Coziness

1. Diablo, 2. Gregory, 3. Nibbles, 4. Boris

Last week I had a little bit of free time again and started stitching up some more iPhone and iPod Touch cozies... I'm going to try to keep them in stock over in my Etsy shop, but if you don't see the one you want there, just send me a message and I'll do a custom order...

Part of the fun of sewing up different styles of iPod cozies is giving the characters names and personalities. If you know me at all, you probably realize that I anthropomorphize EVERYTHING. So... Everybody, meet Diablo, Gregory, Nibbles and Boris!

Diablo comes from an notorious family of iPod and gadget accessories including Mr. Devil and Mrs. Devil, who dedicated their lives to taking care of Nano and Video iPods, the Quintuplets, who left home to seek their fortunes as cell phone and holiday ornaments, and 99.44% pure evil Lucky, who brings mischief and misfortune to those with iPod Shuffles.

Nibbles is... Well, to tell you the truth, nobody knows what Nibbles is. Rumor has it that she's a hamster, but since she can't talk, it hasn't been confirmed. Let's just call her a critter, shall we? Nibbles the critter has a pouch on her back to tote earbuds in. Cuz, frankly, I'm always getting my earphones tangled up in a big mess and a pouch to tuck them in seemed like a good idea.

Boris also has some illustrious family members. You might remember Benjamin, his little Nano-lovin' brother, and Big Ben, his cousin of Video cozying fame. Boris' feisty friend Bounce, prefers iPod shuffles. Who doesn't love bunnies?

And finally, Gregory the frog. Most frogs like flies, but Gregory loves earbuds. Just tuck the earbuds into his mouth and he'll gladly carry them around all day for you. Although it really doesn't matter what kind of music you listen to on your iPod, Gregory wants you to know he prefers hip hop. You know.... because he's a frog... and he likes to hop.... Ok, so I'm corny. Whatever.

About frogs
I've been partial to frogs ever since we moved into our home two years ago and found that our courtyard was inhabited by two adorable amphibians. We called them Mr. & Mrs. Chombagi (Chombagi means "spotted" in Korean) and followed their antics all spring and summer. Sadly, after they went into hibernation at the end of that summer, they didn't return. I'd been thinking of them again at the start of this spring, and casually drew up a pattern for Gregory before going off to Coffeest to meet Younghui.

Sometimes we meet to do our respective design work or sewing or knitting or whatever in some local cafe. On this particular day last week, Younghui was working on a logo next to me while I was stitching up Diablo. Gregory was still a half-sewn pile of felt when the owner of the cafe, who'd been sitting across the table from us, leaned over and asked (in Korean), "What are you making?" Younghui (Thanks!) became my interpreter and explained that I was making iPhone cozies.

Hereupon, the cafe-owner became very excited. Firstly, she loved the cozies, and would declare to anyone in the cafe who would listen, "Hey, look at these pouches for iPhones! Aren't they BEAUTIFUL?! Aren't they cute?! Do you need one?!" Finally, after a flurry of questions and inspections of my products, her companion plopped 25,000 Won (about $25) down in front of me and declared, "I want the frog." And so, Gregory got stitched up and sold right then and there. After attaching the snap buttons to his feet that evening, I returned to Coffeest the next day to drop him off with his new owner.

About gadget-love
Anyway the aforementioned exchange kind of prompted a weird Apple gadget geek orgy. The platform of choice in Korea is Microsoft, and the favored gadgets are made by local kings Samsung and LG, so to see such a convergence of Apple love was a little funny.
Roughly translated from Korean,
"Oh my god, you have the iPod Touch?! Can I see it?" exclaimed the cafe-owner.
"Sure," said I handing over the Touch.
"Hey look at this," the cafe-owner said to her companion, demonstrating the multi-touch features.
"Mmhmm," he says looking it over with interest before glancing up and exclaiming to Younghui,
"Oh, wow, you have a MacBook Air! I've never seen one before! Can I see?"
"Oh, sure, take a look," says Younghui.
"Oh, hey! That guy over there also has the iPod Touch!" the cafe-owner says, pointing across the room.
"Where? Oh, no I think that's an iPhone, it's a bit thicker...."
"No, not THAT guy, the one at the next table!"
"Oh, hey, right, that's funny, there are a lot of Apple products in one room here..."
"Yeah, the girl over THERE has a MacBook..."

Then it was my turn for gadget-envy, because I noticed that the man sitting at the table right behind me was holding the brand new Sigma DP1, the camera I'm drooling over at the moment.

That's one thing that's great about Seoul: It's a city of early-adopters who aren't shy about geeking out over gadgets. People love their gadgets in New York, but you can't be too public about it or you'll be asking to get mugged.

Some linkage:
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