Easygoing Swoncho #2 (Knit)

I knit another Easygoing Swoncho (sweater-poncho combo) and this time I made the sleeves longer. On the first one I ran out of yarn, so the sleeves were short, but for this Swoncho, I wanted to destash some more yarn, so I used a variety of yarn that I had on hand and combined yarns and knit until I ran out of yarn and then added another yarn, giving this swoncho a variegated stripe look. I like how the colors of yarn blended. After I blocked it the neckline was a bit too loose, causing it to fall off my shoulders when worn. I will have to adjust that and perhaps take a few stitches in to tighten that area up before I can wear it in the fall.

This is a Free Pattern from Cascade Yarns.

I held 2 yarns together as I knit this in the round. I added a new yarn when I ran out of yarn.

I am knitting a different sweater now using all the partial and miscellaneous skeins of yarn that I have on hand to create a rather scrappy colorful looking sweater. Sort of like Joseph's Coat of Many Colors, only it's knit rather than sewn and a pullover sweater rather than a coat. I do like colorful and scrappy, and using up my yarn stash is a huge bonus rather than buying lots of skeins of just one color. If I can use up my fabric to make scrappy quilts and bags, then why not do the same with my yarn scraps?

Happy knitting, crocheting, and sewing!

Pin It Now!

Easygoing Knit Swoncho

I saw the Easygoing Swoncho online recently and love how this looked. It is a combination of a knit poncho and sweater (hence the name, Swoncho). I like the look of most ponchos, but they just don't look or hang right on me and I tend to fiddle with them as they slide off my shoulder or twist somehow, ugh! Plus, how to you carry a bag/purse with a poncho? Under the poncho? It won't fit over one very well, at least not on me. This Swoncho looks a bit like a poncho, but behaves more like a pullover sweater and I love that! It has normal sleeves, not those sleeves at the forearms with the huge gap under the arms! I don't think I would like those, even though I never ever tried one on before.

This was an easy knit too, a huge bonus for me! The only thing I had to change is the length of the sleeves and only because I knew I didn't have enough yarn to knit to the wrists or even 3/4 sleeves, which is what I prefer. I wasn't sure when to to stop knitting, since I had to knit 2 sleeves and didn't want to run out of yarn on the second sleeve. I ended up with a small amount of yarn leftover, but it would have only added 1/2"+ to each sleeve if I had known in advance that I could have knit a bit more on each sleeve. I need to try this on now that it has been blocked and see what I think of the sleeve length on me. I quickly tried it on before blocking it and it hits about my elbows on the sleeve length. I used my hand dyed yarn that I dyed myself years ago. I used a double strand, since this was thinner weight yarn than the instructions called for.

If I love how this looks and feels on me (and that still needs to be determined), I might try making another one with the longer sleeves and using up a lot of my various leftover yarn amounts, blending them in as I knit.

Knit with 2 yarns held together throughout that I hand dyed myself.

Center stitches down front (back and sleeves also have this same stitching).

Bottom edging closeup.

Sleeve closeup.

Find the FREE pattern on Cascade Yarns HERE.  Thank you Cascade Yarns for this free pattern!

Pin It Now!

Sparks Avenue Knit Poncho

This is a poncho I knit using one of those variegated cake yarns. The cake yarn has very long runs of one color before the color changes. This was an easy to knit poncho. It's kind of hard to photograph without a model. I donated my mannequin because I had no place to keep her and every time I would pick her up her limbs would fall off, so she was a pain to deal with. Plus having to drag her outside in the good lighting was also an ordeal, so off she got donated.

The opening is for the head. It can be worn so that the poncho points down like this in the front, or turned so that the sides are longer.

You can see the color changes like a rainbow.

The Sparks Avenue Poncho is a free pattern.

Pin It Now!

Lacy Knit Poncho

Remember a while back I showed you the knit shrug I made, but I didn't like how it fit me and I ripped it all out? Well that is the same yarn I used to knit this lacy poncho. I followed the instructions for this, but the neckline came out huge! Was it the yarn I used that made a difference? Who knows? I thought ugh, not again! I didn't want to rip this out because I liked the poncho, but with a neckline that was large enough to fit around an elephant, it wasn't going to stay on me. It was even too large to use as a skirt! So what to do? Since the top edge was crocheted, I decided to crochet a long chain and weave it through the neckline and then tie it in a bow in the front. Looks okay on my dress form here. I haven't actually worn it yet though, since the weather is too hot for wearing a poncho right now. I will wear it in the fall at least inside my house. It's such a lovely soft yarn (thank you Tara for the yarn).

The pattern was an easy knit and I don't know why the neck came out so large. I knit it on circular needles and I couldn't tell until I bound off the stitches, since they were all bunched up on the needle. If I crocheted more around the neck to cinch it in tighter, then the poncho would have grown in length and I didn't want that either. I am beginning to wonder if something is wrong with me or the patterns or the yarn? Everything looks great and just like the pattern, except for the huge neckline. Remember that Seinfeld episode with Elaine and her big head? Well even this poncho would fit over Elaine's big head without a problem, LOL!!!!!

Pin It Now!

Leaning Doors Knit Poncho

I knit this poncho last year, called Leaning Doors Poncho, by Cathy Montoya. I liked the knit pattern when I saw this pattern on Ravelry. It's a free pattern. I still haven't sewn the shoulder part in place. It's essentially a rectangle and you need to sew a little at the shoulder to turn it into a poncho. I have it pinned in place, but when I try it on, I am not sure if I like it. Maybe it's too short? I have it pulled forward in the photo. I better finish it and see.

I used a soft yarn with a bit of a fuzzy halo to it.

Pin It Now!