laptop « Chocolate Mints In a Jar

Five months in the making

Back in December of 09′ I said I wanted to learn crochet. One of the reasons was to make a laptop sleeve. Five months later, I actually made one. Literally five months later I picked up the yarn and a hook and started to crochet. I didn’t want to make the exact one. I wanted something personal, something simple and something me.

So without further ado ; *drum roll please* TaDaaaaaa!

Are you jealous?

Don’t you just love those big brown wooden buttons. I love buttons, I love wood buttons, I love huge over sized buttons, not only am I a yarn lover, I am a button lover. I need button therapy. Do you want to make one?

Keep reading.

This isn’t really a pattern but more of a tutorial.

Step 1: Supplies

Get your supplies ready. For this you will need:

Yarn
Appropriate crochet hook
Scissors
Ruler
Laptop (you could always use the measurements but I think measuring against the thing itself is easier)
Buttons
Felt for the lining (this is optional but it gives added protection against any falls, it also gives the sleeve some structure)

Step 2: Starting

Start chaining until the chain is as long as your laptop is wide. Count your chains, if they are an odd number chain one more to make them even.

Chain one more, turn and sc all the way back to the first chain. Keep going until the fabric measures half the height of the laptop. You could go all the way but I wanted the seam to be in the middle because I originally had a totally different design in mind.

Step 3: Making the textured fabric

If you look closely you will notice that the stitch is not a plain single crochet one. It’s a textured one. It is easy, make sure your piece is right side facing then make a row of double crochets, now turn, the fabric should be wrong side facing. Chain one, dc in next stitch, slip stitch in next stitch, keep going until the end. You should finish on a slip stitch into the top chain of the chain 3 (first dc).

Keep alternating between a row of double crochets and a row of (slip stitch – dc)s until the textured part can cover your laptop.

If you only worked half the height in single crochet go ahead and work another half.

When you are done sc around the whole thing once for a cleaner finish.

Step 4: Adding the lining

Place the fabric flat on the table with the felt underneath it. Mark the rectangle on the felt using a ruler, cut and pin the felt to the crochet. Now sew them together.

Fold the whole thing and sew it together long sides together. I only sewed the crochet together, I am not sure why but at the time I thought it would be easier and cleaner. You now have a tube like thing. Congratulations, you are almost there.

Step 4: Make a gusset ( the bottom closing bit)

Insert your laptop in the tube and count the number of stitches on the bottom. Make a chain that long, chain 1, turn and sc back and forth until the gusset is big enough to close the sleeve at the bottom.

Sew the gusset to the rest of the sleeve.

Step 5: Making the flap

Make a slip stitch into the first stitch on the back side of the sleeve. Kind of difficult to explain but I hope the picture makes it easy to understand. This should be the firs sc after the textured bit. Sc all the way until the textured bit starts again, turn.

You have several options here. You can either work it in only single crochet or you can repeat the textured bit. I wanted the textured bit so I kept working until it was long enough to close over the laptop and there was an extra bit more, I switch back to single crochet so I could make the button holes. Then I just did another two rows of single crochets then a row of double crochets and finished with a row of (slips stitches and dcs) I liked the bobbly edge.