My Ipod Nano exploits...

My relationship with my ipod/headphones has oft been complicated by airplane travel. First, after arriving in the UK from Kenya, I left my "travel bag" in the airplane. Contents?: eye mask (gift from a friend), favorite book light ever, Ipod Nano (gift from my parents), headphones. You cannot imagine the sadness when I realized it and tried to get back to the gate only to arrive and be told "nothing was left on the plane, and you cannot search it because its been 'cleared' and 'put away'" Sad. So I invested in another booklight (I had to search on Amazon to find it - I recently left the replacement somewhere in 2009 - if I left it at your house, let me know), I invested in a replacement Nano and repurchased the little attachments that I like to have on the end of my headphones. This fact is particularly important, because they come with a nice little carrying case in which I stored my headphones (and had done so on the old headphones, too).

So anyway, this is becoming a lot longer post than I meant. Nonetheless.... Secondly, I traveled a LOT in 2009. Frequently I would put my headphones (in case) and Nano into the pocket of the seat in front of me when looking for a book or crossword puzzle in my bag. On one of the trips this year, I moved seats between flight legs and suddenly realized that I had left the little headphone case (but not the headphones as I was listening to them at the time) in the seat pocket of the old seat.... only problem? No idea which of the 40 or so seats in that section was mine, and people boarding the plane. I recently looked for the little attachments at Best Buy (where I bought them before) but to no avail. I didn't think about looking online or maybe this story would be headed in a new direction.

Finally, on this most recent trip - the flight to San Antonio in particular, I pulled my headphones (sans case) out of my backpack to find that the one of the little attachement dealies was missing and I could not find it in the pocket of my backpack for the life of me. Not only that, but I noticed that my headphones were starting to stretch out and that the wires were exposed a little bit. I resolved to buy a new set of headphones. The new problem? I'm not willing to spend the $$ on a set of headphones that has a little case (and/or I could not find one for earbuds).

I decided that what I needed to do was MAKE a little drawstring bag with an interior pocket or something like that to hold my Ipod and headphones - and in particular, the little sized pieces that came with the new headphones I bought. So my grama and I headed to my favorite JoAnn Fabrics Superstore (at Desert Ridge Mall, in Phx, Az) to pick out some inexpensive fabric and I settled in to make a pattern and a plan. I love doing crafts, so this was a really fun project.

In the end, I created a prototype (with no pocket) that my brother claimed, a prototype with an oval bottom (with no pocket) that my dad claimed, a replica of the first version which was large enough to hold my mom's regular headphones (with cute pocket and little clip for her ipod shuffle), and finally a version for myself (with cute pocket) with though not intentionally bigger was indeed a bit bigger than I had planned..... so it fits my nano, headphones, and my camera. It actually turned out to be pretty great, the bag is padded, has a divided interior pocket, fits nicely in my backpack or purse. OH, and its really cute. Stay tuned for the next post with my "how I made it". Thanks for listening!