The Knitting Fiend

Mom drove down from Libertyville yesterday and designed this over coffee. After she left, I wrote the pattern generator and knit this. (I love my knitting machine!)

Mom’s friend’s daughter is having twin boys in February, and Mom wants to give both ponchos. Mom explained some criteria for the poncho. These were:

• Must be really easy to slip over the baby’s head. After all, you shouldn’t yank things over baby’s delicate head, but we’re talking twins. Those parents aren’t going to have time to fuss. Getting these things on had better be easy.
• Doesn’t slide down their little shoulders.
• No cords; they are a choking hazard.
• No velcro. A neighbor’s daughter threw away all her velcro baby bibs because the velcro ruined every knit item in the wash.
• No fringe. (Because Mom and I don’t like fringe.)
• Must be able to lie flat like a blanket when opened. (I have no idea why Mom insists on this criterion, but it’s every important to her. )

Mom and I did what we always do when presented with a design challenge. We surfed the web!

We found a bunch of cute ponchos. Examples (not counting than mine ) include Carrie at C&C Knitting, Adie and Mush at Iowa Chicks, and Her Blog, . (You should examine their ponchos for color and yarn ideas even if you end up knitting my poncho for a baby. After all, I used fairly plain yarn. You might like to jazz things up!)

Unfortunately, all, including mine, were adult ponchos. None met the criteria for going over both a baby’s very large head and staying on it’s very tiny shoulders. If you make the head opening large enough, the neck opening tends to be larger than the baby’s shoulders.

So, Mom and I thought a bit. We decided on a design that is basically a blanket with a T slit for the neck. To eliminate the edge curl, I trimmed the whole thing on the outside with Idiot cord, added a few rows of stockinette to make roll neck, and made a simple knot button closure for the neck slit. Naturally, the closure is made from Idiot Cord. (It looks classy and is much cheaper than buying a button! )

I coded and then knit, periodically stopping to change something in the code. (For example, I initially planned to have I Cord trim at the neck. But, I decided I preferred a roll neck; figured out the math and recoded.) I think it took about 2 - 3 hours to knit on a single bed knitting machine, using Tamm Sport, which I bought at Bonnie Triola’s. (No affiliation with Bonnie, she just sells nice yarn at good prices. I used less than 1/2 a cone; that’s $7 worth of yarn.)

Now, I just need to make the poncho for the second baby. Can anyone suggest improvement? (Opps.. I forgot to mention. Chart the pattern for your baby and your yarn using my pattern generator.)