The Waffle Cardigan Crochet Pattern

There are times when I see a stitch and know immediately that I have to incorporate it into a project, this happened to me recently with the waffle stitch. Considering it is a pretty bold stitch I knew that I wanted to use it as an accent and what better way to use it than to create pockets, hence The Waffle Cardigan was born! I humored myself and decided to make the cardigan in a waffle-ish color as well.

I would say that this is probably an intermediate project because not only are you working with panels, the main body panel is quite large, so having a developed tension consistency is a big help in creating that section. However, the great thing about crochet is that a lot of complicated looking stitches are actually much easier than they seem once you know the basics. Therefore I will never discourage a beginner from tackling an intermediate project if they really want to go for it! I am also always here for advice or guidance should you need it! Let’s get started shall we?

How I Create My Designs

As you may or may not know, I have a long and complicated history with the world of Fine Arts. In any Art community you are constantly exposed to other artists work, personally, this exposure would make me feel very inspired most of the time, while other times it could make me feel discouraged and insecure. I always struggled with the originality that came with Art, it felt like everyone around me was drawing or painting images that were made completely from their own imagination, and I was the only one that needed a photographic reference. Eventually I came to realize that everyone uses a reference to their own degree of necessity, it is all just part of the learning process. Although needing a reference when drawing made me feel inferior to other artists around me, using references while designing my clothing really only feels like finding inspiration rather than using a crutch. I’m not sure why creating original clothing pieces feels so much less intimidating to me than creating original art pieces, but it is definitely a medium that I feel much more comfortable in. Just in case there is anyone out there that really wants to create their own designs, but is too intimidated and overwhelmed to know where to start, I wanted to walk through how I create my designs in hopes that maybe breaking it down can make the task a little less scary. So let’s dive in!

What Crochet Means To Me

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am always trying to make things, no matter the time of day (you can ask my boyfriend who is constantly woken up by me shuffling through my yarn stash at 2am) or circumstance, I always need to be creating. This has been true for as long as I can remember. Now what originally sparked this urge in me, I honestly have no idea, but I am very thankful to the magical fairy godmother that granted me with the crafting/artsy genes because I don’t think I would be the same person without it. Growing up I found the world of art to be beautiful and fascinating and terrifying at the same time. There are so many different art forms in which you can express yourself and I wanted to learn every single one of them, and to be fair I have managed to become at the very least mediocre at a lot of them! In high school, I was very active in the fine arts and music communities as I was in AP Art, Marching Band, and Orchestra. While I do miss these things very dearly to this day, for various reasons I was unable to hold onto them while navigating my way through college. In college my life was dedicated to exploring the world of Film and Television Production, a career path that I had decided I wanted to pursue rather early in life.