Dobby’s Hooded Cardigan!
My goal as a designer is to create beginner-friendly, size-inclusive patterns that are simple, quick & fun to create! With fewer parts to sew together and simple stitches, my hope is for you to truly enjoy the experience of creating something rather than getting stressed out, frustrated or bored! I hope you enjoy this project as much as I enjoyed designing it and I can’t wait to see your creations!
This pattern was created for Furls Crochet as part of their 2021 blog hop! I used their amazingly soft Whims Merino Crochet Yarn – Superwash Merino And Nylon in worsted weight (4) in Purple, Periwinkle, Spearmint, Mustard and Pink! I also used my 10mm Furls Taurus Streamline Swirl!
I also filmed a live crochet-a-long for this cardigan, so if you’d like, you can follow along and make one with me here on my YouTube channel!
Sizing: XXS/XS(XS/S,S/M,M/L,L/XL,XL/2X,2X/3X,3X/4X,4X/5X)
Estimated Bust Measurements: (Bust x Length)
- XXS/XS 26.5″ x 18″
- XS/S 30″W x 18″
- S/M 33.5” x 18”
- M/L 39” x 19”
- L/XL 42” x 19”
- XL/2X 46” x 19.5”
- 2X/3X 51” x 19.5”
- 3X/4X 54.5″ x 20″
- 4X/5X 58″ x 20.5″
Estimated Yardage
- XXS/XS – 1,100 yards
- XS/S – 1,400 yards
- S/M – 1,700 yards
- M/L – 2,000 yards
- L/XL – 2,300 yards
- XL/2X – 2,600 yards
- 2X/3X – 2,900 yards
- 3X/4X – 3,200 yards
- 4X/5X – 3500 yards
As for break downs of the yardage needed for each color, this is highly dependent on how many colors you decide to use, if you decide to add length to the body or sleeves, and if you meet my exact gauge for the pattern. For my S/M shown in the photos, I used about 480 yards of Color #1, 300 yards of Color #2, 380 yards of Color #3, 240 yards of Color #4, 240 yards of Color #5.
Abbreviations:
- CH – Chain
- FTH – From the Hook
- SC – Single Crochet
- HDC – Half Double Crochet HDC2tog
- DEC – Half Double Crochet two together (decrease)
- INC- Place two Half Double Crochet sts in the same space (increase)
Gauge (4″x4″): 9 HDC stitches x 7 HDC Rows
*I have pretty tight tension and many of my testers needed to go down in hook size to match my gauge*
SWEATER BODY:
This cardigan is created holding TWO strands of worsted (CYC 4) weight yarn together but you can also choose to use bulky weight yarn and use just a single strand–this also means you can cut the needed yardage in half! Although it has instructions for the striping color changes, you also have the option to use a a single color or variegated yarn and ignore striping if you’d like!
Start with Color #1 (Blue)
Chain 31(35,39,45,49,53,59,63,67)
Row 1: HDC in 2nd Ch FTH and then HDC across, turn [30,34,38,44,48,52,58,62,66]
Row 2-9: Ch 1, HDC 30(34,38,44,48,52,58,62,66), Turn
In Color #2 (Purple)
Rows 10-18: Ch 1, HDC 30(34,38,44,48,52,58,62,66), Turn
In Color #3 (Pink)
Rows 19-27: Ch 1, HDC 30(34,38,44,48,52,58,62,66), Turn
In Color #4 (Yellow)
Rows 28-32(32,32,33,33,34,34,35,36): Ch 1, HDC 30(34,38,44,48,52,58,62,66), Turn
**This next row starts the first front panel**
Row 33(33,33,34,34,35,35,36,37)/Row 1: Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
FIRST FRONT PANEL
Row 2-5(5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), Turn
In Color #3 (Pink)
Row 6-14(6-14,6-14,7-15,7-15,8-16,8-16,9-17,10-18): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
In Color #2 (Purple)
Row 15-23(15-23,15-23,16-24,16-24,17-25,17-25,18-26,19-27): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
In Color #1 (Blue)
Row 24-32(24-32,24-32,25-33,25-33,26-34,26-34,27-35,28-36): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
Tie off at the end of the last row!
SECOND FRONT PANEL
In Color #4 (Yellow)
Join into the 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28) stitch from the other end of the body (see photo below) and work your first row of HDCs towards the outer edge of the body of the jacket!
Row 1: After you join, Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28) across, turn
Row 2-5(5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28) across, turn
In Color #3 (Pink)
Row 6-14(6-14,6-14,7-15,7-15,8-16,8-16,9-17,10-18): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
In Color #2 (Purple)
Row 15-23(15-23,15-23,16-24,16-24,17-25,17-25,18-26,19-27): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
In Color #1 (Blue)
Row 24-32(24-32,24-32,25-33,25-33,26-34,26-34,27-35,28-36): Ch 1, HDC 12(13,15,18,20,21,24,26,28), turn
Tie off at the end of the last row!
SEW UP THE SIDES & FIT CHECK!
Time to sew up the sides and try on the shell of your jacket to make sure it fits and that you don’t need to make any adjustments before moving on!
Sew up the sides leaving 6.5″(7″,7.5″,8″,8.5″,9″,9.5″,10″,10.5″)
My favorite method of sewing up seams is using a variation of the mattress stitch! It creates nearly invisible seams, which means you don’t need to turn your garment inside out to hide the seaming.
Here is my quick tutorial for this method!
Once you sew up the sides of your cardigan, and do your fit check, snap a selfie and show the world how AWESOME you are for being able to make your own clothes… You are definitely ready for a post apocalyptic world with these skills!!!! Maybe be sure you can start a fire too though… 🙂
Mid project selfies are ALWAYS a part of my process, it’s just a gratifying moment to start seeing a project come together! Be sure to tag me on Instagram @pinksheepdesign so I can see your amazing creation and help you celebrate your hard work!!!
TIME TO MAKE THE HOOD!
Join with color #1 (blue) – 5(5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9) sts down from the top of the front panel (at the base of the yellow front inner panel-see photo below)
Row 1: After you join, HDC 5(5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9), INC (2 HDC into the corner space), HDC 6(8,8,8,8,10,10,10,10), INC (2 HDC into the corner space), HDC 5(5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9), turn
Row 2-26: Ch 1, HDC 20(22,22,24,24,28,28,30,32) across
Tie off leaving a nice long tail that you can use to sew up the top of the hood! You can add more length here if you’d like a taller more oversized hood!
If you can’t seem to fit all the stitches into the hood or your counts are off a bit here (maybe you ended up with a few less total stitches across) don’t get frustrated, it’s not the end of the world! You can always add an extra row on the front border to give your hood extra depth! Some of my testers had no issues with this part but some did yet all of them had great finished pieces with no fit issues!
Time to sew up the top of the hood! I also use mattress stitch here. At this point the hood will probably feel too “shallow”, but that’s where the front border comes in!
FRONT BORDER
Join at the bottom corner of your jacket with Color #5 (Green)
Row 1: HDC up the inside of the front panel, around the edge of the hood and back down the inside of the other front panel!
Row 2-7(8,8,8,9,9,9,10,10): turn, ch 1, HDC all the way around
You can add more or less rows to this front border depending on how much room you want for your hood and to “close” the jacket in the front!
BOTTOM BORDER
Join at the bottom corner of the jacket in color #4 (yellow)
Row 1: SC around the bottom of the jacket
Optional: I like to do a few HDC decreases in the middle of the bottom border to help the jacket “cinch” a bit! You can see the 4 decreases I made in the photo below!
Row 2: SC around the bottom of the jacket!
ON TO THE SLEEVES!
Sleeves are worked in the round with no turning between rows. Be sure to try the jacket on as you go so that you can add more or less length to your sleeves as needed/desired!
Join at the bottom of the armpit with color #4 (yellow)
See my tutorial for how I add sleeves here!
Row 1-6: ch 1, HDC 22(24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38) around the sleeve opening, join with a slip stitch
In Color #3 (Pink)
Row 7-12: ch 1, HDC 22(24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38) join
In Color #2 (Purple)
Row 13-18: ch 1, HDC 22(24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38) join
In Color #1 (Blue)
Row 19-24: ch 1, HDC 22(24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38) join
In Color #3 (Pink)
Row 25-29: ch 1, HDC 22(24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38), join
Row 30: ch 1, DEC around [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
Repeat for other sleeve!!
***Add 1-3 rows of SCs to create a border in a pop of color at the end of the sleeve if you’d like!
I hope you enjoyed this project! Connect with me anytime on Instagram or Facebook!
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