I have finally created instructions for a cardigan I crocheted back in 2008. I blogged about it at the time, describing how it came into being. At the end of the blog post, I promised a pattern. And I had started one, but I got stopped in my tracks because I didn’t know how to grade it.

Also, for some reason I don’t remember now (probably because it wasn’t “perfect”), at the time, I didn’t like the way it looked on me. So, like many of my crochet projects, I hung it up in my closet where it languished for the next 11 years.

Fast forward to 2019, and I decided to take it out and try it on. It was the rainy season here in Hawaii, and I wanted a light sweater to wear outside when the temperatures dipped below 70 degrees (yes, that’s chilly during the rainy season). I even wore it to go grocery shopping one evening.

When I got back home, I decided to take a photo of myself in the cardigan and post it on Facebook. I chose one of my crochet Facebook groups because the administrator has a day a week set aside when people can post their finished pieces and works-in-progress. I posted myself in the cardigan, and to my utter surprise, it got rave reviews and requests for a pattern.

Fortunately, I had an almost-completed pattern to work from to create  an updated pattern. To get around the whole “grading” issue (which I still don’t know how to do), I decided to call my instructions a ‘”recipe” instead of a pattern. This way, I could show crocheters how to use their own measurements and stitch gauge to create a piece that fits them perfectly.

My recipe also fits very well into one of the major themes of this website, Crochet Design 101. It’s my attempt at helping crocheters like myself who are ready to go beyond pattern instructions to start designing but may not know where to start. So you’ll be learning as I learn.

My Rose Cardigan Recipe describes how I redesigned an existing pattern in order to get a different look that I thought flattered my figure better than the original design. It was an easy way for me to get into crochet design because I had the overall structure of the original pattern to guide me in  coming up with a new design that better matched the look I wanted to achieve.

You can get the 25-page recipe HERE.