Hexagon cardigans seem to be flooding the internet and are extremely popular right now. And, why not?They are pretty easy to make using two hexagons made to the same size, folded to create the arms and body and with a few added touches, you have a beautiful sweater!
After designing a feather stitch square motif for my "Soft As A Feather Baby Blanket" along with the 2nd version of the blanket that I fondly call "Bahama Dayze," I decided to get my creative self busy and work up the pattern directions for a feather stitch hexagon. So, this simple little hexagon was born.
The photo above shows my hexagon completed through 5 rounds. It doesn't look like much in the photo, but make it with the color fading Caron Colorama Halo yarn in the pretty Bluestone Frost colorway and you have a lovely, soft sweater that others will want to make.
So, this blog is not a step by step tutorial on how to make a hexagon cardigan to an exact size, but more of a general guide about how I completed mine. There is a fabulous tutorial on how to make a granny stitch hexagon cardigan that you can see by clicking on the link below. I viewed it in order to get a general idea about the construction of a hexagon cardigan, but used my own pattern design and methods for completing it.
To start, I gathered some yarn that I had purchased on sale from Joann Fabric and Crafts a while back. I had 4 donuts of the Caron Colorama Halo O'go yarn and thought how pretty and soft this would look as a hexagon cardigan. Using a 6.5 mm hook, I made two identical Feather Stitch Hexagons. (You can find the pattern tutorial on Ravelry by clicking this link:) FEATHER STITCH HEXAGON MOTIF
I worked my hexagon for 20 rounds. Each round that you complete after round 5 makes the hexagon a bit floppier. I love how the yarn colors fade from the light frosty blue to a more darker shade, so I decided to work from the lighter end of the donut. I used one donut for each hexagon so I could get a nearly exact match.
I lay my hexagon motifs out on a flat surface and adjusted them both so that the tail end from round 20 was centered on both the left and right bottom of the sweater. Photo below shows both hexagons from the right side out.
Next, I needed to seam my shoulders together. I turned my hexagon wrong side out so that my seam would appear on the inside once completed. I attached my yarn in the right hand corner and worked SC stitches through the outer loops along each top side edge. I didn't work these stitches too tight as I wanted it to lay against my shoulder nicely without pulling.
Here is what my seam looked like once completed from the inside.
Once turned right side out, this is what my shoulder seam looked like.
After turning my work right side out, I determined that I would need an additional 4" for the back center and went about adding 4 rows (2" total for each) of feather stitch along the back side edge on both the left and right panel. As I completed the second set of 4 rows, I joined both panels together working a slip stitch; after completing one feather stitch of one panel I slip stitched into the top of the feather stitches from the second panel to join it together.
 |
| I added 2" to each side of the back panel. |
 |
Preparing to join the back panels.
|
 |
| Joining panels together with slip stitch. |
Now that my panels were connected, I decided to try it on for fit. It fits well overall, but I want to add a bit of length to this before adding my bottom ribbing. As you can see in the photo below, if I wanted a cropped cardi, this would be fine, but I would prefer mine to go just below my natural waist.
=
 |
This is just a bit short.
I will add three rows to the bottom.
|
I attached my yarn at the lower left front corner and worked three rows back and forth along the bottom. This gave me an additional 1.5" in length to work with before adding my ribbing. Once finished with those three rows, I turned my sweater to work along the neckline and worked a sc stitch along the entire neckline and down and around the bottom edge. When finished with this "round" of sc it landed me exactly where I needed to be in order to begin the bottom sc ribbing.
 |
I attached my yarn at the X on the left front
and worked my way around to the right side X.
Without fastening off, I will continue to work up
around the neckline and back down around the bottom
using SC in order to prepare for the ribbing. |
I used my 5.5 mm hook and attached my yarn in the lower right front corner and chained 11. I sc in the second ch from my hook and down toward the sweater edge. I worked two slip sts along the edge, ch 1 and turned my work. I continued to work sc in the back loop, but when I reached the last st farthest away from the bottom edge of the sweater, I made a regular sc. This gives that outside stitch just a bit more structure. On the way back, I worked one regular sc, then 9 sc in the back loop only, slip stitch to attach, ch 1 and turn and repeated all the way around the sweater bottom until I reached the end. Once I worked the entire bottom ribbing, I tried it on to make sure I liked the look and fit, then went on to work my first sleeve.
 |
| Beginning the bottom border. |
 |
| Working my way around. |
 |
| Trying it on for fit and checking length. |
Now that the bottom ribbing was complete, I began extending my sleeves. I located the bottom "center" of the hexagon and ran my finger along the "center line" to the sleeve edge. Using my 6.5 mm hook, I attached my yarn to the "underside" of the sleeve. I worked feather stitches around the previous row and added 2 extra FS/CH1 at the top of the shoulder seam. All in all I had 22 feather stitches worked around the sleeve. I worked in turned rounds and completed a total of 19 rounds,. On the 20th round I worked one regular sc, followed by sc2tog for 22 more sts. I worked a regular sc in the last st and had a total of 24 stitches. I added one additional round of sc before adding my ribbed cuff, but changed to my 5.5 mm hook and worked the one sc in each st for a total of 24. At the end of this round, I joined and continued with the 5.5 mm hook and worked a ribbed cuff of sc in the back loop. As I did for the bottom ribbing, I joined my cuff ribbing to the sleeve with 2 sl sts, ch 1 and turn, placing a regular sc in the outer most st for added structure. Once all the way around, I slip stitched my cuff together and fastened off.
 |
Left sleeve and cuff completed.
|
I repeated this process for my right sleeve and cuff, making sure to work the same number of rounds and changing the hook from my 6.5 mm to 5.5 mm as I did on the first sleeve. I really like how the sleeve length works on this for me, and even have a little bit of a puff by working the "fitted" sc ribbing for the cuff.
Once I was happy with the bottom ribbing, sleeves and cuff, I only had the neckline ribbing to complete. I used my 5.5 mm hook and attached my yarn in the lower right corner of the sweater. Working along the neckline as I did for the bottom ribbing, I chained 11, worked back toward the neckline using sc stitches, joined to the neckline edge using two slip stitches and worked sc in the back loop only (with the exception of the outer most sc which was worked regular) all the way around the neckline edge until I reached the opposite corner. I fastened off and wove my ends in.
Overall, I am really happy with how my hexagon sweater turned out. I did notice that there seemed to be a bit of "pulling" along the ribbed border of my neckline. I think there are two possible things I could do to eliminate that from happening when I make this next time:
1) I could make the neckline ribbing with my 6.5 mm hook instead of the 5.5 mm hook, or
2) I could alternate between working 2 slip stitches to1 slip stitch every other row in order to get more rows of sc along the edge and prevent the pulling.
The good news is that I am already in the process of making my next hexagon cardigan, and when I get to the neckline ribbing I will definitely try out both techniques to see which one works the best!
I hope you enjoyed my guide and that I have given you a bit of encouragement to try your own feather stitch hexagon cardigan! If you do make one, I would love to see your finished work. You can find me on Facebook at
Purdy Sweet Crochet or Instagram at
Purdy Sweet Crochet.
Happy Crocheting!!
~Merri
No comments:
Post a Comment