Holiday Project

Last summer I was taken very much by surprise when a crafty friend became incredulous when I said I hadn't taken any craft projects on holiday with me. I was then totally bowled over when D agreed with her! To be honest, my idea of a holiday had always been to explore as much as possible with not much sitting still. Well, with a whole unexplored world out there, it would be rude not to see it!  Wouldn't it? However, as the years pass and the day job gets more and more challenging, I've realised that my ideas are changing, and the concept of the 'perfect holiday' is becoming more and more about recharging the batteries than taking in yet more mental stimulation. So, when the promise of a week away in the country seemed finally within my grasp I began to think about possible holiday projects.

This was to be a week of total relaxation.  No pressure to explore the local countryside, not least because D had just recently come a cropper on the sports field and was limited to hobbling short distances; and a beautifully appointed self-catering property with private garden and all mod-cons, including Wi-Fi and satellite television.  You could say a bit of a home from home except for the fact we were miles from the nearest village let alone a town or city.  Oh, and it also happens to be the second week of Wimbledon and the FIFA World Cup has reached the knock-out stage - so plenty of quality sport to entertain, whatever the weather outside!

I decided this called for a simple and extremely portable creative project.  For portable, I feel this narrows the field to knitting or crochet; for simple, this narrows it further to knitting - if the stitch is simple, I can even do it with my eyes closed, or in this case, with my eyes glued to the progress of Andy Murray (I personally find that crochet requires full concentration or at least the need to keep constant count.)

A few weeks ago I was out shopping and spotted a beautifully simple yet stylish poncho in Jigsaw. Obviously my first thought was not "how much is that?" but "how is that made?"  A quick study revealed it was made from a long strip of stocking stitch which was topped and tailed with 2-3 rows of single rib and that each row began and ended with two stitches of reverse stocking stitch.   This seemed to give it unrolled ends but with neatly rolled sides.  This was then folded in half and sewn up one side from the ribbed ends to a point that left a suitable size hole in the 'middle' for your head.  How much more simple could you get than that?

So, with the project idea germinating, the next thing to do was to find some suitable yarn.  The Jigsaw version is in a beautiful cashmere and angora blend, which has a luxuriously soft, brushed effect.  I imagined it to be 4ply.  Meanwhile, I had a black cardigan that I'd knitted from Rowan Wool Cotton 4ply over a year ago but had only worn once.  Yes, as is the case for most of the things I knit for myself of the jumper/cardigan variety, I invariably don't like the final result.  I therefore set about unpicking and unravelling it.  The thought process being, if it's enough yarn to make a cardigan, surely it's enough yarn to make a poncho?!

Fast forward one week and here I am in deepest cider country and both Andy Murray and the poncho are making good progress (although some serious blocking may be required when the knitting is finished if I'm to get the unrolled edges displayed by Jigsaw!)

I cast on 59 stitches using 3mm needles and completed 2 rows of single rib before switching to 3.25mm needles.  The idea being that this will give me around 56cm width (left to right in the photo) which will be the measurement from the neck opening to the side hem. On long-limbed me, this should finish mid-forearm, which feels about right. As for the length, I guess I'll keep knitting until I either run out of yarn or have something long enough to recreate the poncho...

Mind you, I think Wimbledon will be well and truly finished before the poncho is but I guess that's why it's such a great holiday project.  Something that can be picked up and progressed as easily as it can be set aside for tea and cake, to watch some RAF jets fly by, or to be mesmerised by ten paragliders floating effortlessly across the horizon...

For when the sun is out....

For when the tennis is on...