Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Poncho for Roo

Growing up as the middle daughter of three girls, I have many memories of my sisters and I dressed in matching, handmade items crafted by my mother's hands. One piece in particular stands out as a favorite: the crocheted ponchos she made us, in shades of brown and orange. A child of the 70's, a girly girl, and the perfect garment for skipping, dancing and twirling. I might have to sift thru boxes of photos to see if there are any of us in the ponchos.

When I started knitting, one of the first patterns I looked for was a poncho for Eleanor Ruby. I found the Knitting Pure and Simple Children's Poncho over a year ago, but wasn't sure if my skill was ready yet. Then I found a beautiful yarn that I had to have to make into something lasting for Eleanor to enjoy. Two skeins of Mosaic Moon Mountain Meadow Worsted yarn in the Selah colorway arrived with it's coordinating aqua trim back in October. I had to sit it aside for months while I worked on Christmas and birthday gifts.

I decided that my first garment of the new year would be Ella Roo's poncho. I was pleasantly surprised by what an easy garment it was to knit! I made the 2-4 year old size and didn't make any major changes to the pattern. Only thing I think I did was purl the first row of the hood so I had an easy marker for measuring the length of the hood as well as adding a design element to the neckline. I also picked up four extra stitches on the hood because I thought it spaced the stitches out better than the recommended amount.

I worked on it a few hours a day for 11 days until I had it completely finished. It's beautiful, a perfect fit, soft, warm, and just what I hoped for. It warmed up to 22 degrees today, so Ella and I took a short walk in the sun with her favorite baby and her sparkly new shopping cart from Nana. I hope this is the first of many fun memories for her and her poncho.

Finished piece



Finished piece in action





8 comments:

Sharon said...

It's gorgeous, she looks adorable. The shopping cart and baby are very cute too.

Kim said...

Deborah - that is soooooo coool, i love it, Ella looks so happy in her new poncho! i love ponchos :). I've seen mosaic moon yarn around but have never tried - do you love it?

Awesome poncho!

SunflowerStories said...

Thanks, Sharon and Kim!

Kim, MM yarn has amazing colorways, that's what makes me a fan. Most of the time, it works out beautifully. On this piece I did fight pooling a lot (and gave up in some areas.) I think it had more to do with the stitch count and needle size. The dying is really well done- vibrant, doesn't bleed, no spotting. HTH!

Maya said...

I remember ponchos! That is TOO cute. Love it.

Anonymous said...

I'm making this poncho and I love hot it's coming along. The directions say to knit body until 13" (smallest size). Does that mean along the front where the increases are done or along the side? There's a big difference - does anyone know?

SunflowerStories said...

You knit the body until it is 13" along the increases. You can continue knitting in pattern if you want to make it longer.

Twilson9608 said...

whoops, never mind on that last comment. I am catching up and reading backwards. :)
I like it even more now that I see it on. Its beautiful! I love the colors.

Cheryl said...

What a lovely poncho! I crocheted ponchos for my 10 and 8 year old girls last Christmas.Love the picture of you and your sister's in your ponchos in your latest post.