Let’s crochet a raglan…cardigan….sweater thing!
Now, you may be wondering why the sleeves look so short (or maybe you’re not, but I’ll tell you anyway), I live in FL and it’s hot here maybe 50 weeks out of the year; long sleeves plus heat and humidity are the worst. Plus, I always roll up my sleeves on the rare occasion I do wear a long-sleeved shirt, so may as well save on yarn and crochet half sleeves for my sweaters. You can, however, make the sleeve as long or short as you want. 🙂
If you’re an intermediate crocheter with experience in Tunisian Crochet, then this one will be easy. I highly recommend using stitch markers for this pattern, as there are loads of increases you’ll need to keep track of and they will make your life so much easier.
A note on this pattern: no, you don’t need to crochet it with stripes, but I let my kid choose the yarn and she wanted stripes…so stripes it was! Know that the more stripes you add, the more ends you will need to weave in BUT your cardigan will look so much cooler! But, that’s just my opinion.
If you’re making this as a gift and just need a sizing chart (and not the whole pattern) you can purchase one below. The Sizing chart includes US sizing ranging from Newborn to Adult. The full PDF pattern for this sweater includes a copy of the sizing chart.
A quick note on yardage, because I get this question often in my patterns, I do not note yardage in written patterns. The reason being, that my patterns are measurement based so you can use whatever yarn weight and hook combination you have available. This will affect the yardage required to complete the pattern. As we are not all one-size-fits-all, and you’ll be using your personal measurements for this garment, there is simply no way for me to calculate yardage for various yarn weight and measurement combinations SO created a tutorial to teach you how to calculate yardage for any project. You can find it on the Mode Bespoke channel on YouTube, or just look below:
What you’ll need:
Yarn: #3 / DK / Lightweight yarn
Hooks: 5 mm Tunisian, 3.5 mm regular
Additional items: Measuring tape, yarn needle scissors, stitch markers/safety pins.
I used a cotton yarn for this project, but note that cotton has limited elasticity, so you’ll need to be very precise with your measurements. To create a more elastic fabric, you can use a wool blend, or a cotton or bamboo cotton and a synthetic fiber blend.
Get the ad-free, PDF pattern in available below:
Construction: Start by crocheting the yoke, which features increases at the beginning and end of the rows in order to create the V neckline. There is some math involved when calculating stitch counts for the yoke, but that will be covered later in the pattern.
Once your yoke reaches your desired bust measurement, join the fabric under the sleeves to create an arm hole, then continue to crochet simple stitch rounds without increases until your cardigan reaches your desired length. Crochet the hem and trim along the front and neckline of the sweater.
Sleeves are crocheted using a series of decreases spaced out in 8-10 row intervals, with a cuff added at the end. Upon the completion of the sleeve, sew the sleeve together along the bottom of the fabric and weave in ends.
Optional: Buttons are optional, and while instructions for these are not included in the written pattern, I do show you how to create buttonholes in the tutorial.
Swatch: Before beginning your garment, make a swatch of the stitch. This stitch compresses, or “shrinks” from the original chain length, so you will need to account for that when creating the body of your cardigan as well as the sleeves. Chain a length of 4 in / 10 cm in even multiples. Crochet about 10 -15 rows of the stitch then measure the width of the fabric. The difference between the initial chain and fabric measurement will be your shrink rate, which will need to be added to the shoulder, chest/bust/waist, and arm circumference measurements.
Measurements:
While taking and using your personal measurements is highly encouraged to ensure a better fit, you can find a standard U.S. sizing chart included with this pattern as a separate PDF, which can be found in your order confirmation email.
Shoulder Width: Measure across from the width of your shoulders.
Length: You will need to take two length measurements: front and back length and use the longest of the two measurements as your “garment length”.
- Back length: Measure from the highest point of your shoulder to your hips, or to where you want the bottom of the garment to end.
- Front length: Measure from the highest part of your shoulder to where you want the garment to end, making sure to account for the curves along the front of your body (bust, baby bump, etc).
Bust/Chest: Measure across the widest part of the chest.
Hip: Measure around the widest part of your hips, and divide this measurement in half.
Arm: Measure around the widest part of your arm.
Cuff: Measure around the widest* part of your hand.
* The stitch for this garment does not stretch horizontally, so you will need to measure the widest part of your hand to ensure you can slip it into the finished sleeve.
Sleeve Length: Measure from your shoulder to whenever you want your sleeve to end. If your desired sleeve length goes past your elbow, bend your elbow as seen in the photo in the previous page to take the measurement.
NOTE: Take the measurements across the shoulders, chest, waist, and hips. The Bust and Hip measurements will be used to determine when to stop decreasing for your yoke. Use whichever of the two measurements is widest for your Garment Width.
Multiples: none.
Blocking: This is totally optional, and not necessary as the construction of this garment eliminates the fabric curl once the project is complete.
| Abbreviations:CH – Chain CO – Cast On TS – Tunisian Simple Stitch RP – Return Pass PS – Purl Stitch KS – Knit Stitch |
CO: Insert your hook into the chain space between the vertical stitches, yarn over and pull up a loop. Leave the loop on your hook.
RP: Yarn over and pull through one loop (YP1), then yarn over and pull through 2 loops (YP2) with the remaining loops on your hook until you are left with 1 loop.
TS: Insert your hook behind the top leg of the vertical stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop. Leave the loop on your hook.
PS: Reverse yarn over and press the loop onto your hook with your index finger, then insert the hook behind the top leg of the vertical stitch and pull up a second loop. Release the first loop (lift your index finger), then yarn over (regular) and pull through the second loop you cast on.
KS : Insert your hook between the front and back leg of the stitch towards the back of the fabric. Yarn over and pull up a loop.
Pattern: Yoke .
For this section, we’ll need to use your shoulder measurement and a little math to determine the necessary stitch count for your desired cardigan size.
Make a chain that measures your Shoulder Measurement and count your stitches. Round your stitch count up to the nearest multiple of 5.
Let’s math!
I’ll use my daughter’s measurements to help illustrate how to calculate stitch counts:
Her Shoulder Measurement was 13 inches, which was approximately 55 stitches.
Divide your stitch count by 5 so:
55 / 5 = 11 (this will be your sleeve’s initial chain stitch count)
Why divide by 5? Because we are crocheting 5 parts: 2 sleeves, back panel, and 2 front panels.
Now, subtract your sleeve stitch count from your original stitch count, then divide the answer by 2:
55 – 11 = 44
44/2 = 22 (this will be the initial chain stitch count for your back panel)
Why didn’t you divide by 3? You said we needed 1 back panel and 2 fronts panels…that’s not 2 *eye roll*
Because we’re adding the front panels as we create the yoke, and not including them in the initial calculation would affect the sizing ratios of the yoke, resulting in an ill-fitting cardigan.
Initial Chain: Now that we have our measurements, let’s make the initial chain for our yoke.
Since we are building the front panels as we go, we did not need to calculate a stitch count and will instead add 2 stitches to the beginning and end of the row in order to set up a foundation for the front panels. So my initial chain, using my calculated stitch counts will look like this:
2, 11, 22, 11, 2
Let’s translate those stitch counts so that make a bit more sense:
2 (front panel), 11 (sleeve), 22 (back panel), 11 (sleeve), 2 (front panel)
Place a stitch marker on the last stitch of each section so you know where to increase as you crochet the yoke. Also, remember to use the stitch counts your calculated using your measurements, lest you inadvertently end up crocheting a cardigan for an 8 year-old 😀
Foundation: Insert your hook into the second stitch of the chain, yarn over, and pull up a loop. Leave this loop on your hook (you should have two loops on your hook at this point). Insert your hook into the next chain, yarn over and pull up a loop. Repeat until you have cast on one loop for every stitch of the chain.
Row 1: Yarn over, then TS into the second stitch of the chain (you should have three loops on your hook).
Increase in the third stitch from your hook: TS using the back leg of the vertical stitch, then TS using the front leg of that same vertical stitch. Place your stitch maker through the 2 stitches of the increase- the front and back leg TS.
TS into every stitch until you reach the next stitch marker. At the stitch marker, increase.
Repeat the TS/Increase at the stitch marker pattern until you reach the last vertical stitch of the row. TS into the last vertical stitch, then yarn over and cast into the final stitch of the row.
Complete a RP.
Row 2: TS into the second stitch of the chain.
TS into every stitch until you reach the stitch marker. Increase on each of the 2 vertical stitches from the increase of the previous row: front and back leg TS in the first vertical stitch, then front and back leg TS in the second vertical stitch. Place your stitch marker into the two center vertical stitches of the 4 TS created by the increase – as seen in the photo on the right.
TS into every stitch until you reach the next stitch marker. At the stitch marker, increase using the two TS from the previous row’s increase.
Repeat the TS/Increase at the stitch marker pattern until you complete the row. Cast on into the final stitch of the row.
Complete a RP.
For the rest of the yoke:
In order to increase the front panel and create the V neck, you’ll need to space out your V neck increase rows in 1 of 2 ways, depending on how you want to shape the bust of the cardigan.
- If you are crocheting this for a child 12 years and under, crochet a V Neck Increase Row on every 4th row. The same applies for adult cardigans for folks with a small chest.
So your row counts will look like this:
Foundation, Row 1, Row 2, Row 2 repeat, V Neck Increase Row (VNIR)
For the rest of the yoke crochet: Row 2, Row 2, VNIR – repeat the 3-rows until the width of the back panel reaches your Garment Width.
- If you are crocheting this for an adult on the chestier side (for women, that would be anyone with a cup size D and above), crochet the V Neck Increase Row every 3rd row.
So your row counts will look like this:
Foundation, Row 1, Row 2, Row 2 repeat, Row 2 repeat, VNIR
For the rest of the yoke crochet: Row 2, Row 2, Row 2, VNIR – repeat the 4-rows until the width of the back panel reaches your Garment Width.
V Neck Increase Row (VNIR): This row is a repeat of Row 2 with 2 exceptions: Yarn over before the first TS of the row, then yarn over before the final cast on of the row (between the last vertical stitch and the final stitch of the row).
Color Changes:
Let’s talk about color changes and stripes! These are totally optional, and you can crochet your cardigan in a single color if you prefer. Play around with color changes and make this pattern your own 🙂
That said, for those of you that want stripes, change your yarn color at the return pass. Decide how wide you want your stripes, then cast on the final row of your stripe width. Before you cast on, yarn over in the new color yarn and pull through the first loop on your hook. From there, yarn over and pull through two and complete the rest of the return pass as normal.
Remember to count your rows as your go (for those wanting even stripes) so that your color changes happen at the same intervals. Alternatively, you can crochet uneven stripes by changing colors at different row count intervals.
Vest .
Once you’ve got a yoke that looks somewhat like the one in the photo in the section above, and the back panel measures your Garment Width, we can create the arm holes and close off the yoke.
TS into every stitch of the row until you reach the first stitch marker. TS into the first of 2 “increase” stitches of the stitch marker. Fold your fabric at the sleeve (to create an arm hole). Don’t crochet into any of the stitches of the sleeve, instead, TS into the second TS stitch of the increase stitches of the second stitch marker. See the photo on the left.
TS into each of the stitches along the back panel, then into the first TS of the increase of the 3rd stitch marker. Fold your fabric to form the second arm hole and TS into the second TS of the increase stitches of the 4th stitch marker.
TS into the remaining stitches of the row, then complete a RP.
For the rest of the length, you’ll no longer need to increase.
Crochet rows of TS until your fabric length reaches your desired cardigan length, then crochet the hem.
Hem and Trim .
I changed color in the RP of the last row of TS stitches for my cardigan length.
Row 1: KS, KS, PS, PS – Repeat until you complete the row.
Note: Depending on the number of stitches in your row, you might not end on a PS. End in whatever stitch you need to complete the row, it won’t affect the look of the hem.
Repeat Row 1 until your hem measures between 1.5-2 inches (around 3 cm).
Bind off- TS into the first KS of the row, once you have 2 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through both loops to close as a single crochet (TS/SC). Repeat in the next stitch. PS in the next stitch, then close as a SC (PS/SC), and repeat in the next stitch.
Repeat the TS/SC and PS/SC pattern until you complete the row.
Why a TS and not a KS in the bind off?
A TS looks cleaner, and is not as wide as a KS. If you bind off as a KS, your fabric will be a little wider at the bind off, and can cause it to wave at the bottom of the cardigan.
To create a cleaner finish, SC into every stitch of the row following your Bind- Off. Do not cut your yarn, as you’ll be working on the neckline trim next.
Trim
Cast on a foundation row (just like the one you crocheted at the beginning of the pattern) using the stitches along the inside of the front panels and around the neck of the cardigan.
Complete a RP.
This section will be crocheted exactly the same as the hem, using a KS, KS, PS, PS pattern until your cardigan’s trim measures your desired width. Bind off, and complete a row of SC that matches that of the hemline.
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Sleeves .
The beautiful thing about a raglan, is that the sleeve cap has already been created as part of the yoke, so you won’t need to crochet an initial chain or a foundation row to create the sleeve, simply cast on into the first vertical stitch at the base of the sleeve (the armpit) and begin crocheting.
In order to give the sleeve a nice shape, we’re going to add some decreases throughout the length to create a trapezoidal fabric (as seen in the photo on the left).
Where you add your decreases will depend on how fitted you want the sleeve to be. For example, my daughter and I wanted a fitted sleeve, so I spaced the decreases to every 8th row.
If, however, you want a more relaxed fit,, you can space your decreases to every 10th row.
For those of you that love math, or simply want a well-fitted sleeve, pop into page 8 and read through the “Mapping out your Decreases” section.
To decrease, you’ll need to know how to TS2Tog (Tunisian Simple Stitch 2 Together): This stitch requires 2 vertical stitches to complete. Insert your hook behind the front leg of the first and second vertical stitches. Yarn over and cast on one loop.
If you are spacing your decreased every 8 rows: Crochet 3 rows of TS. On the 4th Row, TS2Tog using the first two vertical stitches of the row. TS into all but the last 2 stitches of the row, then TS2Tog. Cast on into the final stitch.
If you are decreasing every 10 rows: Crochet 4 rows of TS, then decrease on the 5th row (as instructed above).
Note: Stitch makers will make this section so much easier, so use them if your got ‘em.
Place a stitch marker on your decrease row and let’s continue:
Crochet 7 rows of TS, then decrease on the 8th – or – crochet 9 rows of TS and decrease on row 10.
Repeat until your sleeve length reaches the sleeve measurement you took at the beginning of this pattern.
Note on sizing: Before crocheting the decorative cuff (the one that matches the hem and neckline trim), measure the width of the sleeve cuff and make sure your hand will fit through the sleeve. Make adjustments to your decreases if necessary. Remember to jot down any changes you make to your decrease calculations so you can crochet 2 matching sleeves.
Cuff: Use the same KS,KS,PS, PS pattern used for the hem of the cardigan, as well as the same bind off and row of SC.
Sewing the sleeves:
Line the sleeves at the cuff, and sew from the cuff to the base of the arm, along the bottom of the sleeve, to join both edges of the fabric together.
Adjusting Your Sleeve Width
If making adjustments, remember to note any changes to the pattern so you can recreate them for the second sleeve.
Swatch for Decrease Rate: Chain 20 stitches and cast on a foundation row. Crochet 5 rows of TS and BLS alternating stitches (row 1 repeat). For row 6, decrease by skipping the first and the last stitches of the row; place a stitch marker on this row. Crochet 5 more Row 1 repeats, then decrease in the following row.
Measure the width of your swatch across the base of the fabric, as well as across the decrease row. Subtract these numbers to get the “decrease rate”. Repeat with the width of the section above the stitch marker, and across the last row to double-check your decrease rate.
Generally, your decrease rate will be between 0.5 inches to 1 in (between 1.5 to 3 cm), depending on your yarn and hook combination.
Mapping out your Decreases:
Subtract your cuff measurement from your arm measurement, then divide your arm length measurement by the difference between the cuff and arm lengths.
Example: Arm measurement is 16 in, Cuff 9 in, Sleeve length 15 in.
16 – 9 = 5 in
15 / 5 = 3 in
If my decrease rate is 1”, then I will need to decrease every 3 inches of fabric I crochet for the length of my sleeve. So I will decrease at the 3, 6, and 9 inch marks.
If my decrease rate is 0.5 inches (or anything other than 1 inch) multiply that number by the 3 inches we calculated above so: 3 x 0.5 = 1.5 inches. This means I’ll need to decrease every 1.5 inches of my fabric, so I will decrease at the 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, and 9 inch marks.
Weave in any remaining tails and you are finished! 😀
For questions or comments on this pattern, please contact Atenas at: atenas@modebespoke.com
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