Painted Canyon Cardigan Video Tutorial and Pattern Variations

You know what I love about the Painted Canyon Cardigan? The versatility! Use the recommended yarn or switch it up and make it with thinner yarn and change the hook size! There are so many variations to the Painted Canyon Cardigan pattern…

I’ve talked about the Painted Canyon Cardigan in our weekly LIVE videos on the Heart Hook Home Facebook page for weeks and I still. can’t. stop. crocheting. new. variations. I’ve done them with the recommended Painted Canyon yarn, with Big Twist, with Red Heart Super Saver and then with my personal favorite: the Mandala yarn cakes.  And I love them all.

Can’t stop, won’t stop! Here are some of the variations I have done of the Painted Canyon Cardigan pattern – including the littlest kids’ sizes and for myself!

Painted Canyon Cardigan Variations

Of course the first rendering of the pattern was using the Painted Canyon colorway along with Graphite and Light Gray in I Love This Yarn!  This first version uses spike stitches; stitches which go down into the row below instead of into the current row.

This pattern variation features an oversized hood (see below!), pockets that fold inside near the hips and that beautiful front post/back post half double crochet edging that pulls it all together.

The length of the cardigan should hit right around mid-thigh for the “average” height. I am 5’7″ and it hits just under my bum. Want it longer? Add more rows before starting the armholes! Want it shorter? Crochet fewer rows before starting the armholes!

I like BIG HOODS and I can not lie. 😀 The hood doesn’t always sit like this, of course. It looks normal (and flowy) across the back when you position the hood where it should be.

Included in this pattern are two options for crocheting the sleeves: working top down or from cuff up.  Starting from the top and working down is much easier overall, but keep in mind that if using spike stitches you’ll want them to go in the same direction as the body of the cardigan as well. Hence, the pattern for cuff up.  If you’re not using spike stitches – work from the top down, yo!

Ready for those pattern variations?! In the first variation I used Mandala in Spirit colorway with the recommended pattern hook size.

Choosing your pocket type

This version includes the inside pockets. The inside pockets are a bit bulkier than having a.) no pockets at all (see below) or b.) outside pockets, which I incorporated into the children’s sizes and the other variation below. It really just depends on how attached you are to pockets.

See what I did there?

For this particular cardigan I used about 3.5 cakes of the Mandala in Spirit. I used two cakes to crochet the body of the cardigan and kept one entire cake aside to use for the sleeves. I then used the grey from the fourth cake for edging and the lighter grey to use for the pockets inside.

For the third variation of the cardigan I used Mandala in Warlock colorway. On this version I decided to forego the hood; instead crocheting about 15 rows of the “hood” pattern before fastening off and calling it a collar. I did not add pockets to this cardigan.

To omit the pockets, simply follow the pattern crocheting in solid rows until you reach the beginning of the armholes.  Because Mandala is a thinner yarn I decided to go up a pattern size and down a hook size. This creates a tighter weave and, since the yarn is thinner, a great feel overall. Again, I used two cakes for the body of the cardigan and a third for the sleeves and had just enough for the edging (because I didn’t make the hood).

Then I decided to use a regular worsted weight yarn – Big Twist yarn in the Scarlet colorway. Mmmm, comfy.

In this variation I chose to make outside pockets – my new fave for this pattern!  As noted above, to omit the pockets I simply crocheted until it was time to start the armholes (per pattern size) and then continued on to finish the cardigan.

After I was finished with the cardigan I decided where to place the pockets.  I then used surface crochet stitches to attach the pockets to the front. Turned out perfect!

Outside pockets are DEFINITELY easier! You can place them where you want after the fact instead of incorporating them into the design. The pattern includes directions for both pocket styles.

Controlling the colors

When crocheting the cardigan using Mandala (or any other color changing yarn cake) you may want to control the colors, especially when you reach the armhole portion of the pattern.

To show how I control these colors, I decided to crochet one of the 2/3t sizes while on camera. This video shows the work from beginning to end including all color changes and how to plan those colors. Sure, you can read the article on how to control the colors but it might be even easier to watch the video on it below. 😉 This is a full tutorial video, to watch a much shorter version of this video (without all of the captions) head over to the Heart Hook Home Facebook page.

Painted Canyon Cardigan Video Tutorial

Keep in mind that each size of the pattern has different stitch counts. Read the pattern for your size and crochet to that number instead of what I show in this video. Unless, of course, you’re crocheting the 2/3t size! 😉

Need help reading a crochet pattern? Start here!

Get the preemie and newborn sleep sacks here.
Get the infant size 6 month infant here.
Get the infant size 12 month here.
Get the child size 2/3T here.
Get the child size 4/5T here.
Get the child size 6/8 here.
Get the child size 10/12 here.
Get the ADULT sizes of this pattern (0 – 28W) here.

Want all of the child sizes together? Grab all of the child sizes in one printable file here!

This is a lengthy video and I do apologize for that. Fitting 6 hours of video time into half an hour was the best I could do! *note that there is no sound on the video. And of course, should you have any questions be sure to shoot me an email or a message on Facebook!

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