'Grow With Your Child' poncho

My youngest daughter requested a poncho. So I designed and knitted her one. As I didn't want to put lots of work into a garment that would be grown out of quickly I decided to design a poncho so that it would be easier to 'grow' it in a couple of years time.

A provisional crochet cast on is used at the neck edge and the main part of the poncho is then knitted downwards, increasing stitches as you go. The increases are placed at four evenly spaced points so that there are four 'points' to the poncho. Later the crochet is unpicked and the resulting stitches are picked up and knitted upwards to make the polo neck.

So that the poncho can grow with your child you need to take the following into account before knitting;-
1) Pick a good quality yarn that will wear well and keep looking good - you are investing in a garment that needs to last several years but also be warm, cosy and practical. I chose a yarn that was 70% Acrylic and 30% Wool. The Acrylic content helps the yarn to last and the wool makes it warm.
2) Make sure that you buy extra yarn of the same dye lot so that you can go back and add extra rows. The bottom rows are long and take a lot of yarn. I put aside 200m (100m blue, 100m red). Only time will tell if this is enough. Make sure you label the wool as reserved for the poncho!
3) Even with the same dye lot it is likely that the old and new sections of the poncho will look different due to being worn, washed, exposed to sun, etc. When thinking about a colour scheme try and design it so that the change to the new yarn will not take place in a solid block of colour. My design used stripes to hide the change.

Size
Follow the directions to adjust the design to any child or adult size. The example given was designed for my 1.4m tall daughter.
Materials
Super Bulky weight yarn. I used Boston from Schachenmayr nomotta. The amount needed depends on the size of poncho that you design. I used 6 blue + 7 red skeins to make my daughter's poncho. Each skein is 50 g ~55m.
6mm (or size needed to achieve correct gauge) double pointed needles or circular needle.
Yarn needle and 4 stitch markers.
3-6mm crochet hook - used for provisional cast on. Size is not crucial
1m length of waste yarn - weight not too important but double knitting or bulky is best for this project.
Gauge
14 sts x 20 rows in Stocking stitch = 4” / 10 cm. Note that I used a smaller needle and a tighter gauge than as recommended for this yarn. I wanted to get a firm fabric that would give protection against the wind and cold.

Deciding number of cast on stitches.
The provisional cast on is at the neck edge. The wear needs to be able to pull the poncho comfortly over their head. A good starting point is to measure the circumference of an existing polo or round neck jumper that you know fits. Based on the gauge above you can then calculate the number of stitches.
For example my daughter's jumper has a neck that is 15" in circumference.
14 stitches is 4” / 10 cm, hence for 15" I need 52 stitches.
Main part of poncho.
Using a provisional crochet cast on, cast on the number of stitches calculated above. the crochet cast on technique is explained in this Knitty.com article at the beginning of the section on Short Row Toe. Don't worry about the reference to socks and toes. The technique can be used for lots of different projects.
For the poncho shown I cast on 52 stitches.
Join the stitches into a round and knit all the stitches. As you knit this first round you should place 4 stitch markers so that they are evenly spaced. For my poncho the stitch markers initially are 13 stitches apart.
Now we work the main part of the poncho in stocking stitch, that is every stitch is a knit stitch. At the same time, increase 2 stitches at every stitch marker on every 3rd round.
The increase round should be worked like this: *[Knit to the marker, 'make 1', slip marker, 'make 1'], repeat from * 3 times.
The 'make 1' increases are described here.

Keep working until the poncho is the desired length. I made mine 23" /58cm from neck edge to bottom of 'point'. Bind off loosely. If desired decorate with a fringe.

Polo neck.
Unpick the crochet cast on and pick up the stitches as described in the article linked to above. Work in K1, P1 rib until neckband is desired height. The poncho shown has a polo neck 2" / 5cm high. Work a round of knit stitches - this creates a 'fold' in the ribbing. Work a second length of k1, p1 rib so that the neckband folds in half on the fold line. Bind off loosely.
'Growing' the poncho later
Unpick the polo neck and a few rows of the main poncho so that the neck opening is larger. Then reknit the polo neck. Add extra length by undoing the bind off at the bottom edge and adding extra rows. If you have added a fringe you will have to undo the knots and then add them again later.

Part 3 of the 'waste yarn trick' - fingers

Part 3 will be coming soon and will cover using the waste yarn trick to create seamless joins between fingers. No need to cast on and pick up - neat joins for so little effort.

The IPOD glove/mitten pattern available here uses the 'waste yarn trick' to create the thumb, the fingers(in the case of the gloves) as well as the thumb slot that allows IPOD and mobile phone users to 'ipod' or send text messages without getting their hands cold...

Part 2 of the 'waste yarn trick' - thumb gusset

Part 1 of the 'waste yarn trick' covered the afterthought or peasant thumb. Another common thumb is formed by working increases into a part of the hand to create a thumb gusset or thumb gore. The additional stitches are then put aside on a stitch holder or a length of yarn and knitted later to create the thumb. In the join on the inside of the thumb, new stitches are cast on. Later when the thumb is worked, new thumb stitches are picked up.

When I first started knitting mittens the casting off and picking up thumb stitches really bugged me. It takes practice to do it neatly but even for an experienced knitter there is still a 'break' in the stitches. Hence I have adapted the 'waste yarn trick' to suit the shaped thumb. Here's how;-


Step 1:Use a 20cm length of waste yarn to knit desired number of stitches (here 6).

Step 2:Slip the stitches just knit back onto the left hand needle.

Step 3:Knit the stitches again, but this time with the main yarn.

Step 4:Slip the remaining thumb gusset stitches onto the waste yarn (here also 6).

Step 5:Continue knitting as normal.

Step 6:Later unpick the waste yarn, placing the stitches onto 2 double pointed needles.

Step 7:Place the stitches that were slipped onto the waste yarn on the needles too.

Step 8:To avoid holes pick up a loop between the needles. Knit it together with the first stitch on the left hand needle.

I hope that you find this technique useful. I use it for all the gusset thumbs that I knit and get beautiful looking thumb joins every time. In fact I also use the technique for the fingers. Part 3 of the 'waste yarn trick' will cover this topic.

The IPOD glove/mitten pattern available here uses the 'waste yarn trick' to create the thumb, the fingers(in the case of the gloves) as well as the thumb slot that allows IPOD and mobile phone users to 'ipod' or send text messages without getting their hands cold...

Part 1 of the 'waste yarn trick' - basic afterthought thumb

The basic afterthought thumb is a very simple way of working the 'waste yarn trick'. It is used for making a simple thumb with no shaping in the hand part of a glove or mitten - an afterthought thumb is also called a 'peasant thumb' and is quite common in multi-coloured knitting as it means that the colour pattern on the hand is not disrupted by extra thumb stitches.

Step 1:Use a 20cm length of waste yarn to knit desired number of stitches (here 6).

Step 2:Slip the stitches just knit back onto the left hand needle.

Step 3:Knit the stitches again, but this time with the main yarn. Continue knitting as normal.

Step 4:Later unpick the waste yarn, placing the stitches onto 2 double pointed needles. There will be an extra stitch on the top needle.

Step 5:To avoid holes pick up a loop between the needles. Knit it together with the first stitch on the left hand needle.

One of the great advantages of the afterthought thumb is that you do not have to cast on stitches in the middle of a round of knitting and then pick them up again later. This makes a very neat join on the inside of the thumb.

A disadvantage of the method shown above is that the number of stitches in the main part of the mitten is the same above and below the thumb, making it unusable if you want to work a shaped thumb.

However with a simple extra the above method can be changed so that you can use it for shaped thumbs too.... This is covered in Part 2 of the 'waste yarn trick'.