Sweater Hangers -- Solution to Sagging Sweaters Losing their Shape

I haven't posted in a long time, just busy with my other blogs.  But yesterday I decided to act on an impulse to finally figure out how to modify hangers so they could hold sweaters without the sweaters sagging.  Sweaters lose their shape if they are hung on smooth hangers.  They sag and stretch out.  I remember seeing yarn covered hangers in my grandma's house.  It looked like some sort of macrame knotting on the metal hangers.  So I turned to YouTube.

I found a few tutorials on it, but none of them satisfied me.  I tried the one that looked like a macrame knot but it was tedious and took forever to make a few inches of progress.  I looked at another tutorial and liked what I saw, but I still adapted it to simplify and speed up the process.

Yolanda gives a great tutorial here: Vintage style- crochet hanger cover with attached clothespins

In it, Yolanda crochets a cover for a hanger right onto the hanger.  It's a beautiful solution and I'm grateful for her good explanation of the stitch and her process.  I changed it slightly to speed it up and make it more durable.  And you'll notice I didn't add the clothespins or flower.

First-- I used 3 identical metal hangers taped together.  That way it would be nice and strong and hold it's shape really well.  Don't use plastic!  If you go to all this work to make a covering, you want it to last a long time.  Plastic hangers break.

Second-- I used 2 yarns together to make it go faster.  It added bulk which I wanted.  The rounder the hanger, the less impact it would have on the sweater.

Third-- I modified her stitch slightly.  I pulled one loop from inside the hanger, then a loop from outside the hanger through the first loop and the loop from the last stitch.  Yolanda has an added loop before going into the hanger.  I found that loop unnecessary.  When you watch her tutorial, you may decide to leave that loop in. 

As I crocheted around the hanger, I ended at the end of the hook and hot glued the end to the very tip, so it would not slide off.

I picked up the stitch quickly and was able to make 9 hangers in about 2 hours as I enjoyed sitting by the fire with my family.  I'm very happy with the results of this and hope to make many more. Thanks to Yolanda for her great tutorial that got me started!