How To Crochet The Art Class Cardi

Hi everyone, it's Jennifer from FiberFlux. In this video I'm going to show you how to crochet this gorgeous art class cardi. This is a lovely sweater that we're going to make by making two granny hexagons. We're going to use some self-striping yarn cakes so that the color work will be done for us, and it displays in this beautiful spectrum of color. We're going to learn how to fold our hexagons. We're going to make two, one for this side and one for this side, and we're going to learn how to fold them in such a way that it creates this gorgeous cardigan. Finally, once we get our hexagons made and everything folded and pieced together, we're going to seam them up and put it together. Make some shoulder seams, make a seam up the back part, and we're going to learn how to do that as well. I'm going to walk you through this whole project step by step, and we're also along the way going to learn as we make our hexagons how to customize the sizing. If you make a smaller hexagon you could make a smaller sweater. If you make a very large hexagon you could make a larger sweater. That will dictate the sizing of the cardigan. The sizing that I have for this one is, I'm going to grab my tape measure, which I love that it matches this cardigan, but the sizing of mine, again you can customize this however you like based on the hexagons that you make, but the one that I have here measures from the top of the neck opening to the bottom is about 21-1⁄2", and then across the underarm to the other underarm is about 20", and then the top to the bottom of the sleeve is about 10", and then the top edge, I'm going to show you the top edge, or I guess the wingspan if you will, of this cardigan. If we go across here all the way across our sweater the top edge of it measures about 45". So this is a really easy sweater and it's very versatile too. You can just in the cooler months you can just kind of throw it on over top of something and it's just lovely. Now you can choose bright kind of rainbow-y colors like I did or you can do something more subtle and neutral. It's totally up to you. So let's get started. For this project you'll need a pair of scissors, a tapestry needle, a tape measure is super helpful to get the size that you want and we will talk a little bit more about customizing your cardigan. We're going to be using a 5.5mm eye crochet hook. This is my Furls Odyssey in the lime. I'll put the link down below if you'd like to get one for yourself. I also have a coupon code that I'll put down below too with the link. For our yarn I have two cakes of this super fun yarn. Isn't it pretty? This is from Hobie and it's called Hurricane. I have here the Summer colorway. It's called Summer and the color is also number 11. So a lot of times their yarn colors will have a name and a number. This is number 11 Summer. It does come in dye lot so if you want to use this yarn just be aware I'm using two cakes of this. Each cake of this is 382 yards so all together that's 764 yards total yarn. Now we're going to make this really easy. Our cardigan is just two granny hexagons that we're going to cleverly seam. If you join me a couple crochet alongs back for the Summer crochet along a few summers ago we made the Land and Sea cardigan out of two granny hexagons. We're going to take it to a little bit lighter thinner yarn for this one but it's the same concept. So we're going to use one cake of this or 382 yards for one of the hexagons and one cake for the second hexagon. So we're going to keep it super simple for this. Now the recommended hook size is a US 8 H hook. Now I wanted to mention as a side note I'm going up a hook size to the 5.5 millimeter I crochet hook because I wanted it to be a little bit drapier. So I'm going to kind of like loosen up the fabric by going up a hook size for that. If you want to use your own yarn or something you may have in your stash or you had a yarn in mind just look for 764 yards of a light 3 on the yarn weight scale. You can see on your yarn label that you may have there's a little drawing of a yarn ball with a number in it. We're using the number 3 light. And again I'll put the link down below for this yarn so you can see it for yourself and check it out. So let's get started. We're going to begin by learning how to make each granny hexagon and then in the second part of the video we're going to learn how to seam it all together. So let's get started with the granny hexagon first. Okay so I have my yarn and my hook and we're ready to go. Now with the center pull you might have to dig it out a little bit but it should be right there in the very middle and then you can pull from the center. So I'm going to zoom in just a little bit. We're going to, like I mentioned before, I'm going to use this full cake for the first hexagon and then the second cake for the second hexagon and then we'll seam it together. You'll want to hold out a little bit of yarn for seaming. We're going to put a couple of seams in it. If you get in a pinch and you don't have the yarn to seam it, any of these colors you could go in your stash and find something that blends. Like the white or this pink or blue or something like that. But ideally you'd like to hold off a couple yards of yarn to seam it up together. And honestly you'll probably have a little bit anyway just because you won't be able to make that last full round with the yarn. So you'll most likely have some left anyway. But if you get in a pinch you can just find something that matches. So to begin what we're going to do is put, and let me come in just a little bit closer, we're going to put a slip knot on our hook. So leave yourself a little bit of a tail. And what we're going to do is wrap the yarn around your fingers to make a loop, bring the yarn behind the loop, reach in with your hook, bring up a loop and tighten. Then what we're going to do is we're going to chain 4. To make a chain wrap the yarn around the hook and bring it through the loop. 1, that's 1, 2, 3 and 4. Now we're going to create a ring that we'll work our stitches into. If you prefer the magic ring instead of doing a starting chain like this definitely feel free to do that as well. But what we're going to do now is go into that first chain we did, the farthest chain from our hook, and work a slip stitch. So insert the hook into that farthest chain from the hook, bring up a loop, now bring that loop through the loop already on your hook, and we have a little ring that we're going to work into. And I like to kind of open mine up. We're also going to weave this tail in as we go along. So as we work this first round we're going to hold that tail along the edge of this ring and it will weave it in as we go along and that will just save you a little bit of a step. Ok, so for round 1 what we're going to do is chain 4. So 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then what we're going to do is work a double crochet into the center of the ring, chain 1, 11 times. So this chain 4 here counts as one of the double crochet chain 1's. So we're going to do that 11 more times and we're going to have like 12 spokes on our wheel. It's important to have that the correct number because we're going to be transforming this into a hexagon later and we'll need the right number of clusters as we build it. So work double crochet, chain 1 11 times into the center of the ring. To make a double crochet wrap the yarn around the hook, insert the hook into the center of the ring, bring up a loop, you'll have 3 loops on the hook. Wrap yarn around the hook, bring it through the first 2 loops. Wrap yarn around the hook, bring it through the last 2 loops. Then we're going to chain 1. Then we're going to do it again. Double crochet, chain 1, that's our second double crochet. Double crochet, chain 1, that's the third one. Double crochet, chain 1, that's the fourth one. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 5. You can go back and double check yourself, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 6. If you need to slide things over to give yourself more space, feel free to do that. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 7. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 8, pushing things over. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 9. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 10. Double crochet, chain 1, that's 11. Now before we join to close the round, let's just double check our work. So we had our starting chain at the beginning here. And we're going to go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. So we are good to go. And so remember that chain 4 at the beginning of the round? We're going to count 3 chains up on that. So 1, 2, 3, and we're going to join with a slip stitch to close the round. Insert the hook into that third chain up, bring up a loop, now bring that loop through the loop that's already on your hook. So it doesn't look like a hexagon yet, and it won't for a couple more rounds. But we're going to keep going and build it up. Okay, so what we want to do is as we progress with our hexagon, we're going to be slip stitching over to the correct spot. We don't need to do that yet, we're already in the right spot. So go ahead and work a slip stitch into that first space. We don't need to slip stitch over, just slip stitch right into that first space. And then what we're going to do for round 2 is we're going to work a chain 3 this time. So chain 3. 1, 2, 3. Then we're going to work a double crochet into that same space. So work a double crochet in that same space. Then what we're going to do is work a chain 1, and then in the next space we're going to do 2 double crochet. So in every space all the way around, work 2 double crochet, chain 1. So 2 double crochet, chain 1. Next space, 2 double crochet, chain 1. Next space, 2 double crochet, chain 1. And just do that all the way around. So I'm going to keep going with mine, and when we rejoin we'll close up this round and start the next round. Okay, just coming up to the end of round 2, so chain 1, and then we're going to join to close. So once again, count 3 chains up, 1, 2, 3, and join with a slip stitch to close the round. And I just have to say as a side note, our colors have changed and it's getting really fun and exciting. I love this variegated yarn, it's really fun to use, and it reminds me of crayons. It's just so fun. Okay, so moving on to round 3. Now remember I said before we have to slip stitch to the right space, so we're going to start working in this first space that we come to, that chain 1 space. But if you notice, our hook isn't quite there yet. We're not quite in the same place. So we're going to go in the tops of these, in these stitches up here, and we're going to slip stitch. So insert your hook into that first stitch you see by your hook, and it might be a little snug just because it's at the end of the round here. There we go. Now bring that loop through the loop already on your hook, and then we're going to slip stitch into that chain 1 space. So we had to kind of slip stitch over to the spot we needed, so that first chain 1 space. Okay, for round 3 we're going to chain 3 once again, 1, 2, 3, and then we're going to work 2 double crochets into this space this time. So 1 double crochet and 2 double crochet. Now that chain 3 we did counts as one of our double crochets, so these, this round will have clusters of 3, okay? Then we're going to chain 1, always put a chain 1 in between, and then go to the next space, and this time we're going to work 3 double crochets in that space. So 1, 2, and 3. Hold on, my yarn, I snagged it with my hook a little bit. There we go. 3rd double crochet, and chain 1. Next space, same thing. 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, and chain 1. And we're just going to do this all the way around our circle here. And if you notice it's still a circle, it's about to transform into a hexagon soon, okay? So just keep working your 3 double crochet, chain 1, in every space, all the way around, all these chain 1 spaces, okay? And we just changed to pink, so very fun and exciting. Alright, so keep going with that, and when we rejoin, I'll show you how to close up round 3, and we'll move on to round 4, which is the exciting hexagon round. Alright, just working that last stitch of round 3, we're going to chain 1, and then join with a slip stitch to close once again. So count 1, 2, 3, chains up, join with a slip stitch, same thing we've been doing all along, and round 3 is complete. Now, just as a side note, I like to get this tail that we woven as we went along, I like to just give that a little trim. So pull it tight to close up that circle, and then snip, and then that tail will be out of your way. Totally up to you. Okay, now we're ready to transform this into a hexagon, and then we'll just be working hexagon rounds for the rest of our project. Now I'm going to zoom out just a little bit, because our project has grown a little bit. Now once again, we're going to need to go to that first space, so we want to slip stitch over in each stitch until you get to that chain 1 space. So slip stitch, slip stitch, and now we're at the space. So go right in the space and work a slip stitch. Okay, now we're ready to roll. Okay, so for round 4, what we're going to do this time is chain 3, 1, 2, 3, and then in the same space we're going to work 2 double crochet. So 1 and 2, and we're creating a corner now. Okay, so what we want to do is chain 1, and then in the same space, you can push things over if you need to, in the same space we're going to work 3 more double crochets. So 1, 2, and 3. We get a little bit more yarn here, and you can see we have this like little point now. Okay, now our sequence for round 4 is going to be corner, side, corner, side, corner, side, all the way around. Okay, so now we need to work a side. We just did a corner, now we're going to chain 1, and then in the next space work just 3 double crochet. Okay, 1, 2, and 3. Okay, so that's our side. It'll give us a flat side on our hexagon. Chain 1, now we're going to work a corner again. So in that next space work 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and then in the same space 3 more double crochet. 1, get some more yarn, 2, and 3. Okay, so now we have, we straightened up a little bit, we have a corner, a side, and a corner. So we're going to head back down. Okay, chain 1, we're going to work our side. 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, hop over to the next space and we're going to work a corner now. So 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, now we're going to work 3 more double crochet in the same space. 1, 2, and 3. Chain 1, so we just did a corner. If you're not sure what to do next, just look at what you've just done and that will guide you because we're doing, remember, corner, side, corner, side. Okay, next space we're going to do a side. So 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, next space we're going to work a corner. 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 more double crochet in that same space. So 1, 2, and 3, chain 1. Alright, we're going to do a side now. So 3 double crochet in that next space, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1, next space we're going to do a corner. 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 double crochet, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1, 3 double crochet in the next space, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, now we're at a corner, so 3 double crochet. Whoops, let me redo that one. 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and then 3 more double crochet in that same space. 1, 2, and 3, chain 1, and we're in the home stretch. We're at the beginning, almost. We've got to do one more side, so 3 double crochet, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1, and then count, once again, 3 chains up, 1, 2, 3, and then join with a slip stitch to close. So what I like to do when I'm making hexagons is go through here and each of these corners, I like to just kind of sharpen them up a little bit, make sure I follow the right sequence of corner, side, corner, side, corner, side, all the way around, and now we have a lovely hexagon, and it's really fun. It's a really extra fun hexagon. Okay, so for the rest of your project, you're just going to be repeating this round over and over and over again, but I wanted to point out as you build each round, you'll work your corners the same way. It's kind of like when you're making a granny square. If you've ever made a granny square, it just has more corners. Each time, and we can get started on the next round just so I can show you what I mean, but for each round, it'll be worked the same way, but you're going to just have more sides. So we did, for this one, we did corner, side, corner, side, corner, side, all the way around, but for this round, you're going to add a side each time. So you're going to have corner, side, see these spaces? Side, side, corner, side, side, corner, side, side, corner, and so forth, and then for the round after that, it would be corner, side, side, side, corner, you know, but you can kind of see what to do because you're in those flat side spaces, okay? So let's get started on the next round together. Even though we're repeating the same round over and over and over again, I wanted to just show you the beginning of the round so you can see this side, side, corner, okay? So once again, you want to slip stitch over to the first space. Now from here on out, that first space is going to be a corner, okay, just because of where we end. So what you're going to do is just go ahead and slip stitch into each stitch, slip stitch, and now we're at the corner space, okay? So I slip stitched just right into that corner space as well, and now we're in the exact right spot that we need to be once again, and we're going to start the round the same exact way. Chain 3, 1, 2, 3, work 2 double crochets into that same space, so 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet, chain 1, remember that chain 3 counts as one of our double crochets, and then in the same space, because we're going to do, every time you come to a corner, you're going to work a corner. Every time you come to these side spaces, you're going to work sides, okay? So 3 double crochet in that space, 1, that same space I should say, 2, and 3, and then we're going to chain 1, and then we're going to work the first side, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, next side, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, okay? So as you can see, we did 2 sides, there were 2 spaces, we worked 2 sides, okay? Now we're going to work a corner, so you're going to go 3 double crochet, same thing we've been doing for the corners, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 more double crochet, 1, 2, and chain 1. Okay, we're at our sides again, remember we had 2 sides this round, so 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, okay? So now we're at a corner again, and we're going to go right in that corner space, work a corner into the corner, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 more double crochet in that same space, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, okay? You can see we're just building on what we have, okay? So I'm going to keep going with my round with you, and if you need to kind of skip ahead, feel free to do that. I'll finish this round with you, but if you want to skip ahead, you can do that for our next part. So let's keep going with our round, if you want to hang out and watch this part. Okay, we're in the side space, so 3 double crochet, that was 1, 2, 3, chain 1. Next space, which is a side space, 1 double crochet, 2 double crochet, 3 double crochet, chain 1. We're at a corner, you can see the corner here, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and 3 more double crochet, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1. We're at our sides now, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, side space again, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1. All right, we're at a corner, we're a little more than halfway through here, so again, if you need to skip ahead, feel free. All right, we're at the corner, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and in that same space, 3 more double crochet, 1, whoops, let's try that again, 2, and 3, chain 1. Now we're going to do our sides, 3 double crochet, 1, whoops, let me just back up, there we go, 1, that was 2, and 3, chain 1, and then we're in the next side space, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1. All right, our last corner, and then we'll do some sides, and then we'll wrap it up. Our last corner, of the round, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and then 3 more double crochet in the same space, 1, 2, and 3, chain 1, and then we got 2 more side spaces, so 3 double crochet in the next space, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and then that last space, that last side space, 3 double crochet, 1, 2, 3, chain 1, and then we're going to count 3 chains up, 1, 2, 3, and join to close with a slip stitch. Okay, and you can see it looks super pretty, and our color is getting ready to change in just a minute, but, so like I said before, we did that next round together just so you could see how we have 2 side spaces now. So when you work the next round, it'll be corner, you can see the spaces, side, side, side, corner, side, side, side, corner, and so forth, okay? So what you want to do now is keep repeating that round that I just showed you over and over and over again until you're running low on yarn and you can't do any more rounds, or your hexagon is as large as you would like it to be. Now I'm going to show you how to make, like, how we're going to be folding it. Now this is going to be doll size, obviously, because our hexagon is teeny tiny right now, but again, I like to go in and sharpen up those points so I can really see them when I'm working my next round. I like to just do that. It's totally up to you, but I like to go and do that. So when we do our seaming later, we're going to be folding our hexagon in half. If you did the land and sea cardigan crochet along with me, we did the same thing. So this might seem familiar if you made that project, but what it's going to do as it gets bigger, it'll be more defined. It's going to make an L shape, okay? So what you want to do, and we'll talk about this a little bit more in just a minute, but what you'll want to do is as you're making your hexagon, fold your hexagon in half every so often and hold it up to you. So if you if you fold it half and flip it over, this will be the front opening of our sweater, and then this is going to be the arm, and this will be the neck. So your arm, when you put it on, will go through here, through this sleeve, like that. This will be the opening. We'll be seaming the back. We're going to do all of this together, so if this seems really weird and complicated to you now, it's super easy, and it looks small, so it's kind of hard to see, but as we work our hexagon more and more and more rounds, it'll get bigger, and as you work, you might want to hold it up to you and lay this across the front of you, going down the front of you, going out your shoulder and arm, and just see how it's growing, how big you want it to be. Now you can make a more snug kind of cropped sweater, or you can keep going and make more and more and more and more rounds until you have something large and slouchy. It's really up to you. It's a very versatile kind of pattern. Now I love how this yarn, there's a little bit of flecky color of each of the other colors through it. It almost looks like a confetti cake or something like that. Okay, so keep working your rounds, and we're going to grow our hexagon. When we rejoin, I'm going to have two hexagons, large hexagons, and when you make your two hexagons, just make sure that both hexagons you're making have the same number of rounds, because we need to line that up later to seam. Okay, so keep going with your hexagons, and when we rejoin, I'm going to show you the two large finished hexagons. We're going to wrap up the end of this one as it grows bigger, and then we're going to move on to seaming. Just working that last stitch of the last round, join it together, and this is my second hexagon. Now I'm going to lay everything out in just a minute, but we're going to join with a slip stitch to close the round, and then what you'll want to do is go ahead and cut the yarn, leaving a tail. Wrap the yarn around the hook and bring it through the loop, and then we're going to lay out our hexagons and look at what we've done and how big they are next. Okay, so I have two granny hexagons, and I just have to point out how fun and pretty they are. I just love them, and the self-striping yarn just had all the stitches play out so beautifully. Now each granny hexagon of mine is a total of 22 rounds, so from the very beginning where we started in the center all the way out is 22 rounds. Now like I mentioned before, you might need to do more or less rounds depending on the size that you're after, but I'm doing 22 rounds and I have two of them, so make sure when you do your hexagons, when you get it to the size that you want, that your second one is the same number of rounds as the first one. Okay, so here is where the really exciting magic happens. Now I have a little bit of yarn up here. I didn't have enough to make another full round for both hexagons, so that yarn is sort of off to the side for our seaming purposes. So we have here a hexagon, and we're going to transform it into a cardigan, which is really cool. Now if you join me for a crochet along way back when we did the Land and Sea Cardi, and that was the same concept. So if you joined us for that cow, this will seem familiar to you. So the way to fold it, the way I like to do it that makes it easy, because it can be confusing if you've never done this before, but you want to take one of the hexagon points and point it towards you, then go straight across and there will be another one at the other side. So what you're going to do is, now this is the right side facing us, and what we'll need to do is sort of pick it up and have those two points meet each other. Okay, and so match up those two points that we just located and fold it in half, and what happens is you now have half of your cardigan. So this is a sleeve, and this will be the front opening. So we're going to do some seaming across the inside of it, and we're going to do some seaming across this shoulder, not all the way in, but enough to where we're going to have a place to have your neck as well. So I folded this one and I'm going to kind of slide it over and then we're going to look at our other side and let me just get, I have the label and the extra, actually let me just kind of move that out of the way, there we go. Okay, so we're going to do this to the same, to do it the same way rather. We're going to meet up those points and it's going to create an L shape, okay, but instead we're going to flip this one over. Okay, so now you can see we have two, I'm trying to get it all in there so you can see it, we have two sleeves and now we have an opening of our cardigan. So you can see how we need to seam the back, that will be the back portion. So your arm will go in here, your arm will go in here and it's just so fun and clever, it's just such a satisfying project. Now I wanted to point out, if you're doing self-striping yarn like I am, you may or may not like the way your colors match up. So I'm seeing a lot of blue here and I'm seeing a lot of white here, that might be okay, but if you want to kind of change it up a little bit, when you're doing self-striping you sort of go by, you know, how your cake or your skein of yarn presents itself with colors, okay. So if you want to sort of play around with it, now if I flip it over you can see I'm getting a lot more blue in the center, that may or may not be something you want. So whenever I'm making one of these kind of projects I like to just kind of play around with it a little bit. You can turn it and it's the same no matter how you turn it because we did a hexagon, it's the same number of stitches at each point. So this side has a lot of white, this side has a lot. So you want to kind of play around with it to determine how you want your colors to play out because I'm getting a lot of, see on the back here because we turned it, there's a lot of pink. So when I look at the back of it there's going to be a lot of pink along the back so we can kind of flip it up and see. See how the pink sort of lines up and the white sort of lines up and then if we look at the top edge, you know, we're getting more of a multi-color look, we're getting a continuation of orange. So to make a long story short, what we want to do is play around with it, turn it, look at it, and see what you like. Now you'll also, when you wear this, this will sort of be open a little bit so you'll want to just play around, see how it looks, etc. Okay the next thing we're going to do is grab our tapestry needle and a little pair of scissors and we're going to get to seaming up our sweater next. Okay so once you're all situated and you have the front established, I found the two most kind of matchy sides so I did it that way. So we're going to open up our cardigan and see I have, when I open it, I have lots of orange and blue so the back of it will kind of line up too. The front I have this like pink and white and so I felt like those kind of matched up the best. Okay grab some of your yarn. You want to save at least a few yards. Now if you were making your cardigan and you totally ran out of yarn, that's fine. Just go into your stash and find some scraps of any of the colors from your piece and just try to blend it as much as possible. So what I'm going to do, we need to, we opened up our cardigan and we're just going to seam the back of it first. Now when you open it, this will be the wrong side or the non-public side. So when you did your folds, make sure the public side, the side that faced you while you worked, is facing out on both sides. It would be super sad if one of them was inside out when you got it seamed. So just make sure you take a minute and make sure that this is the right side or the public side, some when you open it you're looking at the inside of both hexagons. So what we're going to do, and because I have a lot of blue here, I'm going to kind of dig in here and I'm going to grab some blue because I want my seams to match. I'm going to get about, I would say about two feet of yarn, give or take, and I'm probably going to create a big tangled ball here but it's just a little bit for seaming so we'll do the best we can. All right, so I have my yarn. Next you'll want to thread your tapestry needle with your yarn, your as matchy as possible yarn, and what we're going to do is, let me zoom in so you can see really good, we're going to start at the bottom or the top, actually let's start at the top, and what we're going to do is see this this corner and this corner? You want to make sure they line up. So go into the corner space of the top and the corner space of the bottom and you're going to like sandwich them together so that the corner spaces line up. Then you're going to run your tapestry needle through those corner spaces and pull it all the way through, all the way through. Now I did a little bit more than two feet but give or take, and then tie it one and two. Make sure your knots are nice and strong because this is something you'll be wearing and then what I like to do when I'm seaming up granny squares is to put my finger in the spaces. So see we have our double crochet clusters that we created and then we have a hole. So I like to put my finger through both of those decorative holes while I seam. So see how everything when I do that is lined up? You want to make sure when you're seaming granny squares that nothing is off because it'll really show. So we tied into our corner space and then we're going to go into the first stitch of that first double crochet cluster. You're going to go in the first stitch and then the second stitch of your sandwich, making sure you pick up both loops of both layers. You're actually going to have four loops on that, we come in a little bit more, four loops of that needle. Okay one, two, three, four. So go through both layers picking up both loops of both layers. All right now the first couple stitches because our yarn is very long, I'd rather cut a little bit too much than not enough but it can be a little cumbersome if it's too too long. All right go into the next stitch and this is a whip stitch. If you're not familiar it is sort of like a spiral through your work and it's a very nice kind of camouflage type stitch. It hides nicely, it's very invisible. Okay and we're just going to go into that one. I'm going to do a few of these with you so you can see and then go into that third one and we're getting close to where our finger marker is and that tail is sort of trying to tag along but we're going to keep that out of the way for now. We'll weave that in later. Now we're at our finger so you can just go right into the space that's fine and then tackle the next cluster. So go into the space and then we'll just do the same thing. Move your finger down to the next space to keep everything lined up. That's a really foolproof way to keep it perfectly lined up. All right and then tackle the next cluster with your whip stitch. Okay again I have a long piece of yarn here but it's all good. All right go into that next stitch. I'm still holding my finger there. I'm not moving my finger just to keep it nice and lined up. I know sometimes finish work and seaming can be a little bit tedious and a lot of you aren't into it. You know I've seen the comments and I know some people don't like sewing things but it does pay and as you do it you know straighten it up. You can see those it looks very symmetrical but it does pay to do nice neat finish work because it will really show off your crochet in the most beautiful way possible. Okay I went into that space again now I'm going to move my finger down to the next space and keep seaming. Now go ahead and do your whip stitch all the way to the bottom. Let me move so you can see. I'm going to move my finger for a second just to show you. Go ahead and do your whip stitch all the way down to the bottom here and we'll go ahead and do that and when we rejoin we're going to do the shoulders next. Okay so I just want to show you before we depart that because I held my finger in there you can just see the beginnings of now I need to straighten this out a little bit but everything is lined up and it's totally symmetrical. Okay so go ahead and work your whip stitch all the way down your piece and then when we rejoin we'll look at what we've done and we'll tackle the shoulders next. Okay I came all the way down and I'm just going to work that last stitch. Now sometimes when you're joining two squares together especially granny squares they have sort of a rounded edge and that could create like a little dip in your work so if you want to avoid that just when you do that last stitch just come over in each square a little bit to do that last stitch and that will bring those two rounded edges together and then when you do that very last stitch before you bring it all the way through leave yourself a loop and then just run your needle through that loop and create a knot to fasten off your work. Give it a nice tug and then one more time just because we want our edges to be nice and strong so when you wear it it's nice and strong. Okay I'm just going to run my needle up this seam here just keep it nice and neat and don't let it show on the other side you can sort of feel it with your hand if the needle is coming through on the other side because remember this is the inside and then pull it all the way through and then I'm just going to run in a few stitches in the opposite direction then that tail will be taken care of and we'll just give it a little trim. Okay so let's look at what we've done so far and you can see how everything is lining up. It helps with what I was showing with putting your finger in those chain one spaces as you work. So we have our seam now or the back of our sweater is complete so now if we close it back up what I've done is now you can use stitch markers if you like and let me just zoom out so you can see better you can use stitch markers like I did but I went ahead and if you've ever done a sewing project before you'll know that when you piece everything together that it helps to pin it so we've sort of done that with our stitch markers. I've done some sort of clipped the two pieces together across the top. Now it would be very helpful at this point to once you sort of clipped it together and I started at the edge so I matched my corner spaces like we did on the other part of our seam but I matched my corner spaces up and I worked across making sure everything was lined up and then when you get to the neck opening part you'll want to try it on or if you're giving this to someone put it on the recipient and just make sure that the neck opening is as large as you would like it to be. So for mine if we zoom in I'll show you up close we have this is the back and then you close it this would be where your neck is okay so you have your two corner spaces and then I so I did my corner space cluster one cluster two cluster three and then I placed a stitch marker and then I mimicked it exactly on the other side so corner space cluster one cluster two cluster three and then a stitch marker and when I put it on I liked that opening that opening worked for me so you can go by what I did or you can try it on and just kind of clip it where it feels the most comfortable for you. So once you get it exactly how you want it now we're ready to seam up the shoulders. Now it was easy for us to open this up and just run a seam down here but for this one the other reason why it's helpful to clip it together is because we're going to turn it inside out to seam it because we don't want to have it show. So I'm going to get some more yarn and again about oh two three feet or so doesn't have to be exact and I'm going to thread our tapestry needle and I'm going to start from the outer part of the sleeve so what we want to do is just very gently and carefully turn this inside out and then just scoot all this over but this is our seam that we're working with. Okay and then there's a bunch of clips here and then our edge okay so we're going to work our seam now we're not going to worry about the other sleeve right now but once you get it all laid out nice and neat we're going to work all starting at the edge here the arm opening where your arm will stick out we're going to work across here to this last stitch marker because remember we want these to make like an opening for our cardigan. Okay so I have my tapestry needle and I'm going to start at this first stitch marker and I'm going to take it out so I can work on it and then we're going to do the same thing we did before in those corner spaces run your tapestry needle through all the way through till you have a little tail here and then just tie it it's a couple strong knots and then we're going to do the same thing we're going to do the whip stitch and I'm going to let me zoom in I'm going to hold my finger in the chain one spaces of our hexagon so that it keeps it nice and lined up okay so we're going to go into that first stitch remember both layers two loops per layer and we're just going to do the same thing we're going to whip stitch this all the way across removing the stitch markers or scrap pieces of yarn whatever you're using you could even use like clothes pins or something if you need to whatever you have is what you can use and we're just going to work all the way across until we get to our last little clip or marker okay so work that shoulder stitch all the way across and then we'll rejoin in just a minute. Okay so we've worked our stitch all the way across I'm just putting the last one in there in the space where our stitch marker is and we're just going to do the same thing we're going to leave a little loop run our needle through and then do that one more time just to give it a nice strong knot in there you pull that tight and then while the yarn is still in your needle you can go ahead and weave that in in I'll save you a step later I'm just going to do the same thing going one direction back in the other direction and we can snip. All right now as I worked I took my stitch markers out or yarn scraps whatever you're using and I'm just going to take this last one out and so now we have one shoulder complete and then we're going to come over to the other side let's give that a spin that side is done and we're going to also turn this inside out and let's flip it up so that we actually we need to do it this way because it's the reverse so we're going to start again at the arm opening where we have our stitch marker that corner space we're just going to repeat the same thing on this side so grab your piece of yarn and my sweater is slipping off here right off this edge of the table okay and so we're just going to work a seam across here until we get to that last stitch marker same thing we did before so go ahead and do the second side and then we'll rejoin in just a minute just working that last stitch of our second shoulder seam I'm going into that chain one space there all right and then we can just fasten off the same way we've been doing leave yourself a loop and then go back in and put another strong knot in there and then what we can do like we've been doing with our other seams is while it's on the needle just travel down through the same color of you as your tail through your piece and wait for that end in right then and there so you can save yourself a little step later I'm just going to come back in the other direction here with our tail all right grab your scissors give it a snip now the last thing you need to do is we're going to go now you can see both of our shoulders are done and we can turn it right side out the last thing we want to do while it's inside out let's go looking for some other tails we have a few tails we need to deal with so right here with the center of our hexagon remember at the very beginning we wove that tail in as we went along so it's already woven in it just needs a snip so go ahead and snip that and then here is a tail any tails that you see just go ahead and take care of those might have several now if you did if you changed colors in your project you might have lots of them but I did this self-striping so it sort of minimizes that a little bit but any tails that you see go ahead and weave those in and I'm guessing my the center of my other hexagon has one too right now so we're just looking for some tails I don't see any on that side anymore and this one I must have must have snipped that one because I don't see that one and last but not least we have one over here so again as you're in your ends just make sure that you're trying to stay in the same area of color so that everything blends in nicely with your seaming and your weaving and all that okay and again go in that other direction to sort of lock that tail into place you know when you make things when you hand make items especially things that you wear that see a lot of movement sometimes those ends can pop out and that's totally normal you can always weave those in later if that happens all right so our piece is still inside out what we want to do is the big reveal we're going to flip it back out and everything is seamed so you can wear this right away we have our beautiful shoulders and it really does pay to line those seams up because the seams look really sharp and we're going to get all those sleeves nice and neat get everything laid out and you can see it on the blog I'll have it on my dress form and you can see what it looks like and how it lays and how the how it drapes and things like that so our cardigan is complete it looks absolutely beautiful so that is how you crochet the art class cardi thanks so much for watching and be sure and click the subscribe button to get all the latest fiberflex video updates thanks again