It only lasted for 5 minutes, but it did happen and it happened when the camera was handy! Once the poncho was on she then wanted the scarf which was just too cute not to include…

Pattern: Children’s Poncho - Knitting Pure and Simple
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed DK in colourway “Festival”
Needles: 5mm Addi Turbos

The Poncho is done. I finished the fringe during our trip to the Aquarium today, partly on the bus and partly while Isabelle played in their playground at the end of the trip.

When we got home I buttered Isabelle up with some camera play time. Bribery does not always work.

This is what happened when I suggested she put the poncho on. In fact she screamed and carried on about my trying to take photos of it even without her. Don’t hold your breath for photos of her actually wearing it! The dog was not so picky and agreed to pose with the poncho. Actually, he insisted.

And finally, in case you were wondering, this is how much yarn I had left over:

About five minutes after my last post it occurred to me that I had one of Isabelle’s hoodies in my bag. I pulled it out, lined them up and you know what? The Poncho hood is the exact same depth but quite a bit taller. I guess the difference in proportions was what made it seem too shallow. So I went ahead and seamed the hem for the drawstring, started an Icord drawstring and found it was too thick, crocheted a chain instead and then applied half the fringe. I SO want to just keep working but I know I will pay tomorrow for every minute longer I stay up tonight and I just can’t face it. The question now is - can I start and finish the quilt in two nights? It’s a pretty simple design I am planning, but I really don’t think I can make it happen. We shall see.

So I just finished the hood and I think it is too shallow. I was on this mad finishing spree desperate to get the poncho done before starting on the baby quilt that needs to be done by Thursday night (um yeah, not too much hope there either). I was so going to finish thing tonight, well not the fringe, but everything else. Now I am too scared to steam the edges of the hood and seam the hem because I am almost certain it will have to be ripped out tomorrow. It did seem odd to me that the pattern didn’t call for any increases from the neckline and now that it is finished I can see that it is indeed visibly shallower than the hoods on Isabelle’s other clothing and given that they all fit I doubt that this one will… So now it will have to wait until this quilt is done…

The body of the poncho is done, despite the four rows of garter stitch at the edge it is still curling a bit. I think this is because my garter stitch came out quite a bit looser than my stocking stitch. I really hope it will block out ok.

Tonight I start the hood, despite going and buying a fourth ball of yarn yesterday I am worried about whether I will have enough yarn left for the fringe. I have about 5 yards of the third ball left, so I have basically one ball of yarn for both. I just don’t like fringes enough to want to buy another ball only for that. Ugh.

What is that saying about simple minds and simple pleasures? I am endlessly fascinated by a line of increases….

So the poncho is coming along nicely. I have just finished the second ball of yarn and I am wondering if anyone can tell me whether 13″ straight down from the cast on edge would be be straight down centre front (ie the pointy bit) or straight down from the shoulder (between the points), because there is a two inch difference and I am confused. And is a poncho still a poncho without a fringe? I am so not looking forward to the fringe….. I hate fringes on my own clothing but I am having trouble imagining this poncho looking properly finished without the fringe.

As well as all the walking, while we were away I :

1. Finished Carla. I know I promised more today, but there are issues. Firstly the weather, it sucks. Secondly the sweater, it’s stretched. Carla needs to be washed and semi blocked into shape again before I take more photos. I am quite pleased with how Carla turned out, this is my first adult sized sweater with sleeves and I have already worn it out in public (well in the bush). However (didn’t you just know there was a “but” coming?) this stitch pattern is super stretchy so, despite the fact that I knit the size for exactly my bust measurements, if I were to do it again I would knit it at least one, if not two sizes smaller. That said, the Raglan armholes fit me perfectly and the sleeves fit pretty well too, so I would actually have to do something tricky with the sizing to get a better fit. Also the sweater seems to get shorter and wider with wear. The wider part I accept as being a fact of life with 100% cotton, but the shorter part I was not expecting. I suspect I will wear this sweater as often as I can allowing for the fact that I may need to wash/wet it between every wearing. Finally, such a loose knit pattern is SNAGGY. Obviously bush walking is not the most sensible place for a hand knit but the worst pull so far came from walking through the doorway to Isabelle’s room this morning, which I do a whole lot more of than bush walking. On the upside the snags heal quite easily.
2. Swatched and started knitting Isabelle’s Poncho. She is very excited and wants to wear it now RIGHT NOW, needles and all. I am going to need a fourth ball I think. 3 balls did seem a bit hopeful to me when I was buying it, but I knew i would be getting onto this one quickly and don’t expect there will be any trouble matching dye lots so soon after the initial purchase.



3. Bought yarn to make a Stonington Shetland Shawl from Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman. There are babies on the way all around me at the moment, which is a fine excuse to knit a shawl or two if you ask me.



4. Was given Incredible Quilts for Kids of All Ages. This book has a number of cute animal quilts and an incredibly sweet set of Big Sister/Little Sister or Big Brother/Little Brother quilts which can obviously be mix and matched to make Big Brother/Little Sister or Big Sister/Little Brother. Should we ever manage to produce a sibling for Isabelle I will be sorely tempted to make a pair of these quilts.
5. Borrowed Quick Quilts to Make in a Weekend. There are three quilts in here that I really like. One of them that I am absolutely in love with.

It was really quite a packed weekend.

Who would have thought that planning a child’s wardrobe would have so many tricky corners? Isabelle hates to wear warm clothes, so I have been planning for months to make her a cardi and a poncho this winter. Every time she sees me knitting something new she says “Is it a Card? Is it for me?”. Well actually after all those bags she has started asking “Is it a bag? Is it for me?”, but I digress. She is very interested in my knitting and always hopes that the end product is intended for her. Thus I am hoping that a cardi (”Card” as she likes to call it) and a poncho hand knit just for her will be exciting enough to wear. This plan certainly worked with the quilt, she now demands “covers” at night, so much so that once she was asleep last night I had to pull the leading edge down about a foot and a half to uncover her head, which was well buried.

The complicating factor in this cardi/poncho plan is making sure that both knits get worn. I suspect she will like the poncho more, both because I stupidly bought green yarn for the cardi and because I believe her objection to warm clothing (other than running hotter than the rest of us) is feeling restricted. Despite my instinct that it will be the favourite, and the general way of the world that a “favourite” once obtained will never be relinquished*, after much consideration I have decided to knit the poncho first. There is logic here, I swear. You see in most aspects of her life Isabelle has very distinct preferences but no lasting favourites (she has no favourite toy for example, no lovie) but she LOVES new clothes. her favourite dress is always her newest dress. I am thinking that if I give her the poncho first she will get into the idea of how great hand knits are and then if the cardi is presented second its newness might win it a place in her heart… Am I crazy? Here is the poncho by the way:

And people, all that analyzing, angst and hand wringing happened before I had to choose the damn yarn! The pattern calls for Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, which comes in oh so many lovely colourways. Cara made her gorgeous poncho for Charlotte** from Artful Yarns Jazz. Then I had a bit of a look at Art Yarns Supermerino and fell instantly in love. And only after all that looking (and lusting) did I do some math. None of those yarns are available in Australia and I just can’t bring myself to spend $70 on yarn for a toddler’s poncho which may be rejected out of hand, destroyed if it is actually worn and then no doubt lost two weeks being deemed “acceptable apparel”.***

And so the local yarn shopping odyssey began. Not many choices and fewer still worth a second look. Worsted weight****, washable, natural fibers that come in colours suitable for a little girl are apparently hard to come by round here. And if you can find them, they come only in solid baby pink - would you like clearly visible stains with that? I nearly bought this but in the end I caved and bought something we can both love. It isn’t worsted weight, or machine washable, but it is lovely and marks will be far less obvious than on a sea of solid pink.

I can’t wait to finish Carla!

*My family will never let me forget the (apparently hideous) green poncho I had at Isabelle’s age - which I loved so much that I would not agree to have removed even for washing thus rendering it both hideous AND dirty.

**It was Charlotte’s poncho that made me choose this pattern, couldn’t resist the hood.

***I also can’t bear to wait long enough for the yarn to arrive from the US given international postal delays which will no doubt be extended by the imminent Easter break. Speaking of waiting for things, I was desperate to get my hands on the pattern and when I called < ahref="http://www.kaleidoscopeyarns.com/" target="_new">Kaleidoscope Yarns this morning they were kind enough to fax me a copy of the pattern before posting it, now that’s service.

****Perhaps part of the problem is that we have our own special ways of describing yarn and now of the weights seem to quite match up with US weights.