My First Cardigan Sweater Achieved, With Room For Improvement

Accomplishing goals, I crocheted a sweater. The next sound you hear is that of bells chiming, cheers of the crowd clapping frantically. Yes she did it. To no surprise, it took some effort on my part, a few tweaks to the pattern, many hours of measuring and remeasuring.

I purchased the yarn from a fellow knitting guild member, not knowing what I would make with it. Bright royal blue yarn caught my eye immediately. I decided to wind the yarn from the cones to cakes to get a better visual.

Scanning through emails, I found a sweater pattern to crochet. I read it, looked at the difficulty, and decided to give it a try. Remember, I have no idea how much yarn I have to work with. Called Summer’s End Crochet Cardigan by Crystal Marin. Find it on her website, christacodesign.com or if you prefer Ravelry, it’s a paid pattern there.

The sweater pattern calls for 2 rectangle panels. That works great for me, as I have 2 cakes of yarn. I began by crocheting one panel, measuring the length as I went. The second panel crocheted quickly. In little time, both panels were done.

sweater panels stitched together

Memorizing the pattern was easy, and I was crocheting the sweater in no time. I had a goal for the sweater to be finished, our nephew graduating high school.

A few bumps along the way, the length works, but it needs to be wider, for example, I decided to add a row of double crochet along the length of the panels. That made the panel wider by a couple inches.

sweater back

As I am stitched the panels together, the seam was quite visible, as a result, the next sweater I crochet, more detail will be put into assembly. I single crocheted several rounds to create sleeves. The sweater almost done, something was missing. With the leftover yarn, I added a row of double crochet along the front panels and finished off with picot edging.

close up of picot edge

I finished my first sweater within a week of our nephew’s high school graduation. To go with the sweater, I sewed a maxi skirt with fabric I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Little did I know, the royal blue matched perfectly in the skirt to the sweater.

Sweater, and sewed skirt

Final note: this was an easy pattern to follow.. I did not add hem to base of sweater and I added a picot edge. The sweater accented for the skirt, the sleeves covered enough of my arms and it hung nicely against my body.

Why are these 2 cats posing alike?

Baggy cat, 13 yrs old

Gizmo kitty, 2 years old
Kathy Bartholomew