Book Review: Top Down Crochet Sweaters

It took me the longest time to get around to ordering Top Down Crochet Sweaters by Dora Ohrenstein but finally I did, it arrived and I've read it! It's just as good as I'd hoped. Back in December, I read a super review of the book by the wonderful designer Susan Lowman on her Crochet Architect blog and more recently I've been chatting about it on Ravelry on the Crochet Circle Podcast Group Forum. 

 

January I was in a spend nothing / feeling frugal phase. All that traveling and inevitable gift-buying had taken its toll on our budget.  Thank goodness for Christmas gift vouchers! My sweet sister-in-law gave me one from Knit Picks, they had a book sale and I obviously I had to add yarn to bring my order up to get free shipping. Free shipping is such a motivator for me!

 

The book focuses on top down seamless construction. Top down sweaters appeal to me for the same reason as toe up socks - you can try on your item as you go. And I'm just not fond of sewing seams. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way.

Part 1, pages 10 to 55, covers technique and was an absolute revelation. I hadn't really thought about patterns I've previously made as having raglan or circular yokes or given a lot of attention to the calculations. The book explains the principles of sweater design in a very simple and comprehensive language. It's been incredibly helpful for clarifying different aspects of sweater design in my mind such as: neckline and yoke shaping, underarm adjustments, stitch count fixes, meeting gauge, blocking, measurement and alterations. I'm not sure if I'll go so far as to design a sweater from scratch. I have a great respect for designers and the huge amount of time they spend creating patterns but I feel far more comfortable now about modifying an existing pattern for a better fit.
And of course I just love the expert tips such as to only use fingering to DK weight yarns for sweaters. (That's 2ply to DK weight if you're in the UK reading this.) Lighter weight yarn moves more fluidly over your body. Of course it does!

The second part includes fourteen original patterns (see them on Ravelry here) with seven different yoke concepts of varying difficulty. The garment pairs differ by yarn choice, gauge and other details. Now I just need to finish some of my current WIPs, choose a pattern and get going! Can't wait! 
   

Butterfly Garden Cocoon Shrug

My latest creation has been much admired so with my children as photographer and stylist ("Don't smile with your mouth open mum!") here are a few photos of my holiday project: the Butterfly Garden Cocoon Shrug.

My inspiration for the construction is the granny cocoon shrug by Maria Valles which went viral on Pinterest in 2015. I've had it pinned on my "Crochet Tops" Pinterest board for a while.  My last granny square shrug worked out wonderfully, see it on this post if you scroll down a little way. My butterfly garden project kept me busy over the holidays, travelling to France to see our family for 10 days. I had a large quantity of alpaca yarn (Cascade Alpaca Lana D'Oro) purchased in the final sale at the store where I work. I needed a delicate pattern to balance the dark green so found a wonderful butterfly garden square in one of my favorite books: The Granny Square Book by legendary crochet great Margaret Hubert.

The construction is blissfully simple. It's just a square joined under the arms with a little bit of edging. After following the 10 rounds of the butterfly garden pattern I just kept going until I could drape my square across my shoulders down to my wrists. I seamed under the arms with a single crochet and added treble rounds to armholes and neckline. It's easy to pull on and snuggle into - perfect for January in Texas.

Maria Valles provides step by step instructions for the granny cocoon shrug on her blog. There is also a video tutorial by Nadia Fuad of Yarnutopia. Some people learn best by watching rather than reading. What's stopping you?