Heart of Yarn Sweater - Make it your Own

Heart of Yarn Sweater – Make it your Own

This sweater pattern is a little different to most of my other patterns. It started off life as the cropped roll neck you see as the cover picture to this post, but it turned into something much more.

Download the Heart of Yarn now from Etsy, Ravelry or Love Crafts

When I finished the original design, I knew I loved it but wasn’t sure if the crochet bobble heart motif would be too much for some people. So I posted a selfie of me wearing it into a crochet facebook group.

I was a bit blown away by the response. It was about a 60/40 split between those who loved the heart and and those who didn’t. It was reassuring that more liked it than did’t, but what I noticed were some of the other comments, “I love it but I wouldn’t wear a cropped sweater, my daughter would though” or “I would prefer it less baggy” and so on and so forth (though there were plenty who loved it just how it was!!

screen grab of facebook post showing a mirror selfie of women in crochet sweater with a heart motif on it — The original facebook post which inspired me to create the ‘make it your own’ concept.

All these comments began to stir up an idea somewhere in the back of my mind. I usually add suggestions for alterations to my patterns, and have written a separate blog posts giving guidance on how to alter top down patterns, but what if you, the maker, could decide as you go along how you wanted it to fit, how long you wanted and what kind of neckline you wanted? Instead of a simple “add more rows to make it longer” guide, I could write specific instructions for each of the options.

This idea took root!

We are all different shapes and sizes and as we get older, we learn what works for us and what doesn’t. So to have one single pattern which could accommodate multiple preferences… well I knew I had to put it into practice and the ”Make it your Own” concept was born!

3 crochet sweaters in cream teal and pink, two with pink heart motifs laying on a grey floor — An overview of some of the options you can choose

After a lot of maths and sketching and thinking and some more maths, I would decided that these would be the options I would offer:

Heart Motif: With or without (the option that started this whole thing!), in the same as the main colour or a contrast colour

Fit: Classic or Relaxed

Length: Standard or Cropped

Sleeves: Long, 3/4 length or short (i.e. a t-shirt)

Neckline: Roll neck, round neck or boat neck

Hem and Cuffs: Standard or Long

3 crochet sweaters laid out on floor comparing different sleeve lengths

If you’re after the free beginner t-shirt version of the pattern, click here, or read on to find out more about making the sweater you want!

That’s 6 features you can choose yourself, and, if my maths on this is right, there are 288 possible combinations… in 7 different sizes!!! (Oh and on top of that you can choose a separate sleeve size to body size… the maths starts to get too much at that point!)

If you want to see me explaining the concept, you can check out my introductory video on youtube or on my igtv!

Otherwise, you can see some of the combinations in the pictures below:

Woman wearing a roll neck crochet sweater with a pink heart motif. Her hand is to her mouth as she stands in front of a white wall — The original heart of yarn, cropped with a roll neck, full length sleeves a long hem and long cuffs

Teal round neck crochet sweater being worn by woman in leopard print trousers — Standard length classic fit with 3/4 length sleeves, classic length hem and cuff, a round neck line and no heart motif

Woman in pink crochet t-shirt with bobble heart motif. Her hands are on her hips as she stands next to a lamp with a yellow shade in front of a white wall — Cropped t-shirt with a long hem, the heart worked in the same colour as the body, a long hem and a boat neckline

As you can see, there is a huge amount of versatility you can get with this pattern. sound good?

So shall we get on to talking about what you’ll need to know to get making it?

You can download the full pdf, including tutorials and schemata for the options from Ravelry, Etsy or Love Crafts.

If you love the look of this pattern but aren’t quite ready to make it, why not pin it for later?

Close up of a pink crochet bobble heart motif on a cream crochet roll neck sweater

This post contains affiliate links. This means if you click a link to a product and go on to make a purchase, I receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here

3 crochet sweaters laying arms out on top of each other on a grey floor

Materials

Hook: 5.5mm crochet hook for the body (or size needed to meet gauge) and 5mm for the neckline, hem and cuffs.

Yarn: This pattern is worked using acrylic Aran (or Worsted) weight yarn.

Main Colour:

The items pictured used the following yarn:

Cropped Roll Neck: 600g – 1100g / 970m – 1800m Women’s institute Soft and Smooth Aran in Cream. 100% Acrylic, 400g ball = 660m
Classic fit 3/4 length sleeve: 500g – 900g / 800m – 1500m Women’s institute Soft and Smooth Aran in Teal. 100% Acrylic, 400g ball = 660m
Classic fit cropped t-shirt: 300g – 540g / 470m – 890m Lion Brand Heartland in Arcadia (Cream) and Denau (Pink). 142g ball= 230m

The amount of yarn required for your project will depend on the styles you select and more guidance is given in the pattern

A cropped classic fit t-shirt will use the least yarn whereas a relaxed roll neck sweater with full length sleeves and a long hem will use the most.

Woman in leopard print trousers wearing teal crochet sweater. Her back is to the camera and she has her hands wrapped around the back of her head

Skill Level

The heart of yarn sweater uses simple stitches and a mindful easy stitch pattern, with bobbles to create the heart motif (instructions for the bobbles used are given in the pattern)

It is worked in flat panels and uses easy construction methods for the drop shoulder design and includes a link to a video tutorial demonstrating how to join the pieces which you can find here:

Note that this construction method will work for any drop shoulder design

Measurements

All of the options are written for 7 sizes from XS to 3XL.

Bust sizes for the classic fit range from 78cm – 138cm and for the relaxed fit, they range from 86cm – 146cm.

The pattern contains full details of the rest of the sizing for the sleeves, body length, neckline and hem options.

button instructing to download from love crafts

half of a crochet t-shirt with a bobble heart hun on a white wall

Free t-shirt option

When I was designing the pattern, I knew I wanted to give part of the pattern away for free. I am on a mission to get more people to have the confidence to crochet their own clothes and giving free access to patterns is one of those.

So you can get the basic classic fit, cropped t-shirt pattern (without the heart) for free here.

woman wearing leopard print trousers and a pink crochet sweater making a heart shape with her hands held in front of her chest

It’s a super simple design to make and will hopefully give you some confidence if you have never made a garment before.

Note that this one works the sleeves directly from the arm holes, for the sweater options in the main pattern the sleeves are worked flat and joined together.

I hope you’re as excited about the idea of this new concept as I am. I don’t mind telling you that it was a LOT of work to make sure all the options seamlessly fit together but I have had fantastic feedback from my testers who all want to go back and make it in a different combination!

Download the full PDF pattern from Ravelry, Etsy or Love Crafts

close up of the sleeve of a teal crochet sweater hanging on a white wall

I can’t wait to see how you make it your own!

If you are a fan of social media, I’d love it if you share your makes

On Instagram, you can use the hashtag #HeartOfYarn or just tag me @doradexplored.

You can tweet me your pictures, or add your them to my Facebook page

If Pinterest is your happy place, you can add them there too – check out my Pinterest account for lots more crochet inspiration from makers across the web!

Back to Crochet Patterns Home

woman wearing crochet cream roll neck sweater and leopard print pants, ruffling her hair with her back to the camera

(C) DoraDoes 2020. You may sell what you make from my patterns, but please credit me as the designer at doradoes.co.uk. The pattern is for personal use only and may not be shared without prior written consent. My photos may be shared with full credit.