Body Language Sweater – A Textured Drop-Shoulder, Boxy, Ribbed Crochet Sweater Pattern
Hi hi hi!
Well friends.. it’s been over 2 months since my last garment release and I’m soo happy to bring you this next one: the Body Language Sweater! Click here to go straight to the pattern or keep on readin’ to find out some more info + a coupon code!
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About
The Body Language Sweater is a simple, drop-shoulder sweater using basic stitches – just the single crochet and half-double crochet stitch! – perfect for a beginner. It’s got a boxy fit with basic shaping around the front + back neckline so that it sits nicely on the shoulders and has a nice scoop neck. It also has a cinching effect at the bottom ribbing as well as the sleeve cuffs due to using a smaller hook here, which lends to a really modern, flattering fit on all shapes and sizes.
Last year, almost all my patterns were named after a street name or city that has meaning to me. This year, I’ve been playing around with some more artsy sounding names this year. I want to treat each design as if it were its own piece of art and give it a name that honours that! A lot of my future design names are written in an app on my phone and most ideas have come from song lyrics. We have done a lot of road-tripping this year and I always feel inspired when we are traveling to new places. Most of my pattern names for 2020 have come from these trips 🙂
Ok – back to it!!
This pattern has been professionally tech edited to be as correct as possible. All sizes have been tested! Keep scrolling for some tester pics – you’re not gonna wanna miss these!
Sizing
This is a size-inclusive pattern, written for 9 sizes:
XS (S, M, L, XL)(2X, 3X, 4X, 5X) to fit bust sizes 28-30 (32-34, 36-38, 40-42, 44-46) (48-50, 52-54, 56-58, 60-62)“ based on the CYC sizing standards. There is also 2-8″ of positive ease built in to the sweater, so you can play around with the sizing depending on how loose or tight you’d like your sweater to be. Some of my testers sized down and still had a great-fitting sweater, and others sized up for a really comfy fit that looked just as great!
When choosing a size, choose a garment bust size that is 2-8″ larger than your actual bust measurement, depending on how much positive ease you would like in your sweater.
Model has 34″ bust and is wearing a size small with a garment bust measurement of 40″.
Yardage Info
For this sweater, I used Lion Brand’s Feels Like Butta (100% polyester) although my testers used a wide variety of yarns – cotton, acrylic, wool, blends, polyester – and they all looked awesome. A few testers also used a weight #3 yarn and just adjusted the hook size to match gauge.
Some other yarns used during testing include:
- Lion Brand Coboo
- Lion Brand Wool-Ease
- Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
- Lion Brand Heartland
- Lion Brand Pound of Love
- Lion Brand Basic Stitch
- Yarn Bee Breathe Deep
- Yarn Bee Warm & Cozy
- Bernat Baby Velvet
- Bernat Super Value
- We Are Knitters Pima Cotton
- Vardhman Soft and Smart Knitting Yarn
- Stylecraft Special DK
- Loops & Threads Impeccable
- Red Heart Amore
You will need:
5 (5, 6, 6, 7) (8, 8, 9, 9) skeins of Feels Like Butta for sizes XS (S, M, L, XL) (2X, 3X, 4X, 5X)
note: these numbers are for the regular sized skeins, not the Bonus Bundles. If you use the Bonus Bundles, make sure to double check yardage listed below.
Or
900 (990, 1100, 1215, 1310) (1520, 1635, 1775, 1875) yds of any similar category 4, medium weight yarn that matches gauge.
Yardage is for cropped version; keep in mind that additional yardage may be needed for full-length or longer sweaters. However, this yardage is conservative, and many testers worked additional length to make it a full-length sweater without going over the listed yardage.
Modifications
If cropped sweaters aren’t for you, this pattern makes it very clear where to add length in the body as well as the sleeves. I also added instructions on how to shorten the sleeves to fit your arm length, if needed, and where to do so. Easily modify this pattern to make a slightly longer cropped sweater, a full-length sweater, a long sweater to wear with tights, or whatever your sweater preference is.
A few of my testers actually used a weight #3 yarn rather than the suggested #4, and they turned out amazing. If you’d like to use a #3 weight, I’d suggest simply finding the hook size that gives you the proper *stitch* gauge, and following the pattern as written because it’s easy to add/subtract rows as you’re working, if needed.
Just for interest’s sake .. Here’s my first sample below! I used Feels Like Butta in white but I wasn’t happy with the neckline. It was a little too wide and let my bra straps show through, so I re-did it in the grey version above to be a little more narrow. It still turned out cute though, so here’s some pics from my first sample version:
Tester Photos
Here are some photos from my testers as well as the yarn they used! I think it’s really helpful to see other versions made in different materials on different bodies, so here’s some really lovely photos my testers took! I included everybody’s Instagram handle in case you want to check out some more of their work. I wanted to include this section here so you can see how truly versatile one pattern can be! Each different fiber used gives the sweater a whole new vibe. And you can see how each person made it their own! Keep scrolling to see how the Body Language Sweater looks on beautiful bodies of all types.
You can also check out the Ravelry Projects for this pattern here.
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Well there ya go!!
I hope you enjoyed seeing everyone’s version of the Body Language Sweater! This pattern will be available as a crochet kit on LionBrand.com on March 19th/2020!
You can find the pattern in these places:
On my website here.
On Ravelry here.
On Etsy here.
(Use the code “PATTERN10” for 10% off all patterns)
I can’t wait to see your WIPs! Make sure to tag me @knitsnknotswpg and use the pattern hashtag #BodyLanguageSweater so that everyone can see your projects!
Happy crocheting,
Janine xx