I had this red boucle that has been in my stash for several years and I never wanted to use it. However I got the idea of making a hooded poncho for my niece’s baby and though something vaguely red riding hood would be cute. So what I did was knit with the yarn held double about 54 stitches and about 70-80 rows (didn’t really keep count just kept going until it seems an appropriate size). All rows knit so making a garter stitch block.. Then I cast off and folded the whole thing in half width wise. Then I stitched up the cast off side to close it as the back of the hood. The cast on side folds back about 2’ and the sides of the rows become where the poncho is joined. I then crocheted DC (single stranded) around the bottom of the hood. I thought about at this point making it more of a cloak instead of a poncho but I wanted it to be easy to wear and keep on a baby instead of having to worry about laces coming loose so I continued in the round. After 2 rows of DC to get a nice secure base I began a 3DC, ch1 skip 1 granny stitch all the way around. Joining with sl st at every round and chaining 2 as the first dc in the next round. I started each row at one side of the poncho and at the front and back mid points made a 3 DC, ch1, 3 DC in crease in last row’s corner ch1 space . This worked out very well. I didn’t do too many rows because I was worried it would end up being too long for her as a baby but I realized that the hood itself is fairly big (I can put my head through so I laced up the front a bit so as she grows it can be opened as necessary. Before she outgrows it completely it would be a great hood and cowl combination to tuck under a coat to keep warm. As a baby though it will be a great little poncho and a nice warm hood.

The mittens were also a bit freehand. Started at the closed end with a magic ring then 6hdc then 2 hdc in each stitch for the next row. Then 2hdc, hdc repeated for the next row until I had 18 stitches. Then just HDC in each row for 3 or 4 rows (I think 4 but I was just playing it by ear so do what works for you). Then one row of 1 hdc, hdc2tog and then one more row of just hdc and then cut and tie off. Then I thread yarn through the decrease row and made a bow. Then I braided a 3 more lengths of yarn and connected each end to a mitten so they are always connected. Simple and only takes a few minutes for each one.