Crochet workshop: Crocheting a sweater without a pattern

Nov 7/8th – Two-days crochet workshop in Vercors, France.

Have you ever dreamed of learning how to crochet a sweater or cardigan that fits YOU just perfectly, and without even following a pattern ?

That was precisely the goal of a 2-days workshop here in my home town in France. Unfortunately one of the participants got sick but the 3 remaining crocheters showed up on the saturday morning, ready to crochet all week-end long and learn new skills !

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At 10 am, the room was all set and ready, with yarn and hook sets for those who had chosen the optional kit, and 12 pages documents to help along the way.

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They started by choosing the style of their sweater: cardigan/sweater, long/short sleeves, with pattern or plain, fitted/boxy/empire waist… Then each drew a rough sketch.

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After a minimalistic swatch to choose the best suited size of hook, it was time to chain and get started !

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After a few rows, the yokes started to appear along with the first repeats of their chosen motifs.

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A quick shared lunch on the deck. So lucky to enjoy wonderful blue sky in November !!

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Soon enough it was time to do more fittings..

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And a couple super simple calculations to get ready to separate the sleeves.

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Ta dam !! One sleeve !

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More fittings… those are starting to look like real garments now. And they fit really well too (leaving room for front edgings for some)

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A. was kinda behind the other 2 due to repeted miscountings and slighlty thinner yarn, but we kept marvelling at the beauty of her yoke in fall colors.

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Finally, on sunday afternoon both cardigans were already looking really good. And A. was ready to separate her sleeves too (which she did right within the next couple days, see her pretty picture below!!)
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The view from the back shows how they each fit them perfectly.

During this 2-days workshop, we focused on exploring several aspects and skills:

– working in the front loop, how and why
– how to determine the length of the initial chain
– how many increases for the yoke, where and when
– how to incorporate decorative motifs within the yoke increases
– simple method to determine number of sts for sleeves and body
– separating the body and sleeves
– shaping the lower body
– adding sleeves
– adding decorative finishing edgings
– dozens of ways to use stitch markers to make the whole process easier
– and much more !

I’ll be offering more workshop options soon, but that’s usually in France.
If you’d like to organize a session abroad, let’s talk about it ! 🙂

ETA: Here’s A’s sweater after a couple days. Looks amazing already ! Can’t wait to see more pictures of your finished sweaters guys 😀
AudeApres1

1 thought on “Crochet workshop: Crocheting a sweater without a pattern

  1. EL Reply

    I really like this, it’s exactly what I want to learn, especially fitting the yoke and using motifs. I wish I could attend! Is there any chance you will offer the instructions for sale online?

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