Crochet: The Summer of ’69 Poncho

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Easily my favorite poncho, aside from The Monster in Law Poncho!

Hi!  I hope everyone is still enjoying this wonderful Summer we’ve had this year!  It always seems to fly by so fast… I’m already seeing tons of Christmas crochet ideas in my facebook newsfeed and we aren’t even close to Halloween yet (this is coming from someone who put up a Christmas tree before Thanksgiving one year… )!  I just want my summer to last through August, so I thought I would make that statement by crocheting this ADORABLE and FREE poncho!

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The Summer of ’69 is free courtesty of DROPS design by Garn Studio, which has countless free patterns for knitting and crochet… check them out if you haven’t done so already.  I have been dying to make this poncho ever since I saw it a while back, I thought it was absolutely ADORABLE and I was right!  I couldn’t wait to wear this out yesterday after I finished it so I wore it to the grocery store, I got complimented on it immediately!  I’m not really a rainbow-bright-colorful kind a girl, but COME ON!  How cute is this poncho?!  I’m still wearing it actually, as I type this I keep looking at it… It’s like a bright and cheerful hug.

©DROPS Design by Garn Studio

I did mess this up just a little bit…  If you look at the picture from the pattern, the neckline makes a distinct “V” shape due to specific placement of the granny squares during the joining process (front center and back center).  I simply joined my granny’s in the “as-you-go” method and in a straight, continuous circle.  The diagram was correct in showing how the squares should be joined (the center granny is joined on two adjacent sides to the adjacent granny’s), I just made a mistake… sorry.  It’s not too bad, it probably lessened the overall “V” shape effect in the poncho, but I still love it.  I did a row of triple groups (the stripe pattern stitch) along the top of the neckline, where I created a decrease on that center granny square (to minimize my mistake).

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The granny squares were joined by the “as-you-go” method.

I used an H-8/5.00mm crochet hook, and (less than one skein each of) Caron Simply Soft yarn in the following colors: off white, red, soft pink, victorian rose, sunshine, country blue, soft blue, soft green, and plum wine.  This poncho was incredibly EASY to make, and it is (in my opinion) completely suitable for a BEGINNER.  It was also super FAST to make!  I finished crocheting this in ONE DAY!  I spent about half of the second day sewing in all of my loose ends (you’ll get a lot because of how much color changing you’ll be doing).

© positivelylace

I really hope you will try this adorable pattern out… if you aren’t a fan of the vibrant array of colors, you can try softer pastels or limit your colors to a select few.  In any case, it’s an awesome free crochet pattern and is great for just about any season.  ENJOY!