In a divine blue shade is my new poncho – Donia – one part of a collection I have made in collaboration with Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk in their Tinde Pelsull. I think it is my best poncho so far, but I am curious to see if you agree: Round knot cables adorn the bottom and the top of this poncho. A high collar gives it a noble look, hence the name Donia; Celtic for rules all. The upper part is picked up and knitted from the lower cable panel and worked in stockinette stitch with shaping for the shoulders. The short sleeves in rib hold the poncho together. You can wear it with a belt or a shawl pin to gather it at the front or loose, just as you prefer. The one size sample is beautifully knitted by Airin Hansen, aka Teodor on Ravelry. Thank you, Airin!
I decided to make the round knot cables run along the bottom and on the high collar, with stockinette stitch in between. I did consider making the collar lower with only one cable but opted for all three in the end. A possible option would be to make the collar loose as a cowl and just add an I-cord bind off to the neckline. The lovely cables are from Norah Gaughan’s brilliant Knitted Cable Sourcebook, but you probably guessed it. Above you see the front worn with a narrow belt, while the back is hanging loose. Below and in the bottom photo, I have used a shawl pin to hold together the two sides of the front under the back.
The body is knitted in four parts with cables on bottom part and stockinette stitch on the upper part. A long circular needle is used to accommodate the large number of stitches. The sleeves are knitted in the round in rib. The collar is knitted separately using a provisional cast-on so that the ends can be grafted together. If you prefer to have the collar loose, pick up and knit stitches around the neck and work an I-cord bind-off.
The poncho is made in one size with a bust circumference of 194 cm/76.5″, and can be adjusted by removing or adding sets of 7 stitches to avoid having to adjust the shoulder shaping. The finished length is 74.5 cm/29.25″ and the sleeve length is 32 cm/12.5″. The gauge used to achieve these measurements is: 21 stitches and 30 rows in stockinette stitch measures 10 cm/4″ square using a 3.5 mm/US 4 circular needle. Tinde Pelsull is made of 100% pelt wool with 260 meters/284 yards on each 100 gram skein.
All these photos are taken by my husband at the outdoor stage next to Ørje Brug, today a museum called Haldenvassdragets Kanalmuseum on a very windy day in October.The yarn kit with a Norwegian pattern will be launched at Oslo Design Fair at the end of January next year, while the English pattern will be test knitted in my Ravelry group, beginning on March 5th, before it is released at the end of April. But before that I will show you how it looked on the gorgeous model Emma Ross with hair & makeup by Sissel Fylling and captured by photographer Eivind Røhne.
