Relish Poncho

January 27, 2014










I love the versatility of ponchos and capes.  They are perfect for our unusually mild weather this year.  I wore my newest poncho in San Francisco last weekend and it was really all I needed to keep the slight chill away.  While the Churchmouse Easy Folded Poncho is great for a fine drapey yarn, this pattern, Relish by Lisa Richardson is perfect for a bulky yarn.  It's very fun to wear and I love the way it hangs, or rather doesn't hang...the bulkiness of the yarn gives it a charming flattering flair.  I actually knit this twice.  First I made it wider and longer thinking I might like it that way.  But nope.  I studied the model and realized the charm of this pattern is that is just covers the shoulders and upper midriff so it has a kind of bouncy fit.   I re-knit it as written and now love it.  It's made with the new Rowan Kidsilk Amore and is truly gorgeous as anything related to Kidsilk Haze would be.  It's very soft to touch and warm and cozy to wear and surprisingly lightweight.  It has a puffy chainette construction making it "hollow" and therefore lofty and bulky without adding excess weight.   I found Amore very easy to knit with size 13 needles even though the ball band says 15-17.  Large needles are just too uncomfortable for me.  I didn't think gauge would matter too much here anyway and after light blocking my poncho matches the schematics.  It's a super fast project, just a few nights of knitting bliss with mohair and silk.

While there could really be no substitute for this gorgeous yarn, it is quite pricey.  So for this pattern a possible yarn substitute would be Rowan Big Wool.  Big Wool is more dense and wouldn't have quite the same drape but just thinking it might work.

Amore also comes in Amore Shimmer
The Amore Collection by Lisa Richardson
Knitting details on my Ravelry page
Amore Ambassador Collection, one skein free pattern downloads

You can't help but notice the beautiful setting of my photo shoot.  We spent a lovely night in San Francisco at the Hotel Vitale.  Our son works there and comped us a night in their top floor circular suite with panoramic view.  Oh bliss.  Certainly the best hotel room I've ever stayed in.  From our room we had one of the best views in the city, the bay bridge, Treasure Island and the refurbished Ferry Building and sweeping views of the bay.  The weather was so beautiful we sat on our terrace and (I knit) and enjoyed a glass of wine.  We finally forced ourselves to get up and walked and walked along the waterfront popping in and out of shops and just enjoyed being in a beautiful city on a beautiful day.  

The Ferry Building is across the street and houses the most fantastic artisan food stalls.  We came home with wine, chocolate, gluten free brownies, cheese, popcorn, endive, almonds and salami.  Oh, and everything was locally sourced.  That evening we walked across the street to Boulevard and had a phenomenal dinner.  We happened to run into some friends eating at the bar and invited them to come back to our room to enjoy the view of the bay bridge with the fantastic light installation, a huge light show spanning the bridge and right in front of us.  In the end I was loath to sleep and miss any of it.  The next morning our son joined us and ordered breakfast in the room for the three of us.  Good thing, because I just did not want to leave the room and the view.  My son doesn't read my blog but he was such a doll and really made us feel like we were royalty.  The staff couldn't have been nicer.  We were just thrilled to be pampered! It's grand to get away for a night.  Enjoy the pictures below and I have plenty of San Francisco links at the end.



 


Even the tub had a bay view!






 
 






You can't tell from my pictures, but the light installation is so beautiful!  The lights are constantly moving.



We woke up to a pretty sunrise.



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6 Comments

  1. Oh, gorgeous! What an enviable trip!

    With some enabling from your blog, I splurged on my first skeins of Kidsilk Haze recently. I got three skeins in coral, red, and burgundy, which I'm going to use for a basic gradient loop scarf. :)

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  2. Beautiful blog, beautiful city, beautiful hotel.

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  3. I left my heart in San Francisco.

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  4. Lovely photos of the Ferry Building, I really felt as if I were there in person! Ah, Boccalone, how I love their lonza and prosciutto. :-) What a wonderful time you must have had, all thanks to your son. I enjoyed vicariously sharing the experience through your gorgeous photos.

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