FO Report: Amelia's San Francisco Poncho

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, 1/2 each of 3 different colorways ("Loro barranquero," "Autumn Forest," and something else...), +/- 330 yards
Pattern: "Children's Poncho #243" by Diane Soucy, Knitting Pure & Simple
Gauge: 5sts/in
Needles: US6, US8
Size: 12 months
Started: 3/10/09
Finished: 3/16/09
This yarn was recycled from my ill-fated capelet adventure with my friend, Rebecca. We were so excited about the pattern in the yarn store that day so long ago and loved our own little KAL project, but neither one of us ended up liking the finished item very much. (It called for three different colorways of luscious Malabrigo, but only half of each was required for the project. So we bought all three together and split them up to share.)

The poor capelet sat in my stash box for well over a year while I thought about what to do with it. Nobody wanted it (I tried to pack it in all of my visitors' suitcases and purses, to no avail) and it just didn't really suit anyone (or more importantly, any occasion...who wears a capelet?).

As I mentioned recently, the perfect use for this yarn hit me when I bought my plane ticket for San Francisco for early April. Amelia gets to come with me which meant that she would need a little spring jacket of sorts for the ever-changing San Francisco weather. A perfectly soft, perfectly adorable, and perfectly flexible hooded poncho.
I purposely knit her poncho on smaller needles (I used US6 for the poncho body) because I like Malabrigo on 6s. Therefore, my gauge was different, but that was good because the smallest size of the pattern was 2-4 which would be much too big for her now. The size came out just right. (Pattern gauge: 4.5, My gauge: 5.)I did the hood on US8s because I was worried about running out of yarn towards the end. This turned out to be perfect too, because we all know that babies' heads are much larger than their bodies so the larger gauge up top was just right. I knit the 3 extra stitches at each end of the hood to create the casing going around her face for a drawstring, but haven't done an I-cord yet. (I may, I may not...haven't decided.) I didn't sew the casing down yet either because I think it's easier to insert an I-cord before sewing it shut, but it's just creating a cute inward roll which isn't a problem so far. We'll see what happens there.
And I left the fringe off. Baby Girl just eats everything these days anyway so I didn't want her to end up with a mouth constantly filled with fiber.

Jackson wants one now too and I have just the right combinations of stash leftovers that I think would work well for a boy poncho. I'm not convinced that he'll need/wear a wool poncho since he's such a "hot" boy (he's almost always sweaty), but it would be perfect for fall too so I'll probably make it anyway. If he doesn't end up wearing it, then Amelia can have one the next size up all ready to go!

(Report on ease of use for a baby: AWESOME. It's over her head before she has a chance to fuss and there are no sleeves to mess with. The PERFECT spring/fall baby outerwear accessory. Highly recommended for sure.)