If you’re looking for a more lightweight, summer crochet cardigan pattern, without having to spend hours with a 4-ply fingering weight yarn, you’re in the right place! The Peony cardigan pattern uses DK acrylic yarn, has the option of short and long sleeves, and works up a treat in a beginner friendly construction.
This pattern uses HDC and an alternative to the puff stitch (which I love!) and the DK yarn makes it nice and light, but still quite cosy in the acrylic.
I love mine with jeans or shorts, but some of my testers wore theirs beautifully over a dress. Especially with the short sleeve!
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You can find the ad-free Peony summer crochet cardigan pattern PDFs in sizes XS to 3X for printing below!
Summer Crochet Cardigan Pattern
What you’ll need
350-650g or 1100 – 2100 yards DK yarn. I used Stylecraft Special DK in Parchment!
4.0mm/G(for ribbing only) and 5.0mm/I hooks
Scissors and needle for finishing
Special Stitches
Single Crochet Puff Stitch: pull up a loop (2 on hook), yarn over and pull up another loop (4 on hook) yarn over and pull through 4. This stitch will be worked on the wrong side, so we get the more textured side facing us at the end.
Dec: hdc 2 stitches together with yarn over, pull up a loop in 1st st, pull up a loop in 2nd st, pull through all loops.
Gauge
Using 5mm hook: (5 hdc rows and 1 sc puff row) repeat twice with 14 sts in 4×4″
Notes
The pattern is worked in flat, bottom up panels with sleeves worked flat and joined afterwards, or in the round.
Starting chains do not count as a stitch unless specified.
Stitch counts for each size will be in brackets at the end of each row (XS, S, M, L, XL, 2x, 3x).
Use 4mm hook for all ribbing, 5mm for everything else
Summer Crochet Cardigan Pattern
Back Panel
Ribbing (use 4mm)
Row 1: ch13, sc in 2nd ch from hook to the end, turn (12)
Row 2: ch1, sc in back loop of each st, turn (12)
Repeat Row 2 until you have (54, 60, 68, 74, 80, 88, 96) rows in total
Main body (use 5mm)
Row 1: ch2, working horizontally in the side of each row from the previous ribbing section, hdc in each row, turn (54, 60, 68, 74, 80, 88, 96)
Rows 2 to 5: ch2, hdc in each st, turn (54, 60, 68, 74, 80, 88, 96)
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st, turn (54, 60, 68, 74, 80, 88, 96)
Repeat the pattern of 5 hdc rows and 1 sc puff row until you have (57, 59, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67) rows in total
Front Left Side
Ribbing
Row 1: ch13, sc in 2nd ch from hook to the end, turn (12)
Row 2: ch1, sc in back loop of each st, turn (12)
Repeat row 2 until you have (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48) rows in total
Main body
Row 1: ch2, working horizontally in the side of each row from the previous section, hdc in each row, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Rows 2 to 5: ch2, hdc in each st, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Repeat the pattern of 5 hdc rows and 1 sc puff row until you have (36, 36, 42, 42, 42, 48, 48) rows in total.
Decrease rows start here:
Row 1: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to end, turn
Rows 2 to 4: ch2, hdc in each st to end, turn
Row 5: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to end, turn
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st to end, turn
Repeat the pattern of rows 1 to 6 until you have (57, 59, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67) rows in total. End your front panel with (29, 28, 27, 33, 33, 38, 37) sts
Front Right Side
Ribbing
Row 1: ch13, sc in 2nd ch from hook to the end, turn (12)
Row 2: ch1, sc in back loop of each st, turn (12)
Repeat row 2 until you have (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48) rows in total
Main body
Row 1: ch2, working horizontally in the side of each row from the previous section, hdc in each row, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Rows 2 to 5: ch2, hdc in each st, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st, turn (27, 30, 34, 37, 40, 44, 48)
Repeat the pattern of 5 hdc rows and 1 sc puff row until you have (36, 36, 42, 42, 42, 48, 48) rows in total.
Decrease rows start here:
Row 1: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, turn
Rows 2 to 4: ch2, hdc in each st to end, turn
Row 5: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec turn
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st to end, turn
Repeat the pattern of rows 1 to 6 until you have (57, 59, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67) rows in total. End your front panel with (29, 28, 27, 33, 33, 38, 37) sts
Join your front panels to the back using whip stitch or your preferred seaming method. Make sure all panels are facing the same way. The shoulders will join from the outside inwards, lining up each st. The sides will be joined from the bottom of the ribbing up until row (30, 30, 30, 30, 31, 32, 33)
Sleeves x2
The sleeves can be made flat and joined on afterwards, or started from the underarm and worked in rounds. The following steps will assume starting from the body and worked in rounds, you can follow the same steps for a flat sleeve by leaving out the sl sts.
Row 1: Joining yarn to the underarm seam, starting on the right side, ch2 and work 1 hdc in each hdc row, and 2hdc in each sc puff st row, sl st into first hdc, turn (62, 66, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80)
Alternatively, ch(64, 68, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82), hdc in 3rd ch from hook and hdc in each ch to the end.
Row 2: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (62, 66, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80)
Rows 3 to 5: Repeat Row 2
Row 6: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (62, 66, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80)
Rows 7 to 8: Repeat Row 2
Row 9: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (60, 64, 70, 72, 74, 76, 80)
Row 10: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (60, 64, 70, 72, 74, 76, 80)
Row 11: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (58, 62, 68, 70, 72, 74, 78)
Row 12: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (58, 62, 68, 70, 72, 74, 78)
Rows 13 to 14: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (58, 62, 68, 70, 72, 74, 78)
Row 15: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (56, 60, 64, 68, 70, 72, 76)
Row 16: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (56, 60, 64, 68, 70, 72, 76)
Row 17: ch1, dec, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (54, 58, 62, 66, 68, 70, 74)
Row 18: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (54, 58, 62, 66, 68, 70, 74)
Rows 19 to 23: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (end Row 23 on 49, 53, 57, 61, 63, 65, 69)
For sizes XS and S, stop here for short sleeve option and skip to the ribbing.
Row 24: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (49, 53, 57, 61, 63, 65, 69)
Row 25: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (48, 52, 56, 60, 62, 64, 68)
For sizes M and L, stop here for short sleeve option and skip to the ribbing.
Rows 26 to 27: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (end Row 27 on 46, 50, 54, 58, 60, 62, 66)
For sizes XL and 2X, stop here for short sleeve option and skip to the ribbing.
Rows 28 to 29: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (end Row 29 on 44, 48, 52, 56, 58, 60, 64)
Row 30: sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (44, 48, 52, 56, 58, 60, 64)
Rows 31 to 35: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (end Row 35 on 39, 43, 47, 51, 53, 55, 59)
Row 36: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (39, 43, 47, 51, 53, 55, 59)
Row 37: ch2, hdc until approx half way, dec, hdc until the end, sl st, turn (38, 42, 46, 50, 52, 54, 58)
Row 38: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (38, 42, 46, 50, 52, 54, 58)
Row 39: ch2, hdc in each st to 2nd last st, dec, sl st, turn (37, 41, 45, 49, 51, 53, 57)
Row 40: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (37, 41, 45, 49, 51, 53, 57)
Row 41: ch2, hdc until approx half way, dec, hdc until the end, sl st, turn (36, 40, 44, 48, 50, 52, 56)
Row 42: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (36, 40, 44, 48, 50, 52, 56)
Rows 43 to 48: Repeat the steps from rows 37 to 42, finishing row 48 on (33, 37, 41, 45, 47, 49, 53)
Rows 49 to 54: Repeat the steps from rows 43 to 48, finishing row 54 on (30, 34, 38, 42, 44, 46, 50)
Rows 55 to 59: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (finish row 59 on (30, 34, 38, 42, 44, 46, 50)
For size XS, stop here and skip to ribbing.
Row 60: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (36, 40, 44, 46, 48, 52)
Rows 61 to 62: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (36, 40, 44, 46, 48, 52)
For sizes S and M, stop here and skip to ribbing.
Rows 63 to 64: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (44, 46, 48, 52)
For sizes L and XL, stop here and skip to ribbing.
Row 65: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st, turn (48, 52)
Row 66: ch2, sc puff in each st, sl st, turn (48, 52)
Ribbing
Do not turn at the end of each row for this section.
Long Sleeve
Row 1: ch2, hdc in each st, sl st
Row 2: ch2, alternate dc and fpdc in each st, sl st
Row 3: ch2, dc in each dc, fpdc in each fpdc, sl st
Row 4: ch1, sc in each st, sl st, finish yarn
Short Sleeve
Row 1: ch2, hdc in each st, make 4 dec sts in this round, evenly spaced , sl st
Row 2: ch2, alternate dc and fpdc in each st, sl st
Row 3: ch2, dc in each dc, fpdc in each fpdc, sl st
Row 4: ch1, sc in each st, sl st, finish yarn
Front Edging
Row 1: Joining yarn to the front left corner, ch1, sc in each hdc row and 2sc in each puff stitch row.
Row 2: ch1, sc in each st, turn
Row 3: ch1, sc in each st, turn
Weave in ends and finish!
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