an autumn olive crochet pattern by autumn olivia ward

written in standard US crochet terms

this T-shirt concept is made simply by working my oversized pullover or oversized cardigan patterns without the sleeves and/or ribbing

the result is a boxy drop shoulder garment which has a lovely drape when worked in a lighter worsted or lightweight yarn; you can expect to use about 1/2 the yarn called for in the pattern if using a DK/lightweight yarn (about 300g-500g)

I’ve included an adjustable sea monster graphic for use with this pattern, but any of my half double crochet cardigan/sweater graphics will work on this; the sweater patterns also include blank panel graphs for designing your own graphic or rearranging existing options via stitchfiddle

*scroll to the end for the 3 piece graphs, here’s how I arranged mine!*

MATERIALS

5mm hook

scissors, yarn needle, tape measure

lightweight yarn

*oceans of fun in the* *costume sweaters pattern!* *fish & lobster are just two of the 30+ costume options, including clowns, characters & foods*

T-SHIRT INSTRUCTIONS

leave a 12” starting tail & begin with your size in the pattern or simply work a chain that reaches across your armspan at each point where you want the sleeves to end (somewhere between each shoulder & elbow)

for the Nessie design, the graphs should begin immediately on row 1 (scroll down for graphs)

work into your chain as row 1 on the front panel — half double crochet across, chain 1 & turn; if you are following the sweater patterns, this means you now have the stitch count of row 1 without having done the ribbing or increases

continue working back and forth in HDC all the way up the front panel as desired, or as indicated for the specific row counts in the pattern; my panel is a simple rectangle with 80 stitches across & 45 rows in total; fasten off with a 12” tail

work the back panel the same way with identical dimensions

line up the two panels (I like to just line them up with wrong sides together & seam along the outside but you can do the opposite if you wish)

use the finishing tail at each top corner to whipstitch from the shoulder to the neck opening —about 1/3 of the width each; I seamed 27 stitches on each side and have 26 stitches untouched in the middle of each panel for my total width of 80 stitches across

seam up each side to your desired arm opening; I seamed up 25 rows on each side

optional: you can follow the ribbing instructions in the pattern to make a collar or sleeve ribbing or make a button up shirt with pockets (maybe with Nessie head & tail peeking out?) by following the cardigan details! have fun :)