A cheer for a warm and cosy poncho!

I finally finished my poncho. The crocheting was done already last week, but I knew that I had to block the edging and I hate to do it. So the poncho was lying around, sadly asking why I didn't wear him (her or it?, I don't know yet). So on Sunday and Monday I felt a flush of determination, took all my T-pins and the iron and started to block one section of the edging after the other. 

And now this is it. Finished while I am in need of it - usually I finish a winter work in summer and the other way round. But this time I am lucky, delighted, successful, glad, cheerful, happy and 

SMILING!

But enough of words:

 The poncho fits my red boots, doesn't it?

Sorry for these bad pictures of me. But I always look like a nerd on pictures. Hopefully not in real life...

 

Some of you asked what my edging would be like as I didn't want the fringes. I thought a lot about this question the last couple of weeks. I had seen how Lucy of attic24 had made her edging and I liked it a lot. So I did almost the same but with some variation. First of all I didn't do the last couple of granny stripes in my main colour. But only because I was so absorbed into crocheting the stripes that I didn't realise that the poncho was already long enough. I had reached row 30 - always alternating colours - and I didn't want to get it any longer. So I kept my edging quite short: 

3 rows of single crochet (sc, in UK: dc), the first in grey purple, the second in deep red, and the third again in deep purple. Then I did two rows of chain loops and the last row I used wave-like stitches as follows: 

Slip stitch into first space to begin. Chain 2, then 1 sc, chain 2, 2 sc in the same chain space. *In the next chain space 1 sc, then again 2 sc, chain 2, 2sc*. I repeated between ** until I got back where I started.

This morning I started cleaning the house, and yes , it was really needed. I wiped the floor and did some washing. And afterwards, as a kind of reward, I bought myself some flowers.

Some white daisies that I planted in a Valentine's crochet jar. Daisies are called 'Tausendschön' in German, I do like this name a lot, it might be translated as "a thousand beauty". They are really beautiful, aren't they?

 Do you see my cleaning bucket in the back? That doesn't look very nice. So here's a picture without it, much better...

and I couldn't resist buying some narcissi, too...

and some tulips...

and a white hyacinth. I will make another hearty cover for this jar, as well. And then the hyacinth will join my 'Tausendschön'. They will get along with each other very nicely. 

Thanks a lot for your nice comments on my last posts. Your warm and encouraging words fill my heart with joy and comfort. And a warm welcome to my new followers, of course. I will have a look at your blogs - as long as you have one - as soon as possible.

This night my younger sister and her boyfriend will visit us for the first time since they are together. She lives more that 400 km away, so I am happy that they finally have found time to come. They will stay until Sunday and I am sure that we will have a super-duper time.

Take care of yourselves, Viola

A poncho for me

It was love at first sight ...

Have you seen the poncho from Simply Crochet issue 25?

When I saw it I knew that I had to make it for me! But without the fringe, I do not like fringes at all. They never seem to stay clean and neat with me. But I decided that I would think about the border later on, I ordered the yarn immediately. I had worked with Drops Nepal before, it is a chunky yarn, a mix of wool and alpaca and therefore quite gentle to the skin.

  I chose all shades of red, pink and purple: grey purple for the cowl neck and the border and all the different shades for the stripes: deep red, red, cerise, medium pink, powder pink and mix purple. 

It was so easy to start with this project. Hooking up these rows with a 6 mm hook works up extremely quickly and soon I was able to start with the stripes. I chose the colours randomly, using the main colour grey/ purple once in a while. Soon I had done the 16 rows of the original pattern. 

But as I do not want the fringes, I will continue with the "granny double crochets" until the length is fine with me. 

I happily crochet row after row and in between I squeeze myself a fresh juice from apples, pears, carrots, beetroot and fresh curcuma (it is said to be very salutary). Something fresh and healthy to get well soon.

Take care of yourself!

Viola