knitabit

Harder than it looks

My seven-year-old daughter expressed interest in having a knitted poncho. I spotted this cute one in the Land's End kids catalog.

Oh my. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that those are intarsia stripes, and the poncho appears to be knitted in four panels that are seamed together.

I spent part of yesterday afternoon browsing through Faery Crafty's Poncho Links and discovered the following:

• One popular type of poncho is the giant square with the hole in the middle of it. It will have a lot of bulk and looks kind of hippy-ish.
• Another type of poncho is comprised of two rectangles; each rectangle is positioned lengthwise over the shoulders, and overlapped and seamed together at front and back. These ponchos seem to have large-ish neck openings.
• The third type of poncho, and the type that seems to be most popular right now, is rather fitted and slim. The Lands' End poncho is a slim type of poncho. I found a pattern generator for a slim, fitted poncho.
• Finally, I think the poncho will replace the scarf this year as a popular use of novelty yarns and many, many ugly ponchos will be out there as a result.

I think I might try to make one similar to the Lands' End version, except that I'll do decreases down the center "seam" rather than intarsia stripes.

At the risk of offending, I might also use acrylic yarn from Hobby Lobby since I believe this might be on the fashion radar screen only briefly, and sure to be outgrown quickly anyhow.

Comments

good luck finding a poncho pattern. there are so many great ones out there. the land's end one is pretty cool. great colors.

Posted by: froggy at August 29, 2004 09:01 AM