Monday, May 24th, 2004
Poncho day
Today, I think I will show some ponchos. Last September, when my mother-in-law took Abigail shopping for kindergarten, I knew I was going to have to do something special for Olivia, who is only a year behind, and therefore keenly aware of the injustice. Olivia does not think of herself as being younger than Abby, and she hardly seems it. SO, the night before their big day out , I dove head first into piles of knitting books and magazines to find a pattern that Olivia and I could work on together to ease her suffering. I was thinking about a stole type thing that could button around her shoulders, with perhaps a simple lace pattern in it, so I was looking through stitch pattern books. My husband, who is (on the rare occasion) more practical than I am, found a great poncho in the Summer 2003 Knitter’s magazine. It was simple, which is a good thing. It would be a quick return for her.
The next morning, once I broke the news to the girls that Abby would be going to lunch and shopping with grandma, (smart mommy, spring it on them last second to minimize the whining and drama from one child, and the “is it time yet? How many days?” from the other. As well as any taunting that might ensue.) I showed Olivia the pattern and had her accompany me to the stash to pick out colors. Abby left, and we headed to the yarn store to purchase more of the body color, and this…..
was the result.
It actually took a week to complete, because I kept having distractions, like meal preparation, laundry, sleep, etc. No, actually I got really busy with I don’t remember what, but Liv didn’t care. She was ecstatic! I did (of course) mess with the pattern a bit. I don’t think that fringe looks good coming out of an ornate border like that. At least not in this case, so I axed it. Another reason for skipping the fringe is that I didn’t think gauge was particularly important on something like a poncho, so I threw caution to the wind, and the poncho ended up HUGE. She would have tripped over any length of fringe. More on poncho gauge later….
Her poncho ended up being really cool. The red is not as pink as it appears in the photo, it is more true, and a bit darker.
I decided that I needed one. The pattern is obviously for kids, so I began the hunt, and found a great one in this book, which was a gift from my thoughtful sister-in-law a couple birthdays ago. It took me a week to complete this one as well. I started it New Year’s Eve, and ended up with this……
and a side view
I wish you could see how gorgeous this yarn is. It is Donegal Tweed, and it is a deep turquoise with large flecks of red, purple and green. I love this poncho. It’s like wearing a blanket. Doesn’t everybody have days where all they want to do is stay wrapped up in a blanket? Not for everyday, I admit, but it’s just perfect on blanket days. It gets compliments.
And finally, for Abigail’s birthday close to two months ago, I decided that she needed one too. Olivia was in on the secret (I can’t believe what a good secret keeper she turned out to be. I’m not sure this is a good thing.) and this…
is what she received.
Grand finale
I knit this pattern way too big the first time, and although I liked the end result, I decided to knit to gauge for Abby’s. I will never do that again. The fabric doesn’t drape nicely, and I kept adding to the length to make it more like Olivia’s. It just looks better that way. To be fair, I didn’t use the yarn called for, so I would imagine someone could get better results than I did. I like the poncho much longer, and without fringe, and with a chain stitch crocheted drawstring around the neck. That is my own personal touch, added out of neccesity to the first one whose neck opening fell around her shoulders, and for cosmetic reasons to the second.