Design A452 - Brown & Chamois Poncho

I've made another poncho, this time using a beige mix of Colinette Banyan, which is not quite a vintage yarn, but it is no longer part of their current range, along with some not-quite-vintage but definitely discontinued Patons Orient in shade Rich. Colinette Yarns was established in the 1970s by Colinette and Geoff Sansbury, who ran it together for years, creating interesting yarns and even more interesting hand-dyed colourways. I don't know if Geoff is still around, but Colinette passed away around 2015/2016. The company is now run by their son, Sam, with a much smaller range. The Patons Orient turned out to be too thin for my liking as I started working with it, so I undid the small amount I had done and doubled it up to make it thicker.

So, the yarns I have put together for this poncho are the multi-coloured/multi-toned Banyan Chamois, this time it's a cone of 500g (I have two of them), which is 49% Cotton, 51% Viscose and the gorgeous colour and texture of Patons Orient shade Rich, which is 50% Polyamide, 30% Acrylic, 15% Mohair and 5% Wool.

Banyan Chamois

Patons Orient in shade Rich

The design consists of six crochet panels, which are then joined together to form a cohesive piece. Additional crochet is added to both the top and bottom, and the piece is finished off with fringing/tassels.

The panels are joined in a way that creates a visible, textured line of stitches between each panel, and are an integral part of the design. The poncho is designed to be worn square, allowing a whole crochet panel to drape and cover each arm. However, it also looks good when worn in the traditional triangular poncho style, if you prefer. The construction is designed primarily for the square method. It is pretty generous in size but isn't overly long in the body length, so depending on your bust size, it may only just cover "your girls" if you're quite busty, or it may hang down to your waist if you're quite petite. It is designed for adults. Please pay attention to the measurements across the neck opening and measure around the top of the breastplate/shoulders, including the arms, to ensure it stays in place without falling straight off you or the person you are buying it for and landing on the ground.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos. I began on 25th September and finished on 28th September 2025. The overall fibre content on this one is 28% Polyamide, 22% Viscose, 21.5% Cotton, 17% Acrylic, 8.5% Mohair and 3% Wool. The measurements are 14" across the neck, for a 28" opening and 15" from the neck to the bottom of the crochet (not including the tassels). I have lots of both yarns left over to make other things at a later date.

Design A452 - Ischia & Elephants Daydream Poncho

I've had a couple of weeks' break from making anything, as we were busy ensuring that we had everything needed for our youngest to move into University accommodation, about 50 miles north of where we live. It's a big change for all of us, as our eldest had stayed living at home while studying for her degree at a local University.

Another poncho has been made, and this time I have chosen to use a slightly lighter-weight yarn. Actually, I have sorted out yarn to make a number of these ponchos in a lighter-weight yarn.

The first one is made using two different colours of Colinette Banyan, which is not quite a vintage yarn, but it is no longer part of their current range. Colinette Yarns was established in the 1970s by Colinette and Geoff Sansbury, who ran it together for years, creating interesting yarns and even more interesting hand-dyed colourways. I don't know if Geoff is still around, but Colinette passed away around 2015/2016. The company is now run by their son, Sam, with a much smaller range.

So, the colourways I have put together for this poncho are the multi-coloured/multi-toned Ischia and the softer, but not completely solid, coloured Elephants Daydream.

Ischia

Elephants Daydream

The design consists of six crochet panels, which are then joined together to form a cohesive piece. Additional crochet is added to both the top and bottom, and the piece is finished off with fringing/tassels.

The panels are joined in a way that creates a visible, textured line of stitches between each panel, and are an integral part of the design. The poncho is designed to be worn square, allowing a whole crochet panel to drape and cover each arm. However, it also looks good when worn in the traditional triangular poncho style, if you prefer. The construction is designed primarily for the square method. It is pretty generous in size but isn't overly long in the body length, so depending on your bust size, it may only just cover "your girls" if you're quite busty, or it may hang down to your waist if you're quite petite. It is designed for adults. Please pay attention to the measurements across the neck opening and measure around the top of the breastplate/shoulders, including the arms, to ensure it stays in place without falling straight off you or the person you are buying it for and landing on the ground.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos. I began on 21st September and finished on 23rd September 2025. This one is 49% Cotton, 51% Viscose, and the measurements are 14" across the neck, for a 28" opening and 15" from the neck to the bottom of the crochet (not including the tassels). I have enough of the yarn left over to make something else, but smaller, at a later date.

Polwarth - Australia

Polwarths are named after the county in southwest Victoria, Australia, where the breed was developed by Richard Dennis of Tarndwarncoort in 1880, whose father and uncles had emigrated to Australia from England. Originally, he called them "Dennis Comebacks". They are common in Australia and New Zealand and have made their way to South America, but they are known as "Ideals" there. They are also common in The Falkland Islands. Polwarths were developed by breeding Merino rams to Merino/Lincoln Longwool crossbred ewes in order to improve meat production whilst at the same time maintaining a high-quality fleece. This means that they are one-quarter Lincoln Longwool and three-quarters Merino. The Polwarth Sheepbreeder's Association of Australia was formed in 1918, and the studbook was closed in 1948; the breed is now classified as a conservation breed. Most of the Polwarths in Australia are now in the higher-rainfall regions of Southeastern Australia, where pastures have improved.

They are a medium-sized, predominantly polled breed of sheep (some do have horns) with rams weighing 66kg-80kg and ewes weighing 50kg-60kg. The fleeces weigh 4.1kg-5.9kg are even and soft and a pleasure to work with no matter how they come to you; as raw wool, clean fibre or yarn. They are really fine at 21-26 microns, due to the Merino input, but also longer, due to the Lincoln Longwool input, with staple lengths of 3-7 inches (7.5cm-18cm). The locks are dense with rectangular staples with flat or slightly pointed tips and well-defined crimp. Polwarth fibres fluff up immediately with washing, which has to be done with care if you don't want felt. They are mostly white but can be silver grey through to black and tan through to dark brown.

They produce beautiful and soft next-to-skin fibres. The white fleece takes dye really well, natural colours can be overdyed for interesting results. This breed is perfect for baby garments, due to its softness, but also has good drape, so lace shawls are good to make with this. It also has elasticity, resilience, and loft, so it will make quite bouncy yarns.

As with all fine wools, hot water is required to effectively remove the grease from the fleece of the Polwarth and do not let the water cool too much else the grease will be redeposited onto the fleece and will then be really problematical to remove. Spin from the lock, flick or comb. Combing is the best way to prepare this fleece. Carding can be done on the shorter fibres. Spritzing with water as you comb will control the static. Do not try to spin this fibre with freshly applied greasy hand cream, it will not like that. Make sure anything applied to your skin is well absorbed into the skin before you start work on this fleece. 

I brought this breed in as 100g of prepared fibre ready to spin in December 2020. I have processed some beautiful Polwarth from fleece in the past and you can find that post here and what I made from that yarn here.

This was a lovely spin, starting on 19th August and spun two singles, plying them on 21st August 2025.  It is one of the more naturally white of the white wools, many others lean heavily towards pale cream, but this breed is quite white.

I spun this as fine as I could, knowing that it would bounce up during the washing and setting the twist process.  It turned out as a 14wpi yarn of 98g/443m.

I didn't knit the project piece until 19th and 20th September 2025, only using about 9g of the yarn.

This one is easy to read the lettering.

Design A452 - Red & Black Mohair Poncho

I like the poncho I made a few days ago so much that I decided to make a second one.  This time, I chose some vintage Jaeger Mohair Silk yarn that I bought in 2014; it was already quite old back then.

I have this yarn in two colours, black and red, and it is composed of 78% Mohair, 17% Wool, and 5% Silk.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos this time, so get ready to be blasted back to the late 1980s/early 1990s for this very retro look. 

The design consists of six crochet panels, which are then joined together to form a cohesive piece. Additional crochet is added to both the top and bottom, and the piece is finished off with fringing/tassels.

The panels are joined in a way that creates a visible, textured line of stitches between each panel, and are an integral part of the design. The poncho is designed to be worn square, allowing a whole crochet panel to drape and cover each arm. However, it also looks good when worn in the traditional triangular poncho style, if you prefer. The construction is designed primarily for the square method. It is pretty generous in size but isn't overly long in the body length, so depending on your bust size, it may only just cover "your girls" if you're quite busty, or it may hang down to your waist if you're quite petite. It is designed for adults. Please pay attention to the measurements across the neck opening and measure around the top of the breastplate/shoulders, including the arms, to ensure it stays in place without falling straight off you or the person you are buying it for and landing on the ground.

I began making this on 30th August and finished on 2nd September 2025.

The measurements of this one are larger than the first one I made.  The measurement across the neck is 16", giving a very generous 32" opening, and the length from the neck to the bottom of the crochet is also 16" (not including the tassels).  Being made from Mohair, not everyone will be able to tolerate the fibres in this one; it can be itchy for many people, but it is very fluffy, warm, and snuggly if you can tolerate Mohair.