10:20 AM
I am!
Posted by: Jacquie | January 03, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Hi Jacquie,
I made this iPad cover and I love it. It's a great pattern und I enjoyed knitting it. Thank you!!!!!
I posted some photos on my blog:
http://zombiesdontknit.blogspot.com/2012/01/was-kuschliges-furs-ipad.html
Posted by: zombies don't knit | January 08, 2012 at 05:45 AM
Jacquie, I don't understand your first row 2. Do you Cast on the remaining 39 stitches with color A.
Posted by: Jean Gross | January 19, 2012 at 05:40 PM