Last winter I found a crocheted top on Pinterest and liked it so much that I decided to make one for myself. I could not find a chart, so I started making it from the photograph using my own judgement.
I finished it. But when I put it on, I did not get that feeling of wanting to wear it. It looked excellent on the hanger, and every time I looked at it I became more certain that one day I would unravel it. One day…. That one day arrived in May this year. But what should I make instead? I rummaged through Pinterest and, would you believe it… I found it 🙂
The same top, plus a skirt, plus instructions and everything. So I started reading and crocheting and I simply could not make sense of it. I thought perhaps I am a large person, but if I used the yarn and stitch count stated there… I may be large and plump, but even for me that would have been far too much. And the instructions seemed to start from the body. When and how was the raglan supposed to be attached? My Russian is hardly brilliant either, so perhaps I misunderstood.
Crocheted from the top down, using Drops Safranyarn and a 3 mm crochet hook.
I started with 160 chain stitches. I worked two rows of half trebles. On the first row I placed markers so there were 46 stitches each for front and back, and 34 for each shoulder. On the second row I increased by three stitches on the front and back and two on each shoulder. I did not write it down immediately, so I may be wrong about the exact stitch counts. If so, adjust it or unravel and start again. I have unravelled this thing more times than I can remember, probably ten-plus.
I made the join in the rounds the centre of the back. The pattern repeat is 16 stitches, though because of the raglan you cannot calculate it quite that simply. In any case, I crocheted the yoke according to chart 2, starting from the middle of the back.
Between the red lines is what I did. I started from the second row of the chart. Half the back equals one and a half pattern repeats, then the raglan section. Each shoulder began with two repeats plus the raglan. Starting this way makes the pattern line up neatly into the raglan.
Judging by the symbols, the centre of the pattern may be half trebles; I used double crochet.
I made the raglan increases 12 times, then crocheted one more row without increases. By the end of the pattern I had 100 stitches. Under each arm I made eight chain stitches, four belonging to the front and four to the back. I broke the yarn, started the body from the middle under the sleeve and worked back and forth. I joined the last and first stitches with a slip stitch.
I crocheted two rows. On the third row I decreased six stitches on both front and back, 12 altogether, leaving 98 + 98 stitches. I worked two more rows and on the third decreased another 8 + 8 stitches.
Next pattern row. As the repeat is 16 stitches and I had 90 stitches, I increased six stitches on the first pattern row. I started with seven stitches, then a chain according to the chart, and increased one stitch from the seventh stitch. I did this six times. At the side I finished with seven stitches and a chain, and started the back again with seven. When working the plain rows back and forth I joined the end of the row to the first stitch with a slip stitch, turned the work and came back. The patterned sections I worked in the round so that the right side of the upper pattern section remained the right side on all the later pattern sections too.
On the last row of the pattern I increased one stitch between the chain spaces, arranging it so it sat in the middle. I now had 105 + 105 stitches. I crocheted ten plain rows.
The pattern repeat is 16 stitches. I needed to increase seven stitches. I began with seven stitches, a chain, skipped one stitch, then worked 15 stitches and a chain. Within those 15 stitches I increased an extra stitch from every seventh stitch. At the end of the row: seven stitches and a chain above the eighth stitch. The other half the same.
Repeat the pattern as many times as needed for the desired length. I made two repeats. I made the final row frilly: one double crochet, skip two stitches, into the third work two trebles, three chains and two trebles into that same stitch, skip three stitches, double crochet, and repeat to the end. I joined the final stitch with a slip stitch into the first double crochet. Body finished.
For the sleeves I crocheted eight stitches under the arm and then continued in pattern. On every row I decreased one stitch on each side of the centre until the pattern lined up. Until it did, I worked plain stitches. When I reached the centre of the last pattern repeat, I crocheted seven stitches between the squares. On the next row I worked two together in the centre of those seven, so instead of eleven stitches between the squares there were ten. The next row followed the pattern, then on the following row I again worked two together in the centre. The final row was frilly like the lower edge.
And that is how it was finished.
This time I like it, and when I wear it it feels right. One thing is certain, though: to wear it I either need a corset underneath or I have to spend the entire time holding my stomach in.
