I’ve been on 2 camping trips so far this summer, one in Powell, Idaho in June, and one last weekend at Loon Lake. I thought camping required a different kind of knitting, something easy and brainless that you can knit at dusk around the campfire or early in the morning when the sun is up but you haven’t had your instant coffee yet.

I’ve got an ancient laptop at home and no wireless connection at my house (gasp!), so when I want to check my e-mail or browse Ravelry on the weekends, I have to haul my old laptop to the nearest coffee shop with wireless. I hate the strap on my current laptop bag, it digs into my shoulder, so I usually just drop my laptop into a tote and go, which isn’t the best idea. I know my elderly laptop deserves better.

So when I saw giftable’s adorable monster laptop bag on Ravelry, inspiration struck. A sea of stockinette in the round seemed totally simple, even for a newbie like me. She hasn’t written a pattern for this project, so I’m just kind of winging it. So far, so good, we’ll see what happens when I get up to the button holes and shaping for the face.

I’m using Main Line, the cotton blend is perfect for summer knitting, and I had a ton of Red Velvet Cake in my stash, which seemed like an appropriate monster color.

Casting on this laptop bag turned out to be an especially serendipitous choice when Miriam came to visit last week. She taught me how to switch from throwing (English style knitting) to picking (Continental style), (there’s even video to prove it!) and this project gives me lots of opportunities to practice. I wonder if you’ll be able to see the change in my gauge in the finished monster? Maybe it will look like scales!

There are little bits of dirt and moss in my knitting from all the traveling outdoors, but I don’t think my laptop will mind, do you? <