Something I don’t do nearly enough, in my opinion, is make time to try out other people’s crochet patterns. Although I ogle tons and tons of designs (and buy a fair few), I seem to always be busy with other projects.
Lately, though, I’ve made a point to get cracking on some of the patterns in my collection – first up was the renowned Glenda’s Hooded Gypsy Cardigan . Man, I have been wanting to make this forever! It’s exactly in my style wheelhouse. Since I have an intense amount of acrylic solid yarn leftovers from making Mandala Tops and Pullovers, of course it had to be a color extravaganza.
I also decided to leave off the sleeves to make it more warm-weather friendly. My main vending event is coming up at the end of the month, and it’s usually quite hot during the day and somewhat chilly at night. Since it is now a vest, I used corset-lacing in the back instead of the dart lacing described in the pattern to make the back more fitted.
I used ripped gauze fabric for the back and side ties, and added tassels to the hood point and each point at the hem of the garment.
I also added 4-5 extra rounds of trim on the hood, since I like a deep hood and this one came out a little too shallow for me. The choker and the halter top underneath were a matching set on their own but go great with this vest – Raise your hand if you are super happy that chokers are back in style. So. Easy. To. Crochet. OMG.
Conclusion: awesome! This pattern was really easy to follow and customize. And it used up A LOT of random acrylic solid orphan yarn balls. Recommend! Thanks Glenda!
-MF
P.S – you can view this project on my Ravelry Project Page as well 🙂