Cat Mad Crochet

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I’ve made it to episode 4. I think this is my favorite episode for crochet. It’s a good overall episode with the weird bedazzled pigeon wing and the windmills and the Birdhouse in Your Soul sing-along, but the crochet is really something. 

This episode, I may have become a little obsessed with Chuck’s sweater, but look at it! It’s crochet; it’s lace; it’s a soft, pretty pink; it’s cropped with ¾ sleeves. It is everything I would want in a sweater for myself, but I will never make because I do not make things for myself. I love this sweater.

If I was to make it, I would do post stitch ribbing with a hook slightly smaller than the hook size for the rest of the project. I really think post stitch ribbing does a better job of stretching and being, well, ribbing than back loop single crochet ribbing does. 

I would use a shell stitch for the body, and I would work it top down as a compound raglan with neck shaping. The New Crochet Stitch Dictionary has three stitch patterns I think would work well for this sweater.

First, there is “Big Paw”, which is comprised of fan stitches and tall Y stitches. I like the texture this would give. The increases would have to start with an extra leg in the Y stitch, so maybe that would be a W stitch? It would take a bit more planning and thought, but it would create a really nice all over textured lace stitch. I think it would also work well with a compound raglan construction. 

The second possible stitch pattern for this sweater is “Little Bells”. I have already played with this stitch pattern, so I know you can do an internal increases and decreases pretty easily. I’d have to think about it with a compound raglan, but it would definitely work with a regular raglan construction if it was carefully planned to account for the tighter fit.

The third stitch pattern that would work well for this sweater is the “Open Shell-and-Fan” pattern. I like the off-center fans. I think they would look really interesting in a sweater. Because the increase could be worked in any shell in any given row, this would be ideal for compound raglan construction. This is a fun stitch pattern, I’m going to have to mark it and come back to it soon. I’m thinking of a little capelet for fall with a nice, crisp, single ply merino.

Charlotte Charles has a wonderful wardrobe set off with joyous bursts of crochet, which begs the question: Where does she get it? Is she making it? Does she live in a world where well-made, beautiful crochet is available at the store in prices that reflect the work that went into the final product? If we’re imagining such things, can we add that the workers are all paid fair wages and they are willing adults and even people in the so-called first world countries could make a good living making and selling things too? 

I digress.

That’s not even the only crocheted sweater in this episode! There is a second one! It’s not as lacy and open, but it is beautiful in its own way. I particularly like the bands of crochet on this one. It makes really good use of crochet’s myriad stitch patterns and those little bands of, I’m guessing, single crochets between the bands of textured stitches would give plenty of room for various types of shaping.

They’ve created this sweater using flat pieces, which means sewing, which I hate, so if I were going to make it, I would use a one piece raglan construction with neck shaping. 

As for the actual stitches to use, it looks like there are only two different stitch patterns used to create the bands. For my version, I would pull “Plump Posts” from the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary, for the wider bands.

This stitch pattern captures the sense of the larger, denser, textured bands without being an exact copy. Because shaping happens in the little bands of single crochet between the larger textured rows, I don’t even have to think about how the increases would work.

For the narrower bands of textured stitching, I would use “Green Lace” from Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. This lends an air of a grid that those smaller sections seem to have while adding in some friendly shells/fans. I love shells and fans, so I am happy to pop them in wherever I can.

The exercising goes on. Yesterday was my upper body workout, and it hurt along the sides of my rib cage to pick up my tea this morning. I’m told this is a good type of pain. I guess there’s good pain now. I don’t know if I wanted to know that. 

Happy crafting!