Crochet Sweater

I finished the sweater that I started so long ago! I had started working on it in May of 2009. And then life got in the way. But I picked it back up again this Summer.

It's been a long time since I have crocheted anything. Since my children were quite small. I taught myself to crochet from Woman's Day magazine when I was 11 years old. Mom always subscribed to that magazine and one issue had instructions, step by step.

Back then we used to take 'Sunday Drives' in the countryside. Mom, Dad, and all of us little girls would pile in the station wagon and take a nice drive and if we were good, we could get an ice cream. We would sometimes stop at old abandoned farms and look around. Dad always wanted to buy a farm. At one old farm for sale, we went inside the old farm house. In those days, doors were never locked! We looked around opening up cupboards and dreaming of how we would decorate. In one upstairs bedroom, we opened the closet and on the top shelf was an old basket. Inside the basket was a really old wooden mortar and pestle, and a cloth bag full of crochet hooks and some yarn. We took it home. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do, but clearly they were abandoned, as the house was completely empty except for that little basket. Mom gave me the crochet hooks, as she didn't crochet. She kept the wooden mortar and pestle on her beautiful desk.

I have the desk now and the old mortar and pestle. And I taught myself to crochet with the help of those long ago abandoned crochet hooks. I still have them.

Here is the sweater in June. I was unsure how it would come out, as I was very rusty in my skills. The  hardest part was decreasing the neckline to form the V-neck. But I followed the directions step by step. And it came out perfect.

The pattern is from the May 2009 issue of Crochet magazine. The pattern is called 'Spring Green Sweater'. I have looked it up on-line and you can still get it as a back issue at www.crochetmagazine.com . I used the yarn in the directions; Red Heart 'Soft Yarn', medium (worsted) weight by Coats and Clark. It is 100% acrylic and machine washable, although I will hand wash it to keep it looking nice. It is very soft, almost like Angora. I chose acrylic because it was affordable and I didn't want to worry about moths. I bought 6 skeins, but I had approx. one left over.

It was done entirely in double crochet with a very easy and pretty shell stitch edging. It actually worked up fast, but because I didn't work on it often, it took so long.

The sleeves have a double row of shell stitching at the ends. It is loose fitting, styled like a 'swing' coat and the hem hits at the top of the hip. Being petite, I like shorter length tops. But you could easily make it longer with just a few more rows.

This is the double row of shells at the end of the sleeve. This sweater is more like a little coat and looks pretty with a solid colored tee underneath.

The little flower is constructed in a circle and is used as the closure at the neckline by slipping a button into the center.

Hubby was so amazed that I had turned some little balls of yarn into something to wear. He had watched me work on it and when I was done he told me how impressed he was because he had never made anything himself. I looked at him for a minute in surprise, and then I told him to look around. Because he had built this house. 'Oh', he said. 'I forgot.' But it was sweet of him to be so enthusiastic!