Sweater Attempt #1

I have been crocheting for about 12 years now, since I taught myself from a book (i.e. my now-husband taught me how to teach myself from the book... but that's a different story...) when I was a sophomore in college.  And in all that time, I have wanted so badly to crochet a clothing item, but never felt up to the challenge.  I have, of course, made hats, scarves, and even mittens, but nothing more challenging than that.

I have been planning to try a clothing project for a long time, though, so I have a lot of ideas pinned and bookmarked - probably a closet-full, if I ever get around to all of them.  Some gorgeous, intricate fair isle cardigans that I'll probably never be good enough to make... some baby sweaters I'll definitely be working on... and this appealingly simple shrug I chose as my first-ever attempt.

This pattern called to me because it just seemed so manageable for a beginner.  It is made in one solid rectangle, then folded and sewn together to for the armholes.  Then it just drapes over the shoulders to serve its purpose as a cardigan.  I did not love the chunky yarn they used, though.  It is definitely beautiful fiber, and the final product looked gorgeous on the blogger; however, I tend to run hot and don't care for heavy sweaters, and I had this lovely green, lighter weight yarn that my husband had treated me to, from a real yarn store (as opposed to reasonably-priced yarn from JoAnn Fabrics or A.C. Moore), which I was saving for a "fancy" project instead of a baby blanket or something similar.

So, I used the pattern I had pinned as my inspiration, and I made up my own design.  I chained enough stitches for the required length, which turned out to be 175.  Then, for the border edge, I did 5 rows of single crochet in back loops only, to get that ribbed look.  The body of the piece was just normal double crochet.  And then I finished with 5 rows of sc blo again, to have the border match up when I folded.  Following the instructions, I folded & seamed, and I was all done! 

please ignore my awkward selfie... 

I didn't have enough yarn to make the piece as long as the pattern indicated, so mine is more of a shrug, less of a cardigan.  And it's definitely lighter weight, so it flows a little differently.  This project is definitely filed in the "thank God it's finally finished and I can be done with it" category.  But all in all, it's not as bad as it could have been, really.  And I do feel empowered to try another sweater attempt.  But I think this time I will follow a set pattern exactly, with the indicated yarn ;)