Poncho-ish

Last weekend, I finished a project I'd been working on, off and on, for 6 or 8 weeks. It was often what I worked on upstairs while listening to music or podcasts. It's an oversized sort of tunic-y poncho-ish sort of thing. 😜 I might have gotten a little bit carried away, even though I did end up ripping back quite a lot on the first piece, which was waaaay too long. I'd obviously gotten into a rhythm and just kept on happily crocheting. When I did finally hold it up to see what I had, I saw that I had to rip out about 20 rows. That's OK.

I adapted a chart in a magazine my daughter had sent me early last year to make the fabric more open--this way it's not too heavy or too warm. I wanted it to be very loose, but didn't want to have each side go all the way down to my wrists as some rectangular ponchos do, because it would be impractical to wear such a garment while cooking (too easy to get caught on a pot handle) or while trying to wear a coat and/or backpack. So I made it loose and then added some sleeve 'extensions.' It's quite a comfortable garment to wear!

I did nothing fussy here. I made 4 rectangles using the lacy stitch and a solid half double crochet (US term) for 3 rounds.

Then I slip stitched them together, two for the back and two for the front before adding the sleeve extensions.

I left space open at the top of the front, folded back the inner corners of each rectangle, and attached dark purple cloth buttons that I had in my button tin.

The yarn is Wool-Ease--a friend found 5 giant 'bonus bundle' skeins (something like 450 yards each) in a thrift store in Boston and brought them back for me--it's a bit darker than it appears in a pics. I still have some scrap balls left, so might do a hat or some arm warmers. I used a 6mm (US size J) hook.

I think that every time I wear this, I will, at least for a minute, recollect the peaceful happy time I spent crocheting it during several weeks in winter, while listening to quiet Christmas music.

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