an interlude project / by Katherine Hajer

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The Tuesday before Easter I baby-sat the nieces. I'd seen that Caron Cakes were on sale, so I showed them the dragonfly poncho pattern and asked them if they wanted one for themselves. 

The nieces are not much into boho fashion. Niece the Elder's take was, "what the what?"  She wasn't very clear on how such a contraption was to be worn, or why. Niece the Younger likes cuddly clothing, though, and said she wanted one. 

I'd thought she would have wanted the turquoise colourway shown in the pattern photo, since that's what she usually asks for, but it turns out she's moved on to dark blue, so that's what she got. 

I picked up the yarn the following afternoon, and by the end of the evening I had one panel done... and it looked horrible. The edges were wavy. The whole thing just looked sloppy. I was not pleased. 

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Still, I pressed on, and somehow found my stride on the second piece, which came out more even. The difference was so stark I unraveled the first piece down to the first three rows and re-did it.  

The pattern is very quick and easy to work up, so long as you're comfortable working a double crochet rectangle (I'm not, apparently). People who didn't know what the openwork dragonflies were supposed to be recognised them correctly right away, which was pleasing.

Niece the Younger received the poncho at the Saturday Easter dinner/belated sixth birthday party for her. At first she refused to pull the poncho over her head, preferring to cuddle it in her lap instead. Later on she wore it correctly, but didn't stay still long enough for me to get a good photo.

The best part was when her new Hatchimal was cold and she bundled it up in the poncho.  

I still don't think the nieces really grok what ponchos are for, but at least Niece the Younger likes hers! 

So: a kid's poncho in three days, including a redo of nearly half of it. Not bad. Now back to the giant ogee blanket.