10-26-2016

My cousin asked if I could knit him the poncho Tom Hanks wears in Cloud Atlas. This will be my first custom knit without following a specific pattern.

I’m using several bulky-weight poncho patterns as inspiration for this project (I’ve only listed the two I’ve looked the most at -- St. Tropez for the hood and Stockinette & Seed Stitch for the structure of the body -- and I’ll probably use some stitch patterns from some of the stitch dictionaries I own.

11-01-2016

I’ve been knitting for about an hour and I have about 5 inches of a poncho, which is how I wanted this to go (fast.) My boyfriend and I started watching the movie last night as I finished another project. It appears the poncho in the movie is in better shape on the right side than on the left. The left side has several large holes that appear to be dropped stitches. But halfway through the movie, and I still couldn’t catch a decent glimpse of how it’s constructed.

I used a long-tail cast on, 80 stitches, and I’m knitting flat in stockinette with one selvedge stitch along the edge. I plan on punctuating my stockinette with purl rows until about halfway through, when I’ll switch to a (yo, k2tog) mesh. As I approach the left side of the poncho, I’ll probably do longer bindoffs and cast-ons to create the large holes. After I create the base poncho shape, I’ll probably pick up stitches along the left arm to create a second layer, like a scarf. Then, I’ll pick up stitches along the neck to create a cowl-neck/hood combo. I’m debating on using some sort of hardware (a button or a hook) to drape the scarf portion across the front and hold it to the right side.

This yarn has no chill. Where stockinette is supposed to curl, this is not curling. My long-tail caston, which I did to make the edge a little stretchy, is not stretchy. Nothing about this yarn does what you want it to do. Its knobby texture sticks to the needles, and the dumb slubs that make it lumpy get caught on the needles in between stitches. Even if I wanted to do a stitch pattern, I wouldn’t be able to see it. It really is the worst.

11-05-2016

1: k1 #k2tog, yo, repeat from # until the last stitch, k1.
2: k1, purl to the last stitch, k1

Repeat these two rows for a simple net-looking fabric!

11-09-2016

Goal is to do the mesh for 46 inches to make a rectangle, then add layers of mesh over top of it, plus the collar and hood.

I’ve knit through one skein of this yarn, and it’s not as bad as when I started. You just have to get used to the texture.

12-07-2016

This project is killing me. I hate the yarn. I hate everything.

01-25-2017

The most difficult part of this project was folding and sewing the long piece I made for the body. I folded the fabric down by a third to create the layers and sewed it like you would a normal poncho, by connecting one of the ends to the edge of the rectangle. None of this will make sense if you’ve never made a poncho before.

Anyway, after that, I picked up stitches along the collar to make a hood, only I started increasing stitches too late along the back of the head, so the hood ended up being too shallow. I kitchener stitched the top to make a point at the back of the head. I picked up more stitches along the edge of the hood and made it a little deeper. I wove in the ends and machine washed and dried it in the washer and dryer on a “normal” setting and it came out fine.

This project was a lot of trial and error (mostly error). I wanted this to look worn and post-apocalyptic, but also be wearable and not costume-y.