Since Ellie is my second youngest niece, I decided to do Ellie's poncho in the same vivid colors and deliciously soft Homespun yarn as Allie's blanket.
I loved how this picture makes the poncho look like a square with a bite out of the top! As if the yarn was just so yummy, a square-toothed, yarn-lovin' monster could not resist coming by and taking a nibble. ;-)
I found this poncho to be one of the most rewarding crochet projects I have ever done. It came together quickly and easily with a very pleasing result. I used a pattern in Candy Crochet by Candi Jensen as my guide, but added my own own touches along the way.
I started off by chaining 20, putting a dc in the 4th chain from hook, and continuing right along to the end for a total of 17 dc. I continued to add row by row of 17 dc's until the panel measured 20 inches long. Then, I fastened off and created a second identical panel.
The trickiest part was sewing the panels together to make the poncho into its final shape. I took the end of panel 1 and attached it to the lower side of panel 2. Next, I took the end of the panel 2 and sewed it to the lower side of panel 1. Trust me, it took lots of double checking to make sure I was sewing in the right spots.
My favorite part of this project was adding the finishing touches in green. I added a dc-fan scallop along the whole outer edge of the poncho (5 dc in one space, skip a space, sc in next sp, skip a space, repeat). After the edging, I whipped together a dc-fan flower with a double layer and then sewed it onto the shoulder.
Voila! Another Christmas project is done!
