Laptop Sleeve Knitting Pattern with Pocket

Summer is back in Tbilisi, the season is wrapping up (I only do markets in the colder months, so the next one is still far away), and I finally sat down to do something I’d been putting off — writing patterns.

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I already have a few on Ravelry, selling slowly but steadily. This time I wanted to share the construction I’m probably most attached to: a knitted laptop sleeve with a built-in pocket.

Why this one? I once read an Instagram post that stuck with me — something like: if you have a favorite piece you love making but it never quite sells the way you hoped, turn it into a knitting pattern. That thought wouldn’t leave me alone. I love making these sleeves. The pocket construction in double knitting is genuinely fun — there’s a bit of suspense to it. But selling the finished object always came with the same problem: buyers couldn’t be sure it would fit their laptop. They rarely have it with them at a market, and not everyone has a MacBook.

Knitted laptop sleeve with button closure on a windowsill,
MacBook Air open in the background

A pattern solves that. You knit it yourself, you know your gauge, you know your laptop. I’ve made similar sleeves for Nintendo Switch too — the construction works for any device, it’s all about the size.

The pocket is almost as big as the sleeve itself — room for a notebook, a charger, whatever you’re carrying that day. I’d recommend a chunky yarn, so it knits up quickly and you don’t lose interest halfway through. I used Alize Superlana Maxi — 100 m (110 yds) per 100 g (3.5 oz).

I used to make these sleeves from macramé cord — polyester, stiff, very sturdy. Yarn is faster to knit, simpler to work with, and the finished sleeve ends up noticeably lighter. That said, cord has its own advantages, and I might write a separate pattern for it eventually — the construction has its own quirks that don’t apply here.