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?

Now before I get into the details of the needed materials, I want to note that I don’t typically create my patterns on a standard size basis (XS – XL). I don’t do this because no two bodies are the same and I think that if you really want to make a piece specific to your body, that can be achieved much more accurately through taking personal measurements rather than following a pattern that will generally follow certain size guidelines.

Materials:

• 5-10 balls of Loops and Thread Impeccable Yarn in Gold
• 6.00 mm Crochet Hook
• Yarn Needle 5-10 balls of
• Optional Steamer (for blocking)There are going to be a few personal measurements that you will need to get, and then do a little bit of math to compensate for some growth as you work into your foundation chain as well as when you block your project. I used a steamer to block my project and it didn’t affect the quality of my yarn, however be sure to be careful when using acrylic yarn as it is flammable. You can choose any method of blocking that you prefer though.

**Important Note**
When you begin working into your foundation chain, it should increase approximately 2″ in width.

When you block your work it should increase approximately 3″ in width and 1″ in length.

Because of this when you are creating your foundation chain you should subtract approximately 5″ from the chain as it will grow back those missing inches over time, and then you should subtract approximately 1″ from your length measurements. 

Measurements:

• Underarm to Desired Length (minus 1″ for blocking)
• Bust (minus 4″ for ribbing) (minus 5″ for blocking/foundation)
• Underarm Width
• Underarm to Top of Shoulder (minus 1″ for blocking)
• Top of Shoulder to Wrist (minus 3″ for ribbed cuffs) (minus 1″ for blocking)
  

Abbreviations:

• SC – Single Crochet
• SS – Spike Stitch
• DC – Double Crochet
• HDC – Half Double Crochet
• FPDC – Front Post Double Crochet

We are going to begin the cardigan by working the main body section. This will be a square/rectangle comprised of your “Bust Measurement” X “Underarm To Desired Length Measurement”

Body Section

Foundation:
Work a chain in a multiple of 2 + 1 that is equal in length to your “Bust” (minus 4″ for ribbing) (minus 5″ for blocking/foundation) measurement.

Row 1:
Once you have a foundation chain that matches your measurement, work a SC into each chain stitch across the foundation. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 2: (*You are now going to begin working alternating spike stitches for the rest of the body section*)
Skip 1 stitch, and work 1 SC in the next stitch.

In the next stitch work 1 Spike Stitch (SS), this is done by working your stitch underneath where you would usually work the stitch. (If you need a visual example, Olivia at Hopeful Honey has a very useful video Here)

Work 1 SC in the next stitch and continue alternate between the SC and SS until the end of row. You should end the row with 1 SC in the last stitch. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 3:
Skip 1 stitch and work 1 SC into the top of the SS from the row below. Again alternate between SC and SS until the last two stitches on the row. In the second to last stitch work 1 SS and then work 1 SC into the turning chain at the end of the row. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 4….
Repeat Row 3 until your body section has reached your ” Underarm to Desired Length”(minus 1″ for blocking) measurement.

Note that the piece will feel rather stiff as your continue to work on it, this will loosen up significantly after blocking.

This is what my body section looked like after blocking. It got much softer and looser, and also increased a few inches as the stitches loosened up. Note that you don’t have to block your project at this stage, you can block it as you go as I did, or you can wait to block the entire cardigan when you are finished, it is completely up to you!

Placing Stitch Markers:
Once you are done with the body section, take your “Underarm Width” measurement (measure the front of your armpit to the back of your armpit and add a little bit of wiggle room so the arm hole won’t be too tight) to find out how much room you will need to leave in order to create an arm hole.

Wrap the body section around your torso as if you were wearing it and place a stitch marker in a stitch by the front of your underarm on both sides that you think will be comfortable. Starting at your first stitch marker, take your measuring tape/ruler and (going inward) place a second stitch marker at the distance of your “Underarm Width” measurement. 

*I had to adjust mine a little bit because both sides weren’t completely even at first. I made sure that the stitches from the end to the first stitch marker were even on both sides, then I checked that the amount of stitches between the two stitch markers were even*

Front and Back Panels


Right Front Panel:
As the diagram shows, you work the Front Right Panel by starting at the first stitch marker and continuing the alternating SC and SS pattern that you did in the body section. Keep working rows of the Alternating Spike Stitch until you have added an equal height to your “Underarm To Top Of Shoulder” (minus 1″ for blocking) measurement.

Back Panel
As the diagram shows, you work the Back Panel by starting at the third stitch marker and continuing the alternating SC and SS pattern that you did in the body section until the second stitch marker. Keep working rows of the Alternating Spike Stitch until you have added an equal height to your “Underarm To Top Of Shoulder” (minus 1″ for blocking) measurement.

Left Front Panel
As the diagram shows, you work the Front Left Panel by starting at the far right end corner of the body section and continuing the alternating SC and SS pattern that you did in the body section until the fourth stitch marker. Keep working rows of the Alternating Spike Stitch until you have added an equal height to your “Underarm To Top Of Shoulder” (minus 1″ for blocking) measurement.

This is what the piece looked like after I added the Front and Back Panels. In this photo I had not yet blocked the added panels of the project. This is because I wanted to wait to block these panels until I had sewn them together and added the sleeves.

If you want to make sure that the height you have added with your panels created a comfortable arm hole, I suggest using your stitch markers to fasten the Front Panel to the Back Panels (as pictured below) and trying on the piece as a vest to make sure that the arms feel loose enough to move your arms and such. If you find it is too tight or loose, add or frog rows until you feel comfortable.

Once you have added your panels and have adjusted them to a comfortable height if necessary, you will sew your Front Panels evenly to the Back Panel. I did this by lining up the ends of the Front Panels to the ends of the Back Panel and sewing along the top of each Front Panel. You will have now created the full body structure of the cardigan and armholes for you to begin working your sleeves into!

Sleeves

As you have now created the arm holes of your cardigan. While you can technically start working your sleeves at any point of the arm hole that you wish, I recommend starting at either the “Top” of the arm hole (the sewn seam where you attached the Front and Back Panels) or the “Bottom” arm hole (approximately the middle point between your two stitch markers marking the beginning and end of your “Underarm Width” measurement.

Row 1:
Once you have decided where to begin your sleeve, work SC stitches around the armhole as evenly as possible until you make it around the entire arm hole, be sure to work an amount of SC stitches in a multiple of 2. Chain 1 and turn your work.

*Personally, working in rounds and I are not friends, my seam is always all wonky and uneven and I loathe it. Therefore I usually work my sleeves in rows (not joining together at the end of the row) and sew it together in the end to form the sleeve. However if you and working in rounds are friends you are more than welcome to work your sleeve in a round!*

Row 2:
Skip 1 stitch and work 1 SC into the next stitch, work 1 SS into the following stitch. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 3…
Just like in the body section and panels, keep repeating Row 2 until your sleeve is the “Top of Shoulder to Wrist” (minus 3″ for ribbed cuffs) (minus 1″ for blocking) measurement. Finish off the sleeve by working a row of SC along the the edge. If you worked in a round your sleeve will already be connected, but if you chose to work in rows, now is when you would sew together the sides to form the sleeve.

*Repeat Rows 1-3 for the other sleeve*

This is what it looked like after I worked out and sewed both sleeves (ft. Archie’s Paws). After I added the sleeves I went ahead and blocked everything that I had added since the body section, but again, feel free to block whenever you want to throughout the project!

Sleeve Cuffs

Since you worked your sleeves in a multiple of two, you are going to half that amount to create the size for your sleeve cuffs. For example my sleeves were 40 stitches around and therefore my sleeve cuffs were 20 stitches around.

Foundation:
Like the foundation chain at the beginning of the project, when you begin working into this foundation chain it is going to grow about 1″ or 2″, so chain a length that is a little shorter than the length you actually want your sleeve cuffs. It doesn’t have to be a multiple of anything like other foundations have had to be.

Row 1:
Work 1 HDC across each stitch in your foundation chain. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 2:
Work 1 HDC into the “back stitch” of each HDC from the previous row. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 3…
You want to have the same amount of rows as you decided you need stitches for the cuff. For example, I needed my cuff to be 20 stitches, therefore I worked until I had 20 rows. Repeat row 2 until you reach the correct amount of rows for the sleeve cuff.

Personally, I found it hard to keep track of my rows when working this stitch, so a little trick I noticed is, as you work this you will start to see the ribbing form on both sides of the cuff. You can use these ribs to keep track of your rows as every rib is 2 rows. Therefore once my cuff has 10 ribs I knew that I had 20 rows.

When you have reached the correct amount of rows chain 1 and start working SC’s evenly along the length of the cuff. You should work as many SC as rows that you have. Once you reach the other end of the cuff, line up the other end of the cuff to it and stitch them together, then continue working the same amount of SC’s as before to the length of the other side of the cuff. Tie off.

*Repeat Rows 1-3 for the other cuff*

Sewing on Cuffs

Since you added SC’s to the end of the sleeve and the sides of the cuff, when you sew the cuffs onto the ends of the sleeves you will have nice defined stitches to sew together.  Because your sleeve has twice as many stitches as your cuff, when you are sewing them together you will sew two sleeve SC stitches into one cuff SC stitch.

Prepping the Collar

Foundation:
This ribbing will be worked similarly to the ribbed sleeve cuffs. First work SC’s evenly along the collar of the cardigan. I found that when held up to a light you can see the evenly spaced stitches that will work well to work the SC’s into (it is less obvious around the neck of the cardigan so you may have to do a little bit of improvising in that section.

Work the SC’s along one side until you reach the middle of the back panel (place a stitch marker here if you would like to as well). Moving forward make sure you work the same amount of stitches along this side of the collar as well. For example each side of mine had 58 stitches, to make a total of 116 stitches. This total amount of stitches is how many rows my ribbing is going to have to be.

Collar Ribbing

Foundation:
Like the foundation chain at the beginning of the project, when you begin working into this foundation chain it is going to grow about 1″ or 2″, so chain a length that is a little shorter than the length you actually want your collar ribbing. It doesn’t have to be a multiple of anything like other foundations have had to be.

Row 1:
Work 1 HDC across each stitch in your foundation chain. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 2:
Work 1 HDC into the “back stitch” of each HDC from the previous row. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 3…
You want to have the same amount of rows as you decided you need stitches for the collar. For example, I needed my ribbing to be 116 stitches, therefore I worked until I had 116 rows. Repeat row 2 until you reach the correct amount of rows for the ribbing.

When you have reached the correct amount of rows chain 1 and start working SC’s evenly along the length of the cuff. You should work as many SC as rows that you have. Once you reach the other end of the cuff, tie off.

Sewing on The Ribbing

Unlike sewing the sleeve cuffs, you have the same amount of stitches on the ribbing as you do on the collar, so you simply need to align those stitches and sew them together all along the collar. Pretty simple!

Polishing Off The Bottom

In order to polish off the bottom of the cardigan I worked 3 rows of single crochet all along the bottom of the piece. My original plan was to add another strip of ribbing to the bottom, but I decided against it when the time came. However, if you think you might want to do that, follow the general instructions of the collar ribbing.

Pockets

As mentioned before, the pockets will be worked in “The Waffle Stitch” to add a little bit of personality to the Cardigan! Again, If you need a visual tutorial of “The Waffle Stitch”, Olivia over at Hopeful Honey has a great video here.

Foundation:
Create a foundation chain in multiples of 3 (+ 2) that is approximately the width that you would like your pocket to be (as it will grow a little bit when you work into it).

Row 1:
Skip 3 chains (counts as 1DC) and work 1DC into the 4th stitch. Now work 1 DC into each chain stitch till the end of the row. Chain 2 and turn your work.

Row 2:
That chain 2 will count as your first DC, so you will work *1FPDC in the next stitch and then 1DC in each of the next two stitches* Repeat at the * until you reach the last two stitches. Work 1FPDC into the first stitch and 1DC into the last stitch. Chain 2 and turn your work.

Row 3:
Again, that chain 2 will count as your first DC. *Work 1 DC into the next stitch and then 2FPDC into each of the next two stitches*. Repeat at the * until you reach the end of the row. Chain 2 and turn your work

Row 4…
Repeat Rows 2-3 until your pocket is about 1″ less than the desired length, so you have some room to work the top of the pocket. Chain 1 and turn.

Top of Pocket

Row 1:
Work 1 SC into each stitch from the previous row until you reach the end of the row. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 2:
Repeat the steps from Row 1. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 3:
Work 1 HDC into each stitch from the previous row until you reach the end of the row. Chain 1 and turn your work.

Row 4:
Work 1 HDC into “the back stitch” of the HDC’s from the previous row until you reach the end of the row. Tie off.

*Repeat all steps for the second pocket*

 

Now all that is left to do is for you to sew on your pockets and block your piece! (if you haven’t already)

(I accidentally sewed on one of the pockets a little bit uneven and stretched and didn’t notice until it was too late, so watch out for that!)

Congratulations! You have now completed your very own Waffle Cardigan!! You can now celebrate by wearing it and being super cozy!

I am kind of new to the pattern writing game, so if you notice any errors please feel free to let me know! Thank you guys!