As quickly as I got my mojo back…I lost it. Honestly, I was just getting a little bored so I put that baby blanket down for a minute and just started searching on Ravelry. The weather lately has been insane (It snowed on Saturday in Maryland. It snowed.) and I keep thinking about making myself a cape/poncho. But here’s the thing, I’ve only ever owned one cape that I liked on me, otherwise I’m drowning in fabric and look dumb 😐 So I narrowed my search down to these three patterns on Ravelry:
Images via Ravelry, links below
- Dovenby (left): I love the circular yoke, buttons and slits for arms but I wish it had a collar.
- Bonny (bottom right): I love this shape but it’s bulky weight and that can sometimes add bulk to me and I don’t need that.
- Wednesday’s Child (top right): I like the collar and shape but I hate pulling ponchos over my head and messing my hair up.
So what’s a girl to do? I opened up my digital copy of The Knitter’s Handy Guide to Top Down Sweaters, my Knitter’s Notebook and decided to design myself what I wanted. I’m doing a circular yoke cape that will most likely have a ribbed high collar and then two slits down the front so that I can pull my arms out easily. I can control the length and shape so I don’t look like I’m drowning in yarn. If it looks completely horrible, I can just frog it before I block it – because that’s the beauty of knitting.
I pulled this Lemonade Shop yarn Mega Toxic Oreo out of my stash for the circular yoke – you can’t see the increases since it’s such a wild colorway. As I was ending the yoke I decided to do a black band of garter stitch with some Knit Picks Superwash Worsted I had to break things up a bit and then the body will be with my leftover white Manos del Uruguay Gloria yarn from my Custom Cardigan. And I may throw in a pop of bright fuchsia for some finishing and to give it some interest with a bit of color- there’s a tiny bright pink spec in the yarn and I have a yarn that’s a perfect match.
Of course knowing me and my luck, I’ll make this and love it and then the weather will stay super hot. But I want to try something new and different to challenge myself. So let’s see where this goes!
Yards of Happiness 
This sounds like an adventure! Can’t wait to see how it turns out and hear how you like designing your own pattern. 🙂
I did a cardigan once before but had lots of other patterns to rely on. This one is a truly blind design so I’m anxious to see how it really turns out. So far so good on fit and size as I’ve finished the yoke. Fingers crossed it turns out well!
Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands, and I’m sure you’ve got the chops to make this happen. Good luck with the cape (I have a pattern in the wings as well…).
I told myself I wouldn’t be afraid to try things this year. So I’m not going to be afraid of trying to design something I want for myself.
Awesome! I say “go for it!”
Are you keeping notes? You might want to make another one. I’m sure it will turn out great.
Yes, I’m taking notes in my knitters notebook. It’s designed for people designing knits. I really hope it comes out well!
I’m excited to see how this turns out! Poncho/cape #2 is fantastic but I agree with you about bulky yarn – it’s not super flattering in garments!
I’m on to the body and am working on the slits for my arms. So far so good but you never know how it might end up.