FO: Ashlar crochet cardigan

Pattern: Ashlar Crochet Cardigan, by Robin Chachula, available free here.

Yarn: Cascade 220 heathers in Jet (Main color,) Kansas, and Deep sea.  Regular Cascade 220 in Siena.

Hook: E (3.5 mm?)

Notes: I had a really hard time getting photos of this sweater – it was too sunny and awfully windy.  But I think you get the idea!  I really love how this turned out.  I decided to make it because I loved the idea of a traditional round yoked cardigan done crochet style, and I am not disappointed at all!  Cascade 220 is a great yarn to crochet with – it’s economical (important for crochet, which eats yarn) yet all natural.

I had a pretty hard time making it through the yoke – written crochet directions are long, so I prefer charts – but the charts in this case were hard for me because it sometimes showed all the repeats, and sometimes not, making for much confusion.  I will also say that the gauge swatch was useless, since it seems that the sweater doesn’t really use the rows of the swatch pattern in order.  I ended up dropping 3 hook sizes from my swatch to get the correct size.  I recommend casting on, doing  a few rows, and then measuring your back neck length – that’s what I had to do.  Fortunately crochet is quick.  It’s also important to count your stitches after every row of the yoke – I kept forgetting to do that, and then having to rip back.

I mostly followed the pattern, with one important deviation.  The pattern calls for using hooks and eyes to close the sweater, with dummy buttons sewed to the outside.  I liked the idea of the dummy buttons, but I hate hooks and eyes.  They are really hard to sew on, and they never stay shut for me.  So I just sewed  the yoke shut – it’s not as though I’m going to want to wear this thing open anyway.  The neck opening is wide enough that it easily goes over my head.  I used 2 big yellow-ish buttons that I have been saving for years – they were too big to function, but perfect for this project!

I ended up with something like a 33″ bust – a little bigger than the pattern because my fronts do not overlap at all.  The yoke rides up a little sometimes, but not more than anything with a round yoke.  I think this is easily the nicest crocheted garment I have made!