If you're new to crochet, hate counting stitches and like making rectangles, you may appreciate this low-effort project with high-yield results. This gadget cozy slings onto whichever purse you're currently schlepping. Use a hardy cotton, or linen yarn, and you'll have no-frills, knockabout scratch protection for your gear.

Step 1: Materials

" crochet hook
" yarn
" large-eyed sewing needle

In these pictures, I'm using a 5.00 mm hook and discount-store utility twine. I prefer it to yarn because, at $1.99 for several yards, you can just bang out projects and not worry about running out. For this project, I'm going to work in single crochet. It has less give, and creates a tighter weave - good qualities for an electronics case.

Step 2: Make the Handle

You are going to start with the "handle" of the gadget cozy. Make a chain that's half the width (plus a bit extra) of your gadget. For the cozy I made, that's about one inch. Leave a long tail - you'll need it later for finishing.

Single-crochet into your chain. Repeat for about 30 rows. I don't bother counting though. What I do is stop when the handle gets as long as the hook I'm using.

Step 3: Join Handle Edges

Once your handle is the right length, join the two ends of the handle corner-to-corner with a slip stitch. Now you'll have this U-shaped bit of crochet work. Continue single-crocheting across the new long edge.

Before you join the handle together: the long tail you made at the beginning of the project should be on the OUTSIDE of the letter U. Not in the middle. That'll be important later.

Step 4: Crochet the Body

Bust out a DVD or something, this part is kind of boring. Make several rows of single crochet, continuing until your cozy is twice the length of your cellphone/mp3 player (not counting the handle). In this picture, I am halfway there.

Now is a good time to point out a big mistake I made in making this cozy; the crochet piece in the photo matches the width of the iPod exactly. That means that once the side seams are all sewn up, the iPod won't fit in the cozy.

I mentioned this in step 1 but it bears repeating: make your handle half the width of your gadget plus a little more (maybe, 3 or 4 stitches more).

Step 5: Cut the Yarn

When the cozy is the right length, make sure the working loop is on the OPPOSITE SIDE as the long tail from the beginning of the project. Make another row if you have to. (Or rip one row out)

Cut your yarn, leaving another long tail, and tie your work off. Note that now, the working loop is on the opposite side of the work as the long tail.

Step 6: Seam the Edges

Fold the cozy in half. With a tapestry needle, use the two long tails to sew up the sides of your gadget cozy. If your tails are long enough, you could simply crochet the edges together. (They'd have to be pretty long, though...)

Step 7: Sling It and Go!

If you made your handle long enough, you could just sling your phone onto your wrist and call it a day, but I find it a lot more practical to loop the handle over a purse strap, as I've done here. No more rummaging around when the bottom of my purse starts ringing!

Hope you found this helpful. Happy hooking!