Got it covered

There is something about the rhythm of walking that helps thoughts roll around and settle into place. Whenever I need  an idea, an answer or a solution, I like to take it outside and at least around the block. Frequently I find several quite disparate thoughts will somehow click together and an idea takes shape. Whether or not these perambulatory notions are really good ideas might be debatable but they feel like it when they occur. Here's an instance.

I had discovered a great display of those Popular Penguins in a book shop. It makes you wonder why so much goes into other cover designs when that simple, bold orange and white banded format has almost every reader I know reaching for their credit card while they try to decide which one to add to their collection. Some people collect them for the uniformity and the bookshelf appeal. I like the format for its compact size - a bit big for any pocket I have, they none-the-less slip easily into a handbag; ideal for portable reads. And therein lies a problem. While I like to have a book always available, I don't like to see covers getting scuffed or corners getting turned back as my current read tries to hold its own against other contents of my bag. It needs some kind of protection from keys, loose change and tubes of lip balm.
 Around the same time requests for more of those crocheted Little Boxes meant I was usually carrying around one of those as an ongoing project as well. Different sizes, different colours, different yarns but always I enjoyed making the firm, textured fabric that using all double crochet yielded.
While I was out walking, I began to think about how to make a book cover using crochet. I have made fabric covers for journals and notebooks so it wasn’t too great a leap to think how a rectangle of double crochet would make a good outer cover.

My first effort has produced a cover that works. It is functional in the most basic sense.  I consider it to be something of a prototype. In my rush to see how it would turn out, I was a bit slapdash in the making up.  It needs to be more carefully blocked out, the lining more carefully measured up and assembled. For the inner covers I simply cut out two pieces from the hem of a discarded shirt as that is what was at hand. Re-cycling and  re-purposing are set to become recurring themes this year!

I will be trying this idea again; already I have had some thoughts on refining the design. I will be road-testing the prototype in the meantime. Some credit for the initial design should go to two Yorkshire terriers and their unbounded enthusiasm for going for walks. Who knows what ideas they were having while I was thinking up book cover designs?