When your significant other is a Subaru fan and you are able, you crochet a Subaru sweater. Right?
Inspiration and Design
A long time ago in an earth that seems far away, my husband asked for a crochet sweater with the Subaru rally logo. My husband is very crochet worthy, so, I agreed. Of course, this meant that we had to go to Joann’s to pick out some yarn.
Request, check!
Yarn, check!
Sweater?
Well, that took two years. I shall neither confirm or deny how petrified I was of designing a Subaru color-work sweater. Granted, ideas flowing faster than the speed of light didn’t quite help with the design element. Finally in 2021, I bit the bullet and just started the darn thing.
Can you feel the love? Well, when insecurities mock you, you have to grab your crochet hook and just start! Admittedly, deciding that I was only making this Subaru sweater for my husband lessened the anxiety.
I think the inspiration behind the sweater is pretty clear. My husband loves his 2018 WRX and a sweater displays that perfectly.
When it comes to the design, it’s entirely based on his measurements. At least, as close as you can get when making a top down yoke sweater.
Did I take good notes? Of course not! Still, don’t lose hope, I will walk you through how I made a crochet Subaru sweater.
It’s an exciting ride so hold on to your yarn and hook.
The Yarn
As previously mentioned hubs picked out the yarn. He wanted a color that resembled Lapis Blue Pearl, it’s the cars color. Olympic in Lionbrand heartland was as closest color we found that day.
While this was the only yarn we found, it’s a good color choice for a single stitch sweater. The heather effect adds visual interest. Alas, It wasn’t the overall perfect yarn. It pilled horribly during the washer, dryer process. It’s a halo that I can’t get rid of. So, something to consider.
Six balls of Olympic and 1 of a gold basic stitch yarn, we are ready. Well, almost ready for our crochet Subaru Sweater.
Construction of the crochet Subaru Sweater
A plan! I do not have it… When I endeavored on this sweater making journey I knew 3 things:
- It needed to be Top down
- in the round, and use
- sc BLO stitch.
Seems easy enough. Once you add in a Subaru Rally logo chart, you are ready to start.
Before we dive into Subaru crochet sweater land, I would like to remind you that this is very much a “how I made this” post. To quote Pirates of the Caribbean. “hang the code, they are more like guidelines anyway…”
Was that a direct quote? Perhaps not, but you get the idea.
Notes:
- I’m sharing how I made this sweater for my husband, not a complete pattern.
- It’s only in one size.
- For the Subaru logo, follow the chart. Each square represents a scBLO stitch.
- Black represents your CC and white your MC.
- I did experiment with short rows for the neckline but you don’t have too.
- Mark the first stitch, remember to move the marker up with each rnd.
Materials:
- As stated above; 6 skeins of your MC and 1 of your CC.
- MC is Lionbrand Heartland in the color Olympic.
- Of the 6 skeins 5 full ones were used and 18g of the 6th one.
- Only 15g of the CC were used.
- 5mm and 4.5mm hook
- tape measure
- scissors
- Subaru Rally Logo
Measurements
chest – 47”
length – 25.5”
Upper arm – 14.5″
Stitch / Abbreviations
- ch – chain
- scBLO – single crochet back loop only
- sc – single crochet
- ch – chain
- inc – increase
- MC – main color
- CC – contrasting color
- FPdc – front post double crochet
- BPdc – Back post double crochet
How I made the Subaru Crochet Sweater
Firstly, I did a gauge swatch 14 sts x 14 rows measure over a 4×4 square done in a 5mm hook. This gives a per 1” measurement of 3.5 stitches and rows. Multiply your per 1” measurement by your desired chest. Before you forget, also add in your upper arm measurement. Remember, this is a top down yoke sweater, we need to account for our armholes.
Yes, I did initially forget, luckily I hadn’t started the colorwork.
Oh, also measure your neck opening. This measurement multiplied by your 1” stitch count gives you an idea of where to start.
Now, I would like to say that I did all the above steps, but in the spirit of honesty, I just went for it and kept increasing until the yoke was wide enough to fit around his chest and arms.
Real classy, I know. But I did note down some of my experiments for your reading pleasure. As with any top down sweater we begin with our Neckline.
Neckline
Ch 70 and join in the round.
Sc in each ch, sl st to join in the rnd. 70
These next instructions are for those who wish to try short rows. I completed a total of 3 short rows before starting with the yoke proper.
Try on the circle and mark your collarbone at the front, between 3 to 5” should suffice.
- Sc to 1 stitch before marker, sl st in marked stitch (replace marker) , ch1 and turn; repeat from * once more.
- Sc to the marked stitch, sl st in next (replace marker here), ch1 and turn; repeat from * once more.
The short rows described above are the ones I did, but there are other ways to complete short rows. Of course, you could avoid them all together and just proceed to the yoke.
Yoke
From this point the entirety of the sweater is worked in scBLO, except for the ribs, these are done alternating front post, back post dc.
For the yoke I alternated between increase rows and 2 rows of no increases. These were worked as follows:
- *ScBLO in next 2 stitches, inc; repeat from *
- 2 rows of scBLO no increases.
I did this until I had around 220 stitches.
Keep in mind that you will need 78 stitches to complete the Subaru chart for this crochet sweater.
Once the increases were complete I counted the number of stitches for chest/back and armholes, and divided for the sleeves. For this I simply crocheted until I reached the armhole slot, ch4, skipped these stitches and sl stitched to the next body stitch.
After separating for the sleeves, I started following the colorwork chart for the front of the sweater.
Note: I did not carry the gold/yellow yarn all the way around the sweater. I cut it off after every row.
Body
Switch to 4.5mm hook to bring the sweater in just a tiny bit and continue workin scBLO to 2” before your desired length.
Following this we will work a front post/back post rib for 2” and the body of the sweater is complete! Fasten off and cut your yarn
Next stop, sleeve Island.
Sleeves (make 2 )
Using your 4.5mm hook, work around the armhole in scBLO ( I had 54 stitches) , it’s up to you wether to join in the round or work in a spiral, I worked in a spiral.
After 11 rnds of scBLO I started decreasing to bring in the sleeve.
Tip: measure around the arm at different points to determine how many stitches you need to decrease.
Continue working scBLO in the rnd until you are 2” before your desired arm length. Work your rib. Fasten off, cut yarn, weave in ends.
If you, like me, worked in acrylic yarn simply chuck your sweater in the washer and dryer and you are done! If you know your yarn gets a halo or pill please don’t do this, instead lay flat to dry or steam block.
Here I’m wearing The Eat Cake Sweater, a favorite of mine.
