Crocheting Away

Since what is a blog for if not shameless self-promotion...

I finally finished the poncho/shawl that I was crocheting. It is, by far, the largest single item of clothing I have ever crocheted. Hopefully, it will not be the last.

Anyhow, I am very proud of my achievement, so I thought I'd share some pictures of it with you.

Front:


Back:


And, for anyone craftily inclined, here is how I made it:
- I looked at several patterns online, but between my inability to read patterns properly and my refusal to make swatches to test gauge, I eventually just got a general idea and branched out on my own.
- I used a little over a pound of black, cheapest-you-can-get, worsted-weight yarn. Maybe when I am rich, I will use better yarns, but for now, I'll take what I can get cheaply.
- I cast on enough stitches to go from my shoulder to my wrist. In theory, I counted stitches to make sure I had a multiple of 4 +2 +1 to turn. (In reality, though, I added the extra stitches later when I figured out that I needed them.)
- I did 3 rows of single crochet, then I started on my first "holey row".
- Holey Rows = chain four, triple crochet in fifth stitch, *cast on 2, skip 2 stitches and triple crochet in third stitch, triple crochet in next stitch, repeat from * to end of row (row ends with 2 triple crochets).
- My general pattern for the shawl was: holey row, single crochet row, holey row, 3 single crochet rows, holey row, 12 single crochet rows.
- Once the shawl was long enough to join into a poncho, I joined the two red edges per the diagram below with a row of loose chain stitches on what would be the inside of the finished product. (Blue dot is the bottom tip of the front of the poncho, for reference.)

- Then, I tried my poncho on to discover that the neck opening was too big, so I did a row of single crochet around the inside of the neck, reducing every 2 stitches to one. It was still too big, so I did a second row, reducing in the same manner.
- After trying the poncho on again, I noticed that my reducing rows in the neckline looked a bit like a drawstring, so I added a long, dangling bow at the front to complete the effect of a tied drawstring. (Bow doesn't really show up in the picture.)