Crochet Mezzo Cardigan

My big project for July was making the Crochet Mezzo Cardigan. A few years back I got very excited about crocheting sweaters, but then life got busy and I had to put it aside. Now my heart was craving something new again, and it felt right to pick up garment-making once more.

HEXAGON SWEATER

I had been seeing hexagon cardigans on Instagram for a long time, and I knew that’s what I wanted to try first. For the crochet pattern, I chose Jess Coppom’s design, as I had used her tutorials before.

The hexagon method is quite unique. Instead of crocheting separate front and back panels and sleeves, you start under the arm and work both the body and sleeve at the same time. Since there are two underarms, you begin by crocheting two identical hexagon pieces. Later, you add extensions to the back, the bottom of the cardigan, and the sleeves, and if needed, also to the front, depending on the size.

YARN

I wanted to use yarn I already had in my stash, so my cardigan turned out two-toned.
I used merino wool yarn Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran and for size S I needed 800 g = 16 skeins (10 skeins beige and 6 skeins brown).

I made the hexagons in lighter beige (Camel-Melange 081). For the back and bottom extensions I used the darker brown (Kiesel-Melange 055), and for the sleeve extensions I switched back to the lighter shade. The result is quite interesting!

The Rico merino wool is very soft and pleasant to wear. I’m happy with it! I had previously crocheted a bunny with this yarn, but I must say I like it even more as a cardigan yarn.

PATTERN

I found the Mezzo Cardigan pattern on the Make & Do Crew website. But here I have to vent a little. While Jess kindly shares her tutorials for free, her website is overloaded with ads, flashing and blinking nonstop, and I just couldn’t take the distraction. On top of that, the cardigan instructions were split into four separate blog posts, and navigating between them was anything but convenient. In the end, I went ahead and purchased the pattern from Lovecrafts, where it was available for a very reasonable price. Working with a PDF pattern is just so much easier!

Another thing I’m not a huge fan of in her tutorials are the extremely long videos. Video guides are definitely useful, but I personally prefer a quick, straight-to-the-point style. Jess’s videos feel too slow and lengthy for me.

That said, I don’t want to give the impression that I wasn’t satisfied with the pattern. Everything worked well, the sizing was accurate, and the cardigan turned out beautifully.

As for the Mezzo Cardigan itself – it’s truly comfortable! My earlier cardigans tended to be heavy and saggy on the back, but this one feels great to wear. I’m already looking forward to autumn to see if it fits nicely under a coat and how it feels on cold winter evenings.

PRICE

And finally, a little calculation. The regular price of the yarn was €5.50 per skein, so the total yarn cost came to €88. Adding the cardigan pattern on top of that, the total cost is almost €96. In other words – I really need to make sure I don’t leave this cardigan behind anywhere :)