A crochet blanket that I can wear

I'm not an accomplished crocheter. I can crochet, but not well. My tension has issues and I can't yet read charts. Overall, I prefer knitted fabric compared to crochet, so I haven't had much motivation to improve.

And yet - two of the most-used handmade objects in my house are my crochet scrap blankets. I have one for the sofa, and one for the office chair, and in the winter I basically always have one or the other draped over my lap or around my shoulders. 

They were both made of 'free' (leftover) yarn and were quick and simple to make so I don't feel precious about them getting stained or worn out. And there is something marvelous about items crocheted from fingering-weight yarn - just chunky enough without being too heavy.

For a long time, I've pondered how I can go from 'blanket draped over my shoulders' to 'perfect relaxing-at-home cardigan'. Last year, I gathered some leftover sock yarn in autumnal colours (mostly Drops Fabel along with some others) and started to crochet some oddly shaped rectangles, aiming to make the blanket-igan of my dreams.

At some point, the rectangles got shoved into a box onto the shelf, life moved on, and I forgot about that project but I didn't forget about my dream. Every time I threw my blanket over my shoulders, I knew there had to be a better way.

Enter: Crochet YouTube, and the granny stitch hexagon cardigans that have become ubiquitous.

(It's very strange, returning to crafter social media after several years off. There are designers I've never heard of becoming total juggernauts. There is a stockinette hat at the top of Ravelry's pattern list. Everyone is adding mohair to everything and everything has 10 inches of positive ease. It's a culture shock.)

If you haven't seen these, the idea is simple but ingenious: it's a granny square with an extra side, which allows the wibbly hexagon to fold into an L shape. Make two of these and join them together into a T shape for an easy and quick cardigan or pullover.

People are casting these on in worsted weight yarn and finishing them in a week. Mine was finer but still flew by in about 3 weeks of not-particularly-concentrated work.

It works beautifully with stripes and it looks so very handmade - which is part of the appeal. Crochet is getting trendy, and this is a garment that shouts I made this.

I loved making this. It was easy, it kept my hands busy, and the semi-random stripes of sock yarn were extremely satisfying. And, since this is a cardigan for home, I didn't worry a bit over how it would fit - I only worried about how comfy it would be.

With this simple shape come limits in the amount of customisation. All sides of the hexagon grow at the same rate which assumes a certain proportion for sleeve circumference, sleeve length, and body width & length.

Many talented crocheters have come up with various solutions for these problems - Sarah Maker's version was most helpful to me for exploring the different options. Ultimately, I decided not to taper or lengthen the sleeves, and only added a few rows to the centre back and three rounds of border after I joined the two sides.

I did add cuffs to the sleeves - rather than working crochet ribbing, I picked up the stitches and added k1p1 rib and a tubular bind-off. IMO this is the ideal finishing touch, and I actually love the balloon sleeve effect.

So did I achieve my goals? Well, this cardigan has been living on the back of my office chair ever since I finished it, and I am rarely seen on a Teams call without it! It is my perfect crochet blanket, as a cardigan.

~Joyuna