Which became my guide for getting an idea of how many rows and what sort of measurements I’d be looking at. But yeah, going into this project I felt very unsure of myself. I also needed to write this in my crochet notebook:
No idea if it worked, but I think the fact that I wrote it did something to me and I got myself out of my head and made a start on it. Like with most things (cliché alert ahead) the first steps are the hardest part, but I guess it’s a cliché because it’s true.
I sort of went about getting the size of it from measuring the sample piece, as well as using the previous two sweater vests I made as a guide. This was a lot harder though, because the ratio of the rows with Almond Stitch were about 7 rows in width to 4 rows of the HDBLO, so it wasn’t as straight forwards as using one kind of stitch. I roughed out a pattern using a spreadsheet and Photoshop.
Here’s version 1:
The blue represents the Almond, while the yellow is the HDBLO. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that I changed it to 8 rows of Almond instead of the 7 I did in the sample. I wanted all the rows to begin on an odd row number, so if I went with 7, the rows would have been all messed up and some facing the wrong way etc. As I was crocheting, I also amended the pattern to make a slightly different look, with a wider patch of Almond in the middle, in order to make it more symmetrical. That was something that was irritating me for the longest time- I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if this wasn’t symmetrical! Ok, yes a little extreme I know, but it wouldn’t have sat well with me is what I probably should have said. Here’s the amended pattern:
The first half of the first panel was the hardest to devise, because that would form the basis of the whole thing. The second half would be mirrored and the back would be identical to the front, but with a shallow rounded dip for the neck, rather than a v-neck.
Also, to achieve the v-neck was another headache! It was hard to know when to start decreasing down for it and how many stitches to decrease by, in order to get the tip of the ‘v’ to finish where I wanted it to (the right height on the garment, as well as at the right width across or I was at risk of the the piece being too narrow- I really didn’t want this one to be too form fitting as it wasn’t the look I was going for here). I also didn’t want it too wide or rounded, but also not too pointy. I full on sound like Goldilocks here don’t I. I swear I’m not this high maintenance in real life! Surely you can see now why I was putting off making this one for the longest time?! These patterns I made were a massive help in figuring this all out, but it was still very much an anxiety ridden process trying to get it how I wanted and full on nerve-racking whenever I got my tape measure out to see if I was on the right tracks! But, I needn’t have worried- I got the v-neck exactly how I wanted it…
Just a quick note on the colour scheme- the off white for the main body is the traditional colour of these things and the green represents my beloved county team Worcestershire! Where myself and my brother spent many a summer… Below is me receiving a signed autograph bat from cricketing legend Gareth Batty when I was 16, for being a runner up in the ‘draw the county ground’ competition. Definitely peaked then didn’t I.
After I had created both the back and front panels, it was time to add the ribbing. I couldn’t decide (quelle surprise) how I wanted the ribbing to look, so I created 3 mockups on the photo of the test fitting. Why I am smiling so much I have no idea.
This one felt too all over the place in terms of continuity. The mix of the neck ribbing being white with the arm ribbing being green just looked a mess in all honesty!
This one felt closer, but the white ribbing didn’t give enough ‘balance’ at the top, so the design as a whole felt a bit ‘off’.
This is the one I went with- well, almost. I did start crocheting the arms with the white strip in the middle, but a few rows in, I decided it was looking too messy, so unravelled and started again with just the green. I feel this was the right choice- it has much more of a cleaner look like this.
I kept the white strip on the neck though, because I feel it pulls the design together and the neck ribbing is one stitch wider (6 total) than the arms which are 5 stitches, so it would accommodate it better. And I think the neck would have looked too plain without it.
Another quick note on the neck ribbing- I actually stitched a row of slip stitches around the base of it in order to achieve a clean looking ‘v’. I was very concerned that this wouldn’t turn into a sharp ‘v’, or would become stepped like the raw edges, so I decided upon this foundation row. I wouldn’t usually work one of these in because it can result in the garment being less stretchy around the neck, but as this is a v-neck with a lot of space for the head to fit through, it wouldn’t have mattered if I lost a bit of stretchiness in that department.
I also ran out of green part way through adding the ribbing and as I bought the yarn ages ago, there was no way I’d have been able to get the same dye lot etc, or even the yarn itself. But luckily, remember that hat I made as my first crochet thing? I found myself ‘frogging’ (undoing) it and using the yarn from that. Which I was totally fine with. The hat has just been sitting in my yarn storage box for the best part of a year- I made it much too big by mistake so wouldn’t be wearable. Whereas this, I will actually wear it. I feel enough time has elapsed since making the hat to lose any sentimental value surrounding it, especially with it being my first piece. But I have photos and memories of creating it and I’d much rather something I’ll actually use, rather than something which will just sit there.
Right, I think I’m done! This was a long one, congrats if you made it this far and I hope it made sense- apologies if not! Technical details below, some more finished pics after…
Total weight: 288g
Front panel: 124g
Back panel: 134g
Neck and arm ribbing: 30g
4mm hook, using 100% acrylic Wendy Supreme DK yarn (in which I have about 260ish grams remaining- I purchased 500g of this way back when, because I had no idea how much I’d need)! So expect some more off white garments from me in the near future! xo
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