Feb
What You Actually Need Before Starting
So I made my first cardigan in spring 2022 when I was stuck at home with nothing to do and honestly it turned out way better than I expected. You’re gonna need a bigger hook than you think – I used a 6mm hook with some Red Heart Super Saver in that grey color called Heather Grey I think? The yarn was scratchy at first but whatever it softened up after washing.
Get like 6-8 skeins depending on your size. I’m a medium and used 7 skeins but I also made the sleeves longer because I hate when cardigans have those weird short sleeves that end at a random spot on your arm.
You also need:
- Stitch markers or just use safety pins
- Scissors obviously
- A yarn needle for weaving in ends
- Measuring tape
The Basic Shape Thing
Okay so the easiest way to make a cardigan is basically making a giant rectangle. Like you’re not doing anything fancy with shaping or whatever – just a big rectangle that you fold and seam in specific places. I learned this after trying to follow an actual pattern and getting completely lost in all the abbreviations and stitch counts.
The rectangle needs to be wide enough to go across your back and down both fronts. So like if you measure across your back shoulder to shoulder that’s maybe 16 inches, then add the width you want for each front panel. I did about 10 inches for each front so that’s 16 + 10 + 10 = 36 inches total width.
Length is easier – just measure from your neck to wherever you want the cardigan to end. Mine was about 26 inches because I wanted it to hit right at my hips.
Starting The Rectangle
Chain until you get the length you want – so for my 26 inch length I chained like 80 something stitches? I didn’t count perfectly which was probably dumb but it worked out. The thing that really annoyed me about this whole process was that the foundation chain kept twisting and I kept having to untwist it and restart like four times.
Once you have your chain, just do single crochet or double crochet in every stitch. I used double crochet because it works up faster and I was binge watching Succession at the time and wanted to actually finish before the finale.
Keep going row after row. Seriously just back and forth making rows until your rectangle is as wide as you measured earlier. For me that was 36 inches so I just kept measuring every few rows until I got there.
Don’t Worry About Tension
Your tension is gonna be all over the place and that’s fine. My first like 10 rows were way tighter than the rest but once you wash it and wear it nobody can tell. Just try to keep it consistent-ish as you go.
Folding and Figuring Out Where The Sleeves Go
This is where it gets kinda confusing but also weirdly simple. Lay your rectangle flat on the floor or bed or wherever. My cat kept sitting on it which was annoying.
You’re gonna fold it so the short ends meet in the middle-ish area. But don’t fold it exactly in half – you want the two front panels to meet but not overlap too much. So like if your rectangle is 36 inches wide and you fold it, each front panel should be about 10 inches and they’ll meet in the middle with your 16 inch back section behind them.
The armholes are just the spaces you leave unseamed on the sides. Measure down from the folded edge about 8-9 inches and put a stitch marker there. That’s where you’ll stop seaming for the armhole.
Seaming The Sides
Use your yarn needle and the same yarn you crocheted with. Start at the bottom corner and whip stitch or slip stitch up the side until you get to your marker. Then stop – that open space is your armhole.
Do the same on the other side. Now you should have something that looks vaguely like a vest with really big armholes.
Try It On
Put it on and see how it fits. The armholes might be too big or too small. If they’re too big you can seam up a bit more. If they’re too small… well you gotta take out some stitches which sucks but better to fix it now.
Adding Sleeves If You Want Them
I almost left mine as a vest but decided to add sleeves because it was still kinda cold in spring. You can either crochet sleeves separately and seam them on, or you can pick up stitches around the armhole and crochet directly onto the cardigan.
I did the pick up stitches method because I’m lazy. Just insert your hook into the edge of the armhole, yarn over, pull through, and chain one. Then keep single crocheting around the entire armhole edge. You’ll probably get like 40-50 stitches around depending on your armhole size.
Once you’ve gone around the whole armhole, join with a slip stitch and then start working in rounds. Just keep going round and round, making the sleeve as long as you want. I decreased a few stitches as I went down the arm so it wasn’t super baggy at the wrist – maybe decrease 4 stitches every 10 rounds or something? I didn’t follow a specific pattern I just decreased when it looked too wide.
The Neckline Situation
The neck on this style is gonna be kind of wide and off the shoulder-ish unless you add a collar or edging. I left mine as is because I liked the drapey look but you can definitely single crochet around the entire front opening and neck edge to make it more finished looking.
If you do add edging, just pick up stitches along the entire front edge starting at the bottom right, going up around the neck, and down the left side. Then single crochet back along the same path. You can do multiple rows if you want a thicker border.
Yarn Choices That Actually Matter
That Red Heart Super Saver I used was cheap but it worked fine. Later in summer 2024 I made another one with Lion Brand Wool-Ease in one of those heathered colors and it was softer but also more expensive obviously. If you want something that’s not acrylic maybe try Lion Brand Basic Stitch or even… wait what’s that other brand, the one with the sheep on the label? Whatever you’ll find it.
Avoid anything too fuzzy or with a weird texture for your first one. You want to be able to see your stitches clearly or you’ll mess up the count and not even realize it until way later.
Washing and Blocking
Just throw it in the washing machine on gentle with cold water. I use regular detergent nothing special. Then lay it flat to dry on a towel or over a drying rack.
Blocking makes it look more professional but I’m honest I usually skip this step unless I’m making something for someone else. If you wanna block it just pin it out to the right measurements while it’s damp and let it dry that way.
Common Problems I Had
The biggest issue was the front panels being uneven lengths. Like my right side ended up about an inch longer than my left side because my tension was different or I miscounted rows or something. You can fix this by either adding a row to the shorter side or just trimming the longer side if you haven’t already seamed everything.
Also my sleeves were way too tight at first because I didn’t pick up enough stitches around the armhole. Had to rip them out and redo them which was frustrating but whatever that’s part of learning.
The yarn ends were everywhere and weaving them all in took longer than I expected. Just do it as you go instead of saving them all for the end like I did.
Making It Look Less Homemade
Add buttons even if they’re non-functional. I got some big wooden buttons from the craft store and just sewed them onto the right front panel. They don’t actually close anything but they make it look more intentional.
Pockets are surprisingly easy to add too. Just crochet two rectangles about 5×6 inches and seam them onto the front panels wherever you want pockets. I put mine kind of low and angled slightly which looks better than straight across.
Time Investment Reality
This took me like two weeks working on it most evenings for a couple hours. If you’re faster or have more time you could probably finish in a week. The actual crocheting of the rectangle is mindless and goes quick but the assembly and adding sleeves takes longer than you’d think.
Don’t start this project the week before you need to wear it somewhere. Give yourself time to mess up and fix things and maybe even start over if the first attempt is truly terrible.
