MY VERSION OF KEN JONES’ SWEATER…..

If you value well written crochet patterns as much as I do, get yourself over to Ken Jones’ Lulu Storefront and buy yourself one of his patterns! I’m a slow crocheter and tend to think of patterns as ‘suggestions’ more than anything else. I’ve gotten in the bad habit, as I just learned, of ignoring a lot of the (dis)information in crochet patterns because they are so often filled with mistakes. Not in this case. If you follow Ken’s pattern as written – or even if you take the liberal diversions that I did – you’ll get a good finished product.

Looking for more sweaters to crochet? Check out these sweater Crochet patterns we found on Etsy.

Here’s how my sweater turned out:

****What’s good about this pattern:

Easy to follow instructions that aren’t too wordy. Deconstructed style (in my version although Ken’s picture on his Lulu Storefront looks much more tailored). See?

http://www.lulu.com/content/1731464

****What’s bad about this pattern:

Not much! I need to work on the sizing and sleeve width. I actually wanted a 3/4 sleeve length which was easy to accomplish with this pattern as written. I think I’ll play around with some edgings for it too.

****What I’d like to see added to this pattern:

Lots more work for Ken! I’d love to have my future effort short circuited by Ken having written the pattern for different yarn weights. Wait! I can do this myself! However, if Ken wants to take on this extra task for the low asking price of his pattern, I won’t complain.

PROJECT NOTES:

I used a Bernat Super Value worsted weight yarn which is a fairly heavy worsted weight. I think I will try it with a thinner worsted weight or a DK weight next. I wanted a boxy shaped sweater. I got that. However, the sweater pictured on Ken’s site is more tailored. Had I used the hook size called for in Ken’s pattern, I would have achieved a sweater that looked far more like the one Ken designed. Since this sweater is exactly one size larger than I would prefer, this is a good indication to me that the gauge for the pattern is spot-on. This is good news since that means I can play around with the yarn weight, using my completed sweater as a guide. This gives me a lot of confidence in wanting to make myself another sweater. I am NOT greatly experienced in crocheting adult sweaters or shaped garments, so this is a good starting place for me.

I have learned what works best for me – and that is to use a separate skein of yarn for each major part of the sweater under construction. In this case, the body of the sweater is a single piece. I used one full skein and part of a second skein for the body. I used a separate skein for each sleeve. Doing so allows me to customize the first sleeve, try it on, add length, frog, or whatever I need to do – then match the second sleeve to the first without having to worry about running out of yarn. Overall, this may add a couple dollars to a project. In this case, I could have purchased one less skein and had plenty to finish the sweater. If you have yarn on hand, depending on your size, I suggest winding off half of a larger skein to create two skeins for your sleeves. IMO, there is no real downside to having more yarn on hand. This yarn will make a cheery scarf and/or cap for a child or adult female.

Further note – this sweater was made as an alternative to the Fiesta Yarns’ Garden Party Jacket. I purchased the yarn for the Garden Party Jacket and spent hours attempting to interpret the pattern – with more than an hours’ help of my friend, Ronnie, who can decipher ANY pattern! Not so in this case. The Garden Party Jacket is a complete bust and I’m out the $6 it cost me. My LYS has kindly offered to refund my money for this pattern after I requested that they remove it from their shelf – which they did. I asked for help from the Fiesta Yarns’ folks via email, received a quick reply that the pattern is old (2001 but still new on the shelf at my LYS), but have heard nothing further from them. Lesson Learned! I’ll stick with designers whose work I can evaluate myself or who come well recommended from crocheters whose skills are similar to mine.

THANK YOU, KEN. You’ve got my creative sweater-making juices flowing.