Sheer Poncho is gunning her engines to hit the (insured, heavily tracked) mail to Holland today.
While I’m just a smidge over two months late for Kymber’s birthday, I console my tardy self with the knowledge that this cashmere wrap is still likely to take the chill out of my friend’s North Sea-swept days on the beach, however sunny and un-January they may now be (since it’s pretty much April). If you want to get to know Kymber (also a knitter) and her Netherlands-filled adventures in mommyhood, check out her splendidly-written blog here. I love it.
Allison suggested that the name for this knitted creation should be something other than “Sheer Poncho”, and although I’ve gotten used to calling it that, I quite agree. Poncho does invoke the feeling of an itchy acrylic crocheted number that you wear on Easter when you’re eight, so as much as there’s a bit of nostalgia there that I appreciate, I think we could do better.
I think “Seamless Cowlneck Wrap” is more modern-sounding, although not as exotic as “Utterly Glorious Wrap”, like Allison suggested. The thing is, it makes me uncomfortable (like climbing the rope in gym class) to change the name of the pattern as christened by the designer. What if somebody is Googling for other people’s notes on this pattern, and then I’ve gone and changed it so they won’t find mine? Isn’t that the whole point of the blog-sharing thing?
You know in your heart I’d give it a more glamourous name if I could bring myself to do it. That’ll have to be enough.
Pattern: Sheer Poncho by Amy Arifin, available for free here
Yarn: Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere (2-ply) in colorway 50, Driftwood; about 3 skeins
Needle: US 5 / 3.75 mm, Addi Turbo all the way
Finished, unstretched dimensions for the fourth pattern size as written (1=smallest, 6=largest); designed to fit stretched bust width of 48 inches, including both arms:
- Neck width (at narrowest): 12.5 inches
- Cowl width (at bind-off): 21.5 inches
- Width across shoulders: 19.5 inches
- Width at bottom: 29 inches
- Length, top of shoulders to bottom: 18 inches
- Length, neck (at narrowest) to bottom: 25 inches
- Total length, including fully-extended cowl: 35 inches
Overall, what’s not to like here? She’s a beaut. There’s nothing about this finished project that isn’t satisfying and fabulous. This is the kind of garment that I’d like to think could be worn everywhere: casual enough in the swooshy drape of its cowl to look great with jeans, yet elegant enough to play dress up. One Crafty Writer told me she’s making one as her wedding shawl (can’t wait to see it)!
As you know, I’m smitten with cowls, so the generous overspill at the neckline pleases my little eye. This cowl is so wide and roomy that it can be draped over toward one shoulder and still have room to rest gracefully.
I like the smooth, steady look of the line of increases down each shoulder/arm, gliding right through the otherwise uninterrupted seamless sumptuousness of the round-the-body wrap.
The pattern doesn’t suggest a certain type of increase, so I decided after a little trial-and-error that KFB (knit one front, knit one back in same stitch) would work best. I like the even, symmetrical look of these increases on both sides of the stitch marker.
Another pattern tip, before I forget: bind off fairly loosely at the bottom of the body. Not as important for the cowl, but it is important for the body, especially if you’re using a fragile and/or non-stretchy fiber.
This could have easily been knit with just three skeins of Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere (at 400 yds each, about 1200 yards total). I had extra on hand, so I went ahead and made the cowl extra-swooshy without fear of it not being long enough (I actually put the body on a stitch holder when about 3/4 complete so I could switch to attaching/finishing the cowl first).
The wham-bam 25% everyday bulk discount from WEBS for this yarn brought the cashmere splash into range for me. The sad thing is I’ve never bought anything cashmere for myself - yarn or garment - but this gave a great excuse to start.
The softness of the finished fabric is everything that it seemed it should be. More, probably. I was ready to be underwhelmed (perhaps as a way to justify my frugal resistance to buying cashmere for so long), but it’s. just. so. freaking. nice. to touch. The yarn wasn’t at all splitty and was very easy to work with; low breakage once I got going. The single strand, even though 2-ply, is fragile, it’s true (I did recover from my initial man-handling syndrome unwinding the first hank), but I think that goes with the cashmere territory, especially at this fine gauge.
The fine gauge is what creates such a gentle, sexy drape, however - and puts that bit of sheer into Sheer Poncho. But not too much sheer - as you can see, it’s not like I’m flashing my boobies here.
I thought I might be put out by the reverse stockinette all-purl look of the wide-end cowl, since the knit side is for the most part tucked underneath when the cowl is left to naturally drape from the neck. But I like it. The fine stitching makes the purl side look more fetching than I normally give it credit for, and my instinct to want to somehow modify the pattern to compensate (e.g., knit it twice as long to double-back over itself and seam) subsided once I saw the smooth, even finish of both sides of the fabric.
The color of the fiber was sometimes hard to capture with my camera, even in natural light. Often it looks too light or too grey in photos: the true hue is an almost-imperceptibly heathered mid-range sandy khaki. In soft mood lighting it’s a deeper tan, like a light mocha. Very pretty indeed.
Beware of the color chart on the Jade Sapphire website; colorway 50, Driftwood, looks way darker there - although I’d done my Ravelry homework and the lighter shade I received was exactly what I’d sought/expected. Perhaps there’s some variation in the colorway…but more likely it’s poor photography on the manfacturer’s site.
The only thing I’m not 100% sure about is the rolled hem. It’s a non-issue on the cowl end because the fabric’s all rolling over itself in the drape anyway. Even for the bottom hem, I’ve settled on it looking perfectly fine - especially since this is not in a my mind a super-dressy item, but one that looks great for everyday wear. Ways I could have addressed this, had I decided to:
- Block it with my flexible blocking wire and hope that it would stay flat once worn and, later, cleaned
- Make a tiny seam all the way around the bottom for a more finished look
But, nah - it looks real purty just the way it is. Kymber can seam it if she likes it better that way.
I wasn’t sure whether to get this fabric wet to block or not; but since I really like to do this (so often the difference in stitch uniformity is striking, even when you don’t think you need it), I went for it, after a little homework. Seems like some people are too frightened to mess with cashmere (understandably) and go for dry cleaning, but enough people routinely hand-wash their cashmere that I wasn’t too worried. It turned out just lovely after a quick dip in lukewarm water with a bit of Eucalan.
The pattern pics show this as potentially being worn three ways; as shown above, as well as either A) with the cowl pulled up over the head or B) with the body pulled further down to make it a dress.
So of course I tried the over-the-head thing: it certainly works, but it looks a little dorky, IMHO. I guess if you got a chill you could whip up the cowl as a hood and continue on your way. I gotta believe that most people would end up looking more chic than I do wearing it this way, though, because I’ve kinda got a long giraffe neck that stretches it too much. Sissy B, who helped with the photos, had to agree on this point - that’s why there’s no evidence here showing that option.
I also didn’t include photos of the dress suggestion: uh, there’s no way that would’ve worked for me, and I have to say it wouldn’t for pretty much anyone who doesn’t have freaky Barbie dimensions. I’d need more than double D’s to keep that sucker up at the top. If the dress option was important, you could reel in the cowl width - but I simply knit it as written.
The only area that I felt that pattern was a little off was in the length. Obviously this is a super-straightforward pattern, so you can just stop knitting when it’s long enough; but as written, the increases toward the lower end of the poncho (body) went on too long for me. I could have done without the last few increase rows (in my size, this was every 9 rows) and just skipped to knitting even for the last few inches. As it was I eyeballed it and stopped when I was ready, as I’m sure anyone who knits this would do.
If it were me, now that it would seem I’ve been let in (let myself in - duh) to the Cashmere-Wearing Club, it would be silly to save the wonderfulness of a garment like this for only special occasions. Kymber’s still nursing Little K, so it occurred to me that while wearing this she could shield the nip from public consumption (if she could find a situation in Europe where this is actually necessary!) while at the same time shielding Little K from blustery breezes.
On the other hand, she could whip this out for a stylin’ trip to the local beach bars. Go ahead! Spill a little (white) wine on it (just not while nursing). It’ll survive. Break it in, wear it, love it.
However Kymber enjoys it - even as folded in her drawer - I hope she feels the love and tenderness imparted with every stitch. Happy (Big) Birthday to my dear friend.
Oh. Hmmmmm. Boy, I hope she’s not allergic to cashmere. That would suck.
