Making::a poncho.

I've been making a poncho.

And while I've been making my poncho I've been thinking a lot about how great it is to have the skills to make things yourself. When you know how to make something, you can make it exactly the way you want it and when you want it.

All winter long I've been wearing my Mara shawl. I love my Mara. Its possibly the most successful, in terms of amount of wears, thing I've ever knit. Its charcoal grey and goes with everything. It's snugly. Its knit from local Bendigo Woollen Mills wool. Its a gorgeous pattern. And people are always asking me about it.

But when you are a crazy busy mama/farmer-girl, shawls aren't really the most practical accessory. I am forever tucking Mara's ends back around me, or tying them up all over again.

So about a month ago it occurred to me that I needed a poncho.

A poncho would do the same snugly job as Mara, but wouldn't ever come undone.

So I did a search of ponchos/capelets/cowls on google images. I looked at heaps of them until I came up with what I wanted for myself. I decided it had to be about elbow length, not too tight around the neck and definitely no skivvy bit, light grey for trans-seasonal wearing and cables and ribs for interesting knitting.

Then I did a ravelry search, found a pattern that ticked all my boxes, found some wool in my stash and cast on.

I'm not a great or very patient shopper and I know that had I chosen to pound the pavement searching for the poncho of my dreams, I would have come home empty handed and irritated.

Instead, after a week or so of enjoyable, meditative knitting, I'll have a cute poncho to wear. It'll be made to my personal specifications and I wont have to wait until the fashion gods decide that its on trend and in shops.

And I know that making your own doesn't always equal a bargain, but in this case the end result will cost me twenty three dollars which I think is pretty reasonable indeed.

Making really excites me. I love it!

Growing and cooking do for the same reasons too.
Right now I'm heading to the kitchen to heat up some soup we made from vegies we grew.
Yum!

What are you making at the moment?
Do you wanna make a poncho too?
My pattern details are here. Let's start a poncho trend. How fun!
Are you obsessed with the make like I am?

Happy weekending. xx