Lace Poncho

Boy does this little poncho have a story!  Do you ever have one of those projects that just kind of goes wrong start to finish?  Well, that was this project. And it's not even this poor poncho's fault (which was actually supposed to be a wrap).  I was so excited to be part of the 40th anniversary issue of Handwoven, it didn't even matter that things were a little upside-down.  I do wish the project had turned out how I envisioned, but all things considered I think it turned out quite well.

I should have known I was headed for trouble when I had three project deadlines, a three month old baby, and two toddlers who were taking turns being all kinds of sick.  We had pink eye, we had ear infections, we had flu, we had tummy bugs, we had strep throat...it was not a great season for wellness.  Then, yarn support was forgotten.  I was told it was coming and then crickets.  As the days turned to weeks, I got very nervous.  This was my first time creating something for Handwoven and I was not sure how long I should give things to "work themselves out."  After about a month, I emailed and found out my yarn support had been accidentally forgotten! Oops.  So now I only had a month to complete the project, three sick children, and Christmas two weeks away.  Yikes!  Go big or go home, though, even in the weaving world.  

When the yarn finally arrived I was sleep deprived and sick myself.  I was navigating what it means to have three children and a husband with all different wants and needs and trying to find time for my own ambitions in between. It was...stressful.  And then the yarn was supper sticky!  Argh!  Luckily, I was given the  amazing tip of holding my beater back while changing the shed, that helped a lot!

Feeling quite proud of myself, I was creating a lovely Huck lace Brooks bouquet combo inspired by curtains.  Once I got the hang of the yarn and stopped kicking myself for picking something so persnickety when I had absolutely no time for mess ups, things sailed fairly smoothly.  Sneaking in between Christmas festivities, cookies and waiting until the baby was sleeping, progress was being made!  A true Christmas miracle!  But then...disaster struck!!! Somehow I had mis-measured my warp.  That has NEVER happened to me before.  I usually do the math, measure, remeasure, do the math again.  Of course this was the project, though.  My warp was about ten inches too short!  It messed up the whole symmetry of the wrap I was trying to create.  There was no going back, either, and trying to adjust the symmetry.  That is difficult to do with cooperative thread, but it is near impossible with sticky thread.  I cried.  Not gonna lie.  I was hanging by a proverbial thread.

After I was done crying, I tried to figure out what to do next.  Change the pattern, right?  That was the only logical thing.  So, instead of making a large wrap, I'd made a small poncho that did not require the same symmetry.  Presto change-o, the project was saved!  Granted, it wasn't what I really wanted, but like I said, the end result was still quite pleasing. 

If you are interested in making your own version of this woven lace poncho, or perhaps creating the intended wrap version of this project, the pattern is available in the most recent issue of Handwoven; the 40th Anniversary September/October 2019 issue.