Hello, Hivers! It’s been a really long time since I last posted and I’ll be getting back the groove with my What did I Crochet? series. I finally have something to show you guys and I’m quite excited about this one because it’s something I’ve introduced before.
So last year around this time, we had the WIP challenge where members of the community were to pick up any WIP they had and attempt to complete it, giving us progress report along the way or start a new project and take the community along as they attempt to complete it. For my second entry, I introduced a pair of shorts I wanted to crochet, but I’d only done the ribbing then. Here’s the post.
Unfortunately, I didn’t complete it but promised that I would eventually in a subsequent post. Well, although it took me this long to finally see it through, I’m glad I didn’t disappoint because I finally got to crochet my first pair of shorts.🤗
When I made that post for my second WIP project, I hadn’t decided on which stitch to use. I finally settled with simple half double crochet. So I used a 2.5mm hook and continued with the one strand of yarn I started with. I actually did a few rows of the body before I dropped the project. I lost interest in it basically. What contributed was the fact that it was not the idea I had for the shorts initially that I was working with.
It was towards the end of the semester that I picked it up again and decided to finally complete it, although I was working on my friend’s birthday gift, a crop top. I did them side by side. Whenever she was around, I’d crochet the shorts instead so she wouldn’t see her gift. Then when I finished her top, I could finally focus on it alone, and I was already doing the second leg by then.
I added a few increases in the first few rows which wasn’t really necessary since I was going to add a drawstring. Anyways, I was working in the round, not doing two panels for the front and the back. When I was satisfied with the length, I decided to start on the legs.
For the crotch, I found the middle stitch on one side then crocheted twenty chains and joined it to the middle stitch on the other side. With that, I’d divided the body of the shorts into two for the legs.
I started to work on the first leg. I found the tenth chain then crocheted from there round till I got to the chain before that one I started from. At that point, I used a slip stitch to join it to that first stitch. Then I chained two, turned my work and crocheted back round where I came from. When I reached the chain two stitch, I did a slip stitch with the second chain. Then I repeated the whole chain-two-and-turn-your-work step till I got my desired length of that leg.
I wanted ruffles at the bottom of the shorts so I proceeded to add that next. From where I stopped at the last slip stitch, I chained two and then did three half double crochets in the same stitch, and four half double crochets in every other stitch. When I’d gone round and had reached the chain two stitch, I did a slip stitch with the second chain and then secured my yarn and cut it off, leaving a short length for sewing in. With that, one leg was complete!
For the second leg, I repeated the same process for the first leg. Here, I was faster than I was when I crocheting the first leg. In no time, I was done. All that was left was the drawstring. I simply used three strands of yarn and did a chain that I was okay with. Then, I attached it to the ribbing at the waist, taking it inside and outside. And my shorts were complete!
If you’ve crocheted shorts before, how was your experience? What mistakes did you make? The body of my shorts ended up too long so it’s really high-waist.
Just in case you’d like to know, my friend’s birthday crop top turned out really nice and I wanted to post it here but unfortunately I didn’t have process pictures so I decided not to. If you want to see it regardless, let me know in the comment section so I make a post about it despite not having process pictures. At least, I have one of how I started and how it turned out.
I’d post more regularly now, so till next time, guys, ciao!