How to design a crochet sweater

Ever wondered how a new crochet design is born? I know that I am always curious on what is going on behind the scenes of designing a garment and would love to be able to see more of that process. So I decided to share my own process with you.

This post will go through the start to finish of designing the crochet October Sweater. If you read this post during November/December 2023 then the pattern is not yet available, but hopefully soon. Let’s dive in on how the sweater was born!

The vlog about the design

Prefer to watch it? Check out my vlog on YouTube where the same story is shared. And you also get to know me a bit more!

How did it start

So first I always want some kind of basic idea on what I am going to design. It might be what yarn I want to use, what stitch I want to use or what type of garment to make. Some times I have an idea of all of this and sometimes I just start to swatch and let the idea slowly grows as I go.

For the October Sweater i already had the yarn ready, I knew what I wanted the sweater to look like and I knew how to construct it. So after the swatch I could easily just count the gauge and start to calculate the math for the project. But how did I get the idea?

I got a magazine in the mail that my toddler started to read. She accidentally pulled out a page from the magazine and on that page was a beautiful knitted sweater. I knew that I one day wanted to make a crochet version of it. Of course with a bit of changes so it would feel like mine, but keeping the basic idea the same. I saved that page in my notebook until I was ready with all the patterns for my crochet book. When I finally had time to make an “unstructured” project I dug out that picture and got started.

Swatching swatching swatching

When I design I always start with the gauge swatch. It is the foundation for the garment also in the designing process, not only in the making process. Swatching for designing usually takes time and many remakes. For this sweater I had a clear idea and I had been using the yarn before. This made the swatching process fairly easy. When the swatch has been ready and blocked it is time to think about the numbers.

So to start the actual garment you need to know how many chains to start with and what to do. For that you need to know the construction and the gauge. I usually have a current favourite construction that I tend to use for consecutive patterns before I feel like a change again. That was basically true for the October Sweater as well. I used a construction that I had used for one of the patterns in the book and really liked how the neckline turned out on. I knew I wanted the same type of neckline and this construction would also work great for the stitch I was planning to use. It would make the “stripes” created naturally be the stitch go vertical. Which was exactly what I wanted for this pattern. 

Numbers

So with the gauge ready and construction clear we could get started on the numbers. You need to have a clear vision on the size and ease you want to create on the garment to know how to do the math. Since I’ve designed over 50 garments at this stage I know my numbers by heart. If you want an idea on numbers to use I recommend different yarn standards, for example from craft and yarn council. 

Then it was just a matter of calculating the math for my sample. I did wing it by not swatching the ribbing and changing the hook as I went which I know you shouldn’t. And I shouldn’t have. I needed to remake a couple of hours of work cause of it. Don’t get me wrong - it is totally normal to remake part of the garment while designing (or crocheting) - it is part of the process. But some mistakes you know you can avoid, so those are just a bit silly to keep making, my bad!

Crocheting away

After that initial mistake it was a breeze. Just crocheting away row after row. I love it when you can just sit and relax and crochet at the same time. I do like more complicated patterns as well, but my favorite is when you can just sit and crochet and relax. No counting (except for a check now and then that you haven’t made any mistakes) and no thinking about next steps. Then you can easily crochet while at the same time hanging out with the family or watch your favourite show.

Soon I was at the place where I needed to split for the neck. I knew I wanted it to be quite wide and since I used a construction that I’ve used before I simply copied the math from that and recalculated it to match this gauge. Don’t be afraid to use your own work more than once. With different stitches and combinations you still create a unique design.

Finishing touches

After completing the body I went on to make the sleeves. There I also used a technique I've used before so it went smoothly. Overall this pattern design went really smoothly - it only took time to work up due to my limited amount of crochet time per day (30-60 minutes). But that is ok! Within around 3 weeks the garment was ready. In the end I wasn't happy about the neckline on this one, the yarn behaved differently than on my previous design making the neckline too wide for my taste. That was an easy fix using some slip stitches while making the edging for the neckline. And it ended up looking really nice!  

XX Emilia