I have been dying to release this cardi pattern for quite some time. It's based on an ancient cardi I bought from Zara years ago that our pattern designer Cheryl Kubat masterfully turned into a knitting pattern. It has a better fit than the original and of course, is knit in much nicer yarn, hah! This design works beautifully in our Wildflower cotton yarn. The printed fabric yarn adds an unexpected element. It looks a little bit ethnic in this color I think, perhaps because it is an authentic India print. This design is also an easy to wear unstructured open cardigan meant to be thrown over your favorite T, sundress or even swimsuit. It’s not difficult to knit and incorporates short row shaping of the shoulders and a built in shawl type collar. It knits up in our cotton fabric Wildflower yarn, color Goldenrod shown here. Pattern details here. I have very little Wildflower yarn left, so scoop it up quickly if you're thinking about it :)

Here we are! Already on week 3 and I'm almost finished with my poncho. How about you? I hope you've been having fun knitting along with me. I truly cannot wait to see all of these finished pieces! If you're following along with us than hopefully you've reached the stripe portion of your poncho. If not, no worries, whenever you finish, we can't wait to see! 

Follow along in the below video to get an overview of how the stripes knit up.

A few things to keep in mind first:

* You will have 4 Cast Away stripes plus the cast off edge is knit in Cast Away, this will look like 5 Cast Away stripes in total when you're all finished. 

* The number of rows per Cast Away stripe varies throughout the pattern - be sure to follow the written pattern for exact details.  Here's a quick overview- your 1st Cast Away stripe will be 3 rows, the 2nd: 2 rows, the 3rd: 3 rows, the 4th: 2 rows and the final stripe 1 row and then the cast off row. 

* We mix in purl rows to create more texture in your poncho - see video for a detail of what this looks like. 

* The Sister yarn portion of your stripe will always be knit in simple stockinette knit stitches - 4 rows total for each Sister yarn section.

Start knitting your Cast Away Stripes

Simply start knitting with the Cast Away yarn. There is no need to knit to cut the Sister yarn until the last Sister yarn row. When it comes time to knit with Sister yarn again, simply start knitting. This will create a little yarn float on the backside of your knitting (see video for reference). As long as you don't pull that stitch too tightly your knitted fabric should not pucker.  I prefer doing this as opposed to cutting the yarn for each stripe and then weaving in a bunch of ends.

This week, try to get through your stripes. Next week we'll be casting off and showing off our finished ponchos- yay! Right in time for Thanksgiving :)

Hooray for week 2! Have you been knitting along with me? I sure hope so! If you've been following along on instagram, then you've definitely seen me progress throughout the week. I made it through the 8" turtleneck rib and I'm now ready to start knitting the poncho body. This week I'll show you how to switch to your larger needles, place your markers throughout your knitting and how to knit the kf&b stitch. Lastly, I'll talk about how to customize the body length of your poncho.

Switch needle size & place your stitch markers

I recommend using 2 different colored stitch markers than whatever you used to mark the beginning of your knitting round. This will help you differentiate between the end of the round and the rest of your knitted body. If you don't have proper stitch markers, a simple piece of waste yarn tied into a circle will work perfectly.

Next up, let's talk about the kf&b stitch also know as 'knit into the front and back loop'. Kf&b is a simple common stitch used to increase your knitting by one stitch. Watch the below video to learn how to do this! 

Would you like to lengthen or shorten your poncho? Here I'll talk about how to do that! If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to reach out to me (amy@knitcollage.com) or the designer Cheryl (cheryl@knitcollage.com) If you'd like to keep up with me, try to finish the body portion of your poncho before next Wednesday, November 16th. Next week, I'll talk about adding in the Cast Away stripes to your poncho.

Customize your poncho length