Earbud pouch: a free knitting pattern

January 2018 update:  Just a quick note to say that when I put hours into designing Hugs patterns to share, and publish them with the words "For Personal Use Only" added, it's with the dream that they will be knit and shared all over again out of love and generosity and not for profit on Etsy without even crediting me as the designer.  Ahem.  And now to the original posting...  and happy knitting!



I'm so happy to be able to share this giftable little knit with you well before peak gift-giving season:

As usual, this portable little pouch for mobile phone earbuds was born out of me needing something for myself, but right away I saw the potential for other knitters.  Who doesn't want to make something useful, completely giftable, and luxury-yarn-end stashbusting to boot?  Especially when you can do it in the time it takes to watch a movie.

None of this fiddly casting on three stitches to work in the round business - the pouch starts with a manageable cuff and works down to a grafted bottom.

And because the increases and decreases are at the side rather than all the way around, the pouch lies flat, which takes up less space in in a purse or a pocket.

On top of that, how perfect is this little pocket for a pair of earrings or a ring, wrapped up in tissue and tucked inside?  The recipient can use it later for stowing jewelry safely while traveling.  Or what about a child tearfully losing that first tooth, comforted by an especially cuddly envelope for tooth fairy transactions?

Oh, who am I kidding... these things feel so great to knit I would make them just to stop a chair leg from scraping the floor (and hey, I bet that would work too!)

The pattern as written is for a specific sport weight yarn, knit at a pretty tight gauge on 2.5mm needles.  However, that's just to make the writing-up easy.  I've been using other sport weight yarns, of course, and fingering.  But you can also try something a little closer to lace weight (I used Twisted Fiber Art's Arial yarn here.)

Originally when I posted this pattern, I gave the following project notes for fingering weight... but now I realize fingering works just fine for the pattern given.

For lighter-than-fingering on the other hand, I go down to a 2.25mm set of double pointed needles, and cast on 8 more stitches than the pattern calls for.  Instead of increasing three times at the end of the cuff, I increase four, and I start the decreases at 20 rounds or - if I'm using a yarn sample from Twisted Fiber Art - when it looks like I might be starting to run out of yarn.  You can decrease by eye because nobody's double checking your conformity, and simply end when you think it looks right or when you suspect you have only enough yarn left to do the grafting.  You might end up with a stumpy looking pouch...

... but trust me, you will be able to fit earbuds in there, and they won't fall out.


Difficulty Level
Not quite beginner, but still pretty easy.  The pattern is knit in the round.  It uses raised increases, which are thoroughly described if you haven't done them before.  It also involves grafting by Kitchener stitch (and is probably a great way to practise that.)  Instructions for Kitchener stitch are included as well.

Materials 

Any sport weight yarn - about 12 yards of it.
2.5mm double pointed needles, or size to get gauge.
darning needle

Gauge 

34 sts, 48 rows = 4” in stocking stitch
  
Finished Dimensions 

2 7/8" tall, 2 5/8” wide

Click here for .pdf of Earbud Pouch