Comfy Poncho

The Comfy Poncho is knit using a cotton and nylon blend yarn making it light, drapey and comfortable to wear for those cool summer evenings, overly air conditioned places or rainy days. This poncho is child size but can easily be customized to smaller or larger sizes by increasing or decreasing the number of cast-on stitches and also by increasing or decreasing the length of the knitted pieces.

For the Comfy Poncho pattern, two identical pieces are knit flat using the seed stich pattern. These 2 knitted pieces are then joined using the zig zag crochet method. Next, the stitches are picked up for the neckband collar and knit in the garter stitch pattern. Lastly, a crocheted shell stitch border is added to the bottom edge of the Comfy Poncho.

Yarn: Crème Cotton™ Yarn by Loops & Threads™ in the Pastel Pink colorway (2 skeins or 648 yards needed for this pattern size)
Knitting Needles: US #7, US #9 (for cast on and bind off) and US #6 circular knitting needles for the neckband collar
Tapestry needle to weave in ends
Gauge: 4.25 stitches / 8 rows per inch in seed stitch pattern with US #7 knitting needles
Crochet hook: US size H8 or 5.0 mm crochet hook
Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
RS: right side
WS: wrong side
pm: place marker
rm: remove marker
sm: slip marker
K2tog: Knit the two stitches on the left needle together
BOR marker: beginning of round marker
[…]: stitch pattern repeats
wyif S1: bring working yarn to the front before slipping the next stitch purlwise

The Comfy Poncho Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

Knitted Piece 1:
With US #9 knitting needles cast on 51 stitches.
With US #7 circular or straight needles knit the following:
Row 1 (RS): K1, pm, K1, [P1, K1] repeat […] till 1 stitch before last, pm, wyif S1
Row 2 (WS): K1, sm, K1, [P1, K1] repeat […] till the stitch marker, sm, wyif S1
Repeat Row 2 – 200 more times ending with the wrong side row.
Bind-off Row (RS row): Bind off in seed stitch pattern using US #9 knitting needles removing markers

Knitted Piece 2:
Knit another piece (Piece 2) similar to Piece 1. The Comfy Poncho knitted pieces measured 12 inches in width and a little over 25 inches in length.

Joining the 2 pieces together:
With the 2 pieces facing the right side and US size H8 crochet hook, join the cast on edge of Piece 1 to the slipped edge stitches on the left side of the cast on edge of Piece 2 using the zig zag crochet method (several tutorials on the zig zag crochet join are available on YouTube).

Join the bind off edge of Piece 2 to the slipped stitches on the right side below the bind off edge of Piece 1 using the crochet zig zag method (see image below).

Knitting the Neckband Collar:
With US #6 circular knitting needles pick up and knit 108 stitches, place a BOR stitch marker and join the round (see the image above).
Round 1: Purl all stitches, slip BOR marker
Round 2: K2, [K2tog, K19, K2tog, K4] repeat […] 2 more times, K2tog, K19, K2tog, K2, slip BOR marker – 100 stitches left on the needle
Round 3: Purl all stitches, slip BOR marker
Round 4: K8, [K2tog, K6, K2tog, K15] repeat […] 2 more times, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K7, slip BOR marker – 92 stitches left on the needle
Round 5: Purl all stitches, slip BOR marker
Round 6: K5, [K2tog, K9, K2tog, K10] repeat […] 2 more times, K2tog, K9, K2tog, K5, slip BOR marker – 84 stitches left on the needle
Round 7: Purl all stitches, slip BOR marker
Round 8: K2, [K2tog, K13, K2tog, K4] repeat […] 2 more times, K2tog, K13, K2tog, K2, slip BOR marker – 76 stitches left on the needle
Round 9: Purl all stitches, slip BOR marker
Round 10*: Bind off using the stretchy bind off method
(*Optional: Add more rounds with 8 stitch decreases as needed for a custom fit before the bind off round)

The Crochet Shell Stitch Border:
Starting at the beginning of the zig zag crochet method on the front side of the joined poncho (see image above), pick up and single crochet with US H8 crochet hook all the slipped edge stitches, cast on and bind off edge stitches at the bottom of the poncho.
At the 2 corners, do 4 single crochets in the same corner edge stitch
Next round (shell/scallop stitch border): Single crochet 5 times in the same stitch, skip 2 stitches then single crochet 5 times in the next stitch. Repeat this all throughout the bottom edge of the poncho. At the 2 corners do 7 single crochets in the same corner edge stitch. Slip stitch to the beginning stitch of the round.
Weave in the ends, wash and air dry the Comfy Poncho.

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Happy Knitting!
~coffeeteaknits