New Crochet Pattern

Yesterday I designed a tiny crochet shrug, or bolero jacket:

 Front

Inside

 Top

I'd like to use it as a model for a person-size jacket, so I made a note of the ratios of increase and decrease.

How This Works:

In crochet, the width of each row (measured in number of stitches) is related to the width of the following row by a ratio, usually very simple, such as 1:2 or 3:4. If you are increasing by a ratio of 1:2, you will make two new stitches from each stitch in the previous row. Click here to see this in action. To increase by any other ratio, alternate increasing with crocheting 1:1 (making one new stitch from each stitch in the previous row). For example, to increase 3:4, crochet normally (1:1) for two stitches, then make two new stitches from one old one (1:2), and repeat this pattern across the row. This is usually abbreviated "2 DC, 2 DC in next stitch." I simply think of it as a 3:4 increase. 

Similarly, to decrease by 3:4, crochet 1:1 for two stitches, then crochet two together (make one new stitch from two in the previous row). Click here for a demonstration.

Crochet patterns, or instructions for a project, usually describe the stitches rather than the ratios being used. When making my own design, I wanted to make a miniature to figure out the ratios, which should (hopefully!) also work when I make the full-size piece. 

I made the pink shrug as follows:

Right sleeve: working in double crochet (DC), use the same number of stitches in each row (1:1) to form a cylinder of the length you want your sleeve. 

Right shoulder: increase 1:2 for 1 row, then 3:4 for one row. 

Work back and forth across half the stitches. Increase 3:4 for one row, 1:1 for one row, decrease 4:3 for one row. 

Back: work 1:1 for 4 rows. 

Left shoulder: increase 3:4 for one row, 1:1 for one row, decrease 4:3 for 1 row. Chain, join, and double the number of stitches. Decrease 4:3 for one row, then 2:1 for 1 row. (This should bring you back to the number of stitches you started with. If not, adjust as needed in the next row.)

Left sleeve: work 1:1 until length of right sleeve. SC and tie off. 

The series of increase/decrease ratios is as follows: 1:1, 1:2, 3:4, 3:4, 1:1, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4, 1:1, 4:3, 4:3, 2:1, 1:1. This is what makes the jacket symmetrical.

To make the full-scale version, instead of doing using each ratio for one row, I'll use some scale factor x, and repeat the increase for x rows. The back will be 4x rows of 1:1. Let's hope this works!