Simple Crochet Sweater ~ A Review by Crafty Cruella

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Today I’m writing a review on another designer’s pattern, find out why below…..

I picked up my hook & yarn ready to play around with stitches for my next design.  A jumper pattern was on my mind, but hold on!  Other than a Christmas jumper for my naked Santa, I hadn’t actually crocheted a jumper before, let alone design one!  Should I jump in with no knowledge at all? or practice? so that is when I decided to make one of my many favourite pinned patterns, but how would I choose?

Decisions, decisions!! This was hard, if you head over to my Pinterest boards, you’ll see I have loads and loads of lovely patterns that I will probably never get round to making.  I searched and kept coming back to the Simple Crochet Sweater by the very talented Breann over at Hooked on Homemade Happiness.

Breann has some gorgeous patterns on her blog, but this one in particular jumped out at me!  Just look at the back!

I loved making this sweater, and I’m really impressed with the finished look.  Breann’s instructions were clear and so easy to follow, she includes multiple sizing options, all with accurate measurements and yarn yardage.  You’ll also find loads of photos to help you along the way.  I particularly liked the way Breann reassures you, she reminds you that you don’t have to stick exactly to the pattern.  Hold it up! Try it on! and make it to fit your shape!

I decided to make an oversized sweater based on my current favourite in my wardrobe at the moment, big and baggy.  I measured my jumper and found Breann’s equivalent, the XL {I am a UK size 12-14 and I wanted baggy}.

I knew what yarn I wanted to use, my favourite colour Teal, I already had some in my stash that was just perfect!  I also love stripes as much as I love the colour teal, so chose two shades of grey, I used 4 {100g} skeins of the teal and only about 30-60g of each shade of grey.

Now to decide on stripe size??? Stripes all over?  Striped Back?  Striped arms?  My result…..plain teal arms, striped back and stripes on the top half of the front, a bit of a mix I know, but hey! My verdict I LOVE IT!

I made a couple of changes:

The Yarn.

Breann ~ Caron Simply Soft in Grey Heather – category 4 yarn – Aran – 5mm hook.

Me ~ Womens Institute {Hobbycraft} Premium Acrylic Yarn in Teal, Grey and Dark Grey – DK – 4mm hook.

Arms.

I didn’t follow Breann’s instructions here! this is what I did:

{US terms} I let my ch3 count as a stitch, made a double crochet into the next st and then DC in each st around, finishing the round with a slip stitch into the top of the 1st DC, this decreases by one stitch on each row and it turned out perfect!!

Colour.

Front: The pattern starts from the bottom and you work up to the neck.

For the ribbed rim part of the sweater, I started with a ch 14 and worked 13 sc into my chains, and followed Breann’s pattern.

Once I’d finished my rim I worked the beginning row of single crochets, then;

I worked 25 rows of double crochets in teal, 2 rows in grey, 4 rows in teal, 2 rows in dark grey, 4 rows in teal, 2 rows in grey, 4 rows in teal, 2 rows in dark grey, 4 rows in teal and lastly 2 rows in grey.

Back: As the front, work from the bottom.

So…after the rim and the beginning row of single crochets;

I worked 2 rows of double crochets in grey, 4 rows of double crochet (mesh) in teal, 2 rows of dark grey, 4 rows of mesh in teal, 2 rows of double crochet in grey……etc…… until I had 5 grey stripes and 4 dark grey stripes.

 

I’m so happy I finally made this sweater, it was a joy to crochet and I’m glad it was my first sweater!  It has now given me the confidence to design my own pattern!!

So all I have left to say is, thank you Breann from Hooked on Homemade Happiness for allowing me to use your photos and writing this review post.

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Happy Hooking!

Kelly x