Over the last three months, I have been crocheting a cardigan sweater for myself. To be honest, I don’t totally love it, but I am very happy to announce that I finally completed this project today. There were several moments when I was more than a little tempted to abandon it, but overall I’m glad I stuck it out.
I used THIS pattern for my sweater, and although the cardigan itself isn't so bad, I actually wouldn't recommend this pattern to anyone, especially to those with little to no vision, and/or left handed crocheters, even if you are diligent at preparing your pattern before you begin the project. I figured it out eventually, but if I had any less vision than I do, I'm not sure I would have been able to complete it - mainly because the "lace" parts of the directions aren't written out at all - they're just drawn with little symbols representing different stitches in an accompanying diagram. The openwork really wasn't all that difficult once I decoded the symbols and reversed everything in my head (since I'm a left-handed crocheter and thus, work everything in the opposite direction), so I'm not sure why they couldn't have just written it out. It seems to me that constructing that diagram would have been a lot more work than just writing out the instructions.
Also, in dealing with this project, I was reminded why I am not a big fan of patterns that say things like, "repeat until piece measures 8 centimeters"; I much prefer patterns that give a specific number of rows to make. I can feel rows easily to count them, but I'm not such a good guesser of size (and I have a tough time seeing the tiny centimeter lines on a ruler to get an accurate measurement).
I used LionBrand: Vanna's Choice yarn in Taupe Mist to make my cardigan, instead of the Drops Muskat (a lighter - DK - weight Egyptian cotton) yarn the pattern called for (mostly because, I couldn't find any of that yarn which probably would have been better for this project). Because I naturally crochet rather tightly, the gauge for the pattern was correct when I used a size F hook, so I didn't expect to have to make any other compensations for the slightly thicker yarn.
Unfortunately though, the reason this project took me so long to complete is that I ended up having to do a lot of tailoring to the pattern in order to get the sweater fit me correctly. I actually ended up making almost the whole thing at least twice (and some parts three times) to get the size right for me. Apparently I have narrow shoulders (and a small chest), so while the lower three-quarters of the sweater fit fine, the top-most part of the size small sweater was too big and thus fit me awkwardly the first time around. The arms (particularly their length) gave me some trouble too, so they were re-made several times as well. It all fits much better after slightly modifying everything, but all-in-all it still didn't turn out quite like I thought it would. I'm sure I will still wear it sometimes though, since it is a soft, warm sweater.
P.S. I only used one button (and thus only made one button hole) near the center/chest, instead of having a whole row of buttons all down the front, since I never button my cardigan sweaters all the way up anyway.
I used THIS pattern for my sweater, and although the cardigan itself isn't so bad, I actually wouldn't recommend this pattern to anyone, especially to those with little to no vision, and/or left handed crocheters, even if you are diligent at preparing your pattern before you begin the project. I figured it out eventually, but if I had any less vision than I do, I'm not sure I would have been able to complete it - mainly because the "lace" parts of the directions aren't written out at all - they're just drawn with little symbols representing different stitches in an accompanying diagram. The openwork really wasn't all that difficult once I decoded the symbols and reversed everything in my head (since I'm a left-handed crocheter and thus, work everything in the opposite direction), so I'm not sure why they couldn't have just written it out. It seems to me that constructing that diagram would have been a lot more work than just writing out the instructions.
Also, in dealing with this project, I was reminded why I am not a big fan of patterns that say things like, "repeat until piece measures 8 centimeters"; I much prefer patterns that give a specific number of rows to make. I can feel rows easily to count them, but I'm not such a good guesser of size (and I have a tough time seeing the tiny centimeter lines on a ruler to get an accurate measurement).
I used LionBrand: Vanna's Choice yarn in Taupe Mist to make my cardigan, instead of the Drops Muskat (a lighter - DK - weight Egyptian cotton) yarn the pattern called for (mostly because, I couldn't find any of that yarn which probably would have been better for this project). Because I naturally crochet rather tightly, the gauge for the pattern was correct when I used a size F hook, so I didn't expect to have to make any other compensations for the slightly thicker yarn.
P.S. I only used one button (and thus only made one button hole) near the center/chest, instead of having a whole row of buttons all down the front, since I never button my cardigan sweaters all the way up anyway.
Wow, you had to basically change the entire pattern for yourself, ugh. I wouldn't blame you if you'd frogged the whole thing and used a different pattern. It looks nice and comfy, though. :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I stuck with it because I liked the openwork design - I could have borrowed that aspect and used it with a different pattern, but I couldn't find another one I liked the look of as much as I liked this one. Needless to say, the sweater in the pattern picture looks nicer than mine.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part of it was that I couldn't tell for sure if I would need to change the size until it was practically all sewn together. The measurements the pattern gives for sizes are fine for me. And while just holding the different panels up to myself they seemed like they'd be okay too. It was only when it started coming together that the awkward fit of te upper part became obvious.
Oh rats, I'm left-handed, too. That would be challenging.
ReplyDeleteFor crocheting this project left-handed you basically just need to read the accompanying diagram from right to left instead of left to right (or copy it into a photo-editing program and flip it). It was a little confusing when I first looked at it, but I quickly got the hang of it while doing the first "lace" section. All of the others are worked the same.
ReplyDelete