Have you ever tried tapestry crochet? I read about it for the first time in issue six of Simply Crochet magazine. Tapestry crochet is similar to regular crochet, except that one or more yarns are carried while another is crocheted. The finished pieces look woven instead of crocheted. I immediately fell in love with the graphic patterns you can create with only the use of only double crochet stitches and lots of colour. As much as I like lacy, feminine crochet patterns (see my lacy coasters) I’m even more drawn to strong, sharp, repetitive designs like stripes, chevrons, diamonds and simple polka dots. Tapestry crochet lends itself to exactly that type of design.

There are some amazing things made with tapestry crochet. I love the shoulder bag, but I was blown away by the tapestry crochet vase by the tapestry crochet artist Caroline Routh!

For a first time project, the Cozy Up tablet cover by Vicky Brown published in Simply Crochet issue six was ideal for me. There are only three colours and you just need to make a rectangle shape for the front, a simple back and then work the edges together.  I struggled a bit with carrying the yarn and when to change colour, but luckily the American website www.tapestrycrochet.com has an excellent tutorial. The trick with changing colour in tapestry crochet is to think ahead, because you need to change to the new yarn colour while you still have two loops of the incomplete double crochet stitch on your hook. It doesn’t take very long to get used to working this way but at the beginning the brain juices were almost boiling – tapestry crochet made a nice challenging change from crocheting granny squares.

The nitty-gritty of my laptop sleeve:

Pattern: Cozy Up table cover by Vicky Brown published in Simply Crochet magazine issue 6 (May 2013)

Yarn: Vinnis Nikkim cotton DK in Avocado, Lilac and Stone

Crochet hook: 3.5 mm

Modifications: I adjusted the size to fit my Macbook Pro and also added an envelope style flap to the back panel that folds over to the front. In stead of a solid colour back, I added stripes in Avocado and Lilac. I also didn’t use double crochet to join the two sides, but rather used overhand stitches to sew it together.

Front

Back

The envelope style flap was easy to make. I just decreased a stitch on both sides of 10 rows. Now biscuit crumbs dust can’t get into the ports at the side.

Isn’t this apple button absolutely the best? I mean really? An apple button for an Apple Macbook! And it’s green! I can’t even remember where or when I got it, but I thank the gods of crochet for sending it to me.

I use my laptop sleeve every day to keep the Macbook snug & protected and to keep the laptop from scratching my Office Behind The Door table. No, I lie. The table doesn’t need protection from scratches – I just like looking at the apple button and I want to use my laptop sleeve as much as possible. It’s so pretty and I concentrated so hard to make those diamonds!

If you haven’t guessed, I worked on this blog post over the Easter weekend. Wonder what gave it away? 🙂