Show Your Laptop the Love It Deserves

 

Made with love – my knit-felted laptop sleeve

 

It´s almost a year ago that I got myself a new laptop, a MacBook, and I freely admit that I absolutely love it!

I´m not considering to marry it, like some guys I know do though. 😉

When I was confronted with the quest for a new laptop sleeve that should adorn it, I discovered that nothing really seemed to suit me. Of course, some printed designs were actually quite nice, but I very much dislike the stench of plastic most of the offered neoprene sleeves exude. And since my old laptop sleeve really looked kind of battered, I made do with an impromptu sleeve cut and sewn from an unused towel. This of course, was still no way to represent my ever growing love for my MacBook and so I decided to go a bit further and invest some time, money and effort to create my own unique sleeve.

 

Putting my laptop in its new sleeve always feels a bit like tucking it into bed. 😉

 

Don´t only ask what your laptop can do for you, but what YOU can do for your laptop

 

As you all know, I love crafting and creating things, and therefore it´s only natural that I also love knitting. (Somehow I always manage to only ever pick up those needles during winter though.)

Last winter I knit-felted a pair of slippers  which are still in good use and don´t show much signs of wearing although I assure you that they are worn very often.

 

My handmade, knit-felted slippers

 

The wool you use for knit-felting is not only very resistent but also water-repellent – as numerous unintended experiments with my slippers proofed. 😉

Which brought me to the idea that it would actually be the perfect material for a laptop sleeve.

I had some leftovers from the wool I used for the slippers but it clearly wasn´t enough. So a quick visit to my favorite DIY store was in order where I decided that grey would actually be very nice as a basic color.

Before you start knitting though, it´s important to consult the knitting instructions on the label to make sure that you don´t end up with too small or big a piece. The wool I use usually shrinks about 35 % after the washing (felting).

 

Safely protected on both sides by thick but non-too-thick covers of wool.

 

The rectangular piece I knitted was over a meter long and at some point I was wondering whether or not I was actually knitting a bedspread instead of a laptop sleeve. 😉 Of course this was then halfed because I had to sew it together on two sides, taking care to leave the third side open where afterwards I wanted to insert a zipper.

Although I trusted my calculations, and had some experience with this kind of wool, I put the gigantic thing not only with some detergent but also quite a big amount of doubt into the washing machine.

 

I just love the colors and texture of my new laptop sleeve.

 

In the end, all went well, I even had to adjust it a little and pull it a bit longer so it would close around the laptop, which you can easily do as long as it´s still damp.

If you wonder why it´s not a close fit, that´s because I wanted there to be a bit of room for my adapter and cable too.

 

 

And what is also great about my new sleeve is, that when I now sit in a café or library and get my laptop out, I don´t have to do it with supernatural speed anymore because I don´t want anyone to see my hideous towel sleeve. 😉