Ramble Poncho Light - pattern release

 Knitting pattern for Ramble Poncho Light is here!

I am so happy to share the most comfortable poncho I have ever designed. Knitted with chunky weight yarn on straight needles, poncho designed for both children and adults. Large hood has anatomical shape and close fit around neck, which help to keep it on the head when needed. Comfortable deep shoulder shaping protects from the wind and kangaroo pocket at front hides your hands from the cold.

Poncho designed with plenty of positive ease and knitted bottom up with minimum seaming. There are just shoulder seams only. After front and back joined, the stitches picked up for hood. Wooden buttons on sides used as a decoration and for keeping front and back together. The front pocket knitted on the go and the pattern has a photo tutorial for it.

The knitting pattern for Ramble Poncho Light written for sizes from 2-3 years up to adult 3XL.

It is available from Ravelry, Etsy and Lovecrafts.

There is also similar poncho available in super bulky weight yarn – Ramble Poncho.

Both patterns are available with 10% off on Ravelry. Use code RAMBLE10 to get your discount.

To see some behind the scene photos, you can follow me on Instagram.

You are also welcome to join my Facebook knitting group to share your work and get some help with my patterns.

Promo codes for all patterns on Ravelry: 310 - to get 10% off for 3x patterns; 515 - to get 15% off for 5x patterns

Offer on Etsy for all patterns:

-       Choose ANY three knitting patterns for £10.01

-       Choose ANY five knitting patterns for £16.17

Five reasons to block your knitting

Based on my questionnaires’ in the FB groups, many knitters skip blocking the finished knitted/crochet garment for a number of reasons. Let us find out what blocking is and why it is recommended not to ignore this important step.

What is blocking?

Blocking is the process of wetting/washing or steaming finished knitted parts or garments in order to give them their permanent size and shape. 

Blocking can be done before or after seaming. 

Why I recommend blocking/washing the knitted garment before starting wearing or gifting it.

1. As you knit, the edges of the pieces can be rolled badly, especially in stockinette stitch. Blocking helps to eliminate or reduce this problem and flatten the fabric, which helps with seaming. 

2. Blocking helps to even the stitches and makes fabric more pretty. This point is very important for lacy garments and shawls. Most lacy stitches does not look beautiful until blocked (see the first photo in this post). Blocking helps to reveal beautiful lacy stitches and “read” them.

3. Many wool yarns such as merino wool, mohair, angora, etc. become much softer and more hairy after being blocked and washed for the first time.

4. You can make some changes to the shape and size of you knitted garment or pieces (if you block before seaming) as you block. The amount of change that you can achieve with blocking depends on the type of yarn, your knitting tension (how tight the finished fabric is) and blocking method. Wet blocking allows for more changes than steaming.

5. Wet blocking is also an important step to wash out dye residue, grease and other contaminants from knitwear prior to first wear. Every inch of yarn passes through our hands and can absorb grease, dirt, hand cream, etc. All this stuff should be washed out, especially on baby and children knitwear. 

To see some behind the scene photos, you can follow me on Instagram.

You are also welcome to join my Facebook knitting group to share your work and get some help with my patterns.