Garments Galore

After much uh-ming and ahing, I decided to make my first blog post about crochet garments. Like many would be crocheters, I started my adventure with granny squares and simple single crochet scarves, at the time I was a freshman in college and living in Puerto Rico, I had no use for scarves. Thus my venture into crochet died without so much as a bang. Fast forward 3 years and I found myself  in the vastness of upstate New York, meaning I was freezing my whose it and whats its off. I name these the crochet revival years, hats and scarves for everybody! Had to keep some blood flowing in negative deegres!

The second hat I ever crocheted for myself. I don’t know what happened to it, but I really loved this cloche beanie.

The first scarf I ever crocheted for my brother, clearly I knew nothing about yardage and gauge at this point.

Lets do another time skip, this time to 2014, this year I officially became a Master (MA in Museum Studies) and I picked up crochet full time to keep my sanity from being stolen by uncle SAM and Job searching (job searching is HELL, no joke).  Having moved back to Puerto Rico, my crochet consisted mostly of rugs and house accessories (which I still love) but this one track crochet changed when I discovered the adult crochet sweater video by bobwilson123. Then, my crafting life became all about the garments!

Version 1 of Adult Crochet Sweater

Version 2 of Adult Crochet Sweater

I proceeded to complete 3 versions of this pattern. One, (on the left hand side) I did using some left over Lionbrand Heartland, Worsted weight acrylic, H hook size and I started the yoke with 76 chains. For the second version, (right hand side) I used a cotton bamboo blend, Frog Tree Picoboo, (sadly this yarn has been discontinued, I really loved it too!) and a G hook size (4.25mm) and I used 88 chains to begin with. No real adjustments made to either version, I simply did not crochet the sweater with long sleeves as this was completely impractical and unnecessary for Puerto Rico weather.

For the third version I went all out!

I made this version using about 250 g of fingering weight yarn. This version of the Adult crochet sweater I made using 100% wool yarn. The main body of the sweater is crocheted using a 95% Romney Lambswool 5% Shetland blend in the Autumn Leaves colorway. Although the colorway is named the same, they were dyed at two different points, hence the color blocking. In hindsight, I should have probably alternated skeins, but oh well, the yarn is still beautiful and was a dream to work with. This yarn was dyed by Kathryn of the crafternoontreats blog, a personal friend and one of  my favorite dyers.

For the version shown I made several adjustments, I treated the yarn as a sport weight or light dk and that is because being woolen spun this yarn is much thicker than a normal fingering weight yarn. I worked a chain of 88 as established in the pattern, but I used a 3.75mm crochet hook for the yoke. Once I completed the yoke, I switched to a 3.5 mm hook for some shaping and once I reached my waist area I switched to a 3.25mm hook to tuck the shirt in even more. The ribbing on the sleeves and on the body I made using a 3.25 mm hook and Cascade Heritage yarn, yes the difference between these two bases is massive but it worked out well in the end.

Having crocheted the Adult Crochet Sweater three times and using three different yarn blends, I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to dip their toes into crochet garment making. The pattern is so versatile, the look completely changes depending on the yarn blend that you choose. Crochet garments do not have to be bulky and shapeless, this is merely bad rep, Yes, the nature of the stitches will yield a thicker fabric than say, a knit garment, but it does not mean we can’t work up casual, comfortable or even elegant designs with crochet, it all depends on the yarn! So go ahead and make that crochet garment you have always been dreaming about making, you won’t regret it!

Happy Crafting,

Clarisabeth – crochetcakes