Crocheting a comfortable, cozy sweater

Hi, I need some collective wisdom here 

I’m crocheting a sweater right now and just can’t get any further. 

I’ve already had to reduce the starting stitches from 222 to 120 stitches. Now, in the 6th round, I’m supposed to increase 12 times. And in the 7th round as well. That was far too much — after all, I had also reduced the stitches. So I unraveled it again and reduced it by half. It’s still too much. Then, in the 6th round, I only increased by 1 stitch instead of 2 at 6 points, and skipped the increases in the 7th round. 

In the example pictures in the pattern, the crochet piece lies spread out very flat. Mine is still very wavy. 

I’m using a 4-strand yarn cake and crocheting with a 3.5 mm hook. 

What am I doing wrong? 

@franziska-nix-lissmeier,
welcome to our forum.
If you give me the name of the pattern / the link, I can ask the author for help here in the forum. 

Crochet Pattern for a Sweater—Warm, Comfortable, and Cozy

I haven’t received a response from the author yet, so I’m trying here. 

Crochet pattern for a sweater – warm, comfortable and cozy https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/items/46153/warm-bequem-um-gemuetlich-haekelanleitung-fuer-pullover

The link works now.

I haven’t received a response from the author yet, so I turned to the forum. 

I sent the author a message and asked her to follow along here in this thread. 

Thank you very much! 

Hi Franziska,
I’m not familiar with the pattern.
But based on your photo, here’s my guess or impression.
You’re crocheting very loosely. Much more loosely than in the original. The foundation stitches are tighter, though, which already creates an imbalance. When crocheting, the hook size is less important; it’s more about the way you work. I would try a 2.5 mm hook, but use the 3.5 mm only for the foundation stitches.
And don’t lay the piece out spread flat. As a rule, it should lie flat, yes, but try folding it over. Then you can place it on a sweater and see where the shoulders are on your piece.
But as it is now, it’s much too wide. I think it has been from the very beginning. Otherwise you’ll end up with a skirt, not a sweater.
In general, you can use any yarn, but you can’t crochet this model more loosely than in the pattern. Then it has to be completely adjusted, and the spacing of the increases in the rows has to be adjusted too; that has to be calculated.
Did you make a gauge swatch? Is one noted in the pattern? If they don’t match, it won’t work.
Then you have to adjust it, crochet more tightly, or use a different yarn.
I hope I was able to help.
Best wishes, Uta

Something else just occurred to me.
If you’re crocheting with a plastic hook, swap it out for a metal one.
Plastic hooks tend to make your stitches looser because the stitches don’t glide over them as well.
Metal hooks with ergonomic plastic handles also fit better in your hand, and your crochet work will look completely different right away.
Cotton gradient cake yarn usually turns out a bit looser—that’s just the nature of the fiber. For the sweater, I would have used a cotton-blend yarn—with acrylic, viscose, or bamboo. But that’s just my opinion. 
I also think you might be crocheting a bit more tightly in the double crochet rows than in the ones with the lace pattern. It looks a little like that. But that happens to a lot of people. You can try working with two different hook sizes. Chain 20 stitches and give it a try: 2 rows with a 3.5 and 2 rows with a 2.5. Usually, the difference is really noticeable. 

You don’t seem to be the only one having problems with this sweater, judging by the comments below. 

Especially since the questions there are already 5 years old. 

One person wrote that it worked out well for her—maybe you could message her? 

Thank you very much! There’s no gauge given in the pattern.
I’ll just keep experimenting or maybe actually switch to a different yarn. 

That’s great—I’ll definitely try using different hooks!
I only crochet with metal hooks; I prefer them myself ☺️

Yes, I only read the comments afterwards too 🙈