Today we will be making this mesh cardigan. I used a weight 4 acrylic yarn. For the orange multicolor cardigan in the thumbnail, I used a 15mm hook. For today's tutorial, I am using a 12mm hook for easier visibility, but you can use any size crochet hook, though I recommend a bigger one. It will just change the size of your stitches. You will need at least three stitch markers, some scissors, and a measuring tape. We will start by taking our shoulder width measurement, which I will put some standard measurements for on screen, or you can measure from shoulder to shoulder. My measurement is 18 inches, so I will make a chain that is 18 inches. You will want an even number of chains. For Row 1, we will be doing half double crochets. We will skip the first stitch and go into the second stitch, placing a half double crochet. Then chain one, skip a stitch, and go into the next stitch, placing a half double crochet. Repeat this all the way to the end. Your last half double crochet should be into the last stitch. For Row 2, we will chain three (which counts as one half double crochet chain one), turn our work, skip the first half double crochet, skip the chain one space, and go into the next half double crochet space. Chain one, skip the previous chain one, go into the next half double crochet space. We are repeating this all the way to the end. Row 3 is what we will repeat for the rest of the back panel. The pattern is made to measure, so you can continue as long as you would like your back panel to be. I did 67 rows for my back panel. Once complete, do not cut your yarn. We will divide the stitches across for the front panels and neckline. For my 24 spaces across, I divide by two (12) and subtract two stitches for the neckline, leaving 10 spaces for each front panel. Place stitch markers at the 10th half double crochet space from each corner. We will then continue the pattern for the first front panel, working until the first stitch marker. This panel will be the same number of rows as the back panel (67 for me). Once complete, chain one and cut the yarn. For the second front panel, attach yarn to the other corner and repeat the process, working the same number of rows. Finally, we will work on the arms by measuring the armhole/armpit. For my 9-inch armpit measurement, I will mark 13 rows down on the front and back panels. We will work the sleeves back and forth, not in rounds.
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