Mason's New Sleeveless Hoodie Pullover

The boy never seems to fit anything for long and the most recent growing phase left him without a suitable jacket. It's an awkward time to buy him something because I know he'll only wear it a very short time and I don't want to waste money... but I can't begin to guess what size he'll be when the cold weather comes again so I cant buy one that will be big enough to fit when he needs it.

What do I do? Crochet, of course.

This was a simple little pattern I made using the guidelines in my favorite (and very first) book, American Crochet. It's a must have for any serious crocheter. The cover is torn, the corners bent, coffee stains on a couple of pages and yet it's still the most valuable book I own for crochet. In this case, I used the chapter for making wearables.

I will post a pattern in greater detail soon, but for now a basic description will have to do.

I started at the bottom of the back and made a simple rectangle then shaped the arm holes and the back of the neck. Cut yarn, and start the front panel also at the bottom. This time I added a crocheted cable to either side and I made the front neckline a couple of rows shorter and the shoulders a couple of rows longer. Since I know he'll grow quite a bit, the joining of the sides and shoulders were done in a sc for easy undoing to add a bit of ease when he gets bigger. SC joining on the seams also allowed me to hide the ends of threads without sewing them in... simpler for the finish and much easier when sizing up.
The hood is simply made by sc around the neckline and adding a few sc in the back for shaping. A couple of rows into the hood, I decided to add cables, 1 on either side of the hood to match the cables on the front. Once the hood was the right length, I stopped at the back of the hood, half row, and turned it inside out. Holding the sides together, slip stitched a joining and made a row of sc around the facing. To further shape the hood, I decreased every third stitch for the top half of the hood.
Finishing was done by two rows of sc around the arm holes decreasing at the bottom to shape, and a row of sc around the hem. This left only 4 ends to weave in, one for the hood, one for the hem, and one each for the armholes.
Finished sleeveless hoodie is 24 inches around, 12 inches around the arm openings, 12 around the neck and a 10 inch tall hood.
It's fast and simple, I made it in a day and a half with many delays and interruptions.