A Friendship Begins

Isn't it wonderful when people are able to connect through a common interest? Recently, Wendy, from Western Australia, reached out in a Facebook group inquiring what she could make with some Caron Cakes yarn that she had on hand to work with. She had exactly 3 cakes of the yarn and I just knew that a poncho would look awesome in that fiber! I posted about one that I had made using the exact same yarn and put up a photo. Several people had responded, but Wendy immediately decided she would like to make a poncho, so she reached out to me about how I had constructed it. Being that I had made it without the use of a pattern, I was unable to share a link to the original design, as it was in my head. I assured her that I would be happy to help her make a poncho of her own, just like mine, if she was interested. She immediately sent me a friend request on Facebook and away we went.

This is the poncho I had posted about. I made it several years ago when I couldn't resist purchasing a few of the new Cotton Cakes. The colorway used in my poncho is Bumbleberry. Since Wendy had the exact same yarn, and just the right amount, but in a slightly different colorway, she was excited to get started. So our friendship began...

After a few days of messaging back and forth, I was excited to see her poncho begin to take shape. It was looking like an exact copy. The nice thing about having made one already is that I was able to make sure that she didn't make any of the same mistakes that I had made with mine. The slight curve along the center increase, for instance, could have been avoided in my poncho if I had turned my rows after completing each round. So when I was guiding Wendy, I encouraged her to turn her work after each round. 

Communicating through instant messenger proved to work out very well. The only challenge was that Wendy, living in Australia, was in a different time zone. She is always awake while I am sleeping, and visa versa. But, we kind of managed nicely to communicate when we had an overlap in time in which we were both up.

Here are some photos of the poncho as it began to take shape. I am thankful that Wendy felt comfortable sharing her progress photos with me.

The start of the cowl using 80 alternating front and back post double crochet stitches.

This photo shows the start of the poncho body with center increases in front and back.

Her poncho is almost done, and the border is beginning to take shape. I can't wait to see how it looks!

Tah dah! It is done, and it looks just fabulous on her!!

Our friendship has blossomed, and  has been the catalyst for a lovely pocket wrap design that we made simultaneously called the "Friendship Pocket Wrap" which I will post about in the near future.