Rowan Solar Poncho Cape Knitting Pattern

Rowan Solar Poncho by Martin Storey

What is Being Made

The Rowan Solar Poncho is a seamless, worked-in-the-round knitted cape designed to fit bust sizes 81-97 cm and 102-117 cm. This garment features a poncho silhouette with a lower edge circumference of 155.5 cm or 180 cm depending on size. The design combines textured ribbing at the lower edge with stranded colorwork patterning in the upper sections, creating a sophisticated layering piece.

Techniques Used

This poncho is constructed using several advanced knitting techniques. The garment is worked bottom-up and entirely in the round, eliminating the need for seaming. The construction begins with a ribbed cuff worked on circular needles, then transitions to stockinette stitch before incorporating stranded colorwork using the fairisle technique. The pattern includes strategic decreasing worked at specific intervals to shape the poncho. The designer provides flexibility in needle choice, allowing knitters to use either traditional double-pointed needles or the magic loop technique on a single circular needle when transitioning to smaller circumferences.

Stitches Used

• Ribbing: K2, P2 rib worked for 11 rounds at the lower edge to create a textured, elastic cuff
• Stockinette stitch: Continuous knit rounds (st st) form the base fabric throughout the main body
• Decreases: K2tog (knit two together) decreases are worked strategically, including decreases worked within fairisle pattern repeats and additional decreases spaced at 10-round intervals
• Fairisle patterning: An 18-stitch pattern repeat worked across rounds using the stranded colorwork technique, repeated 19 or 20 times per round depending on size

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Rowan Solar Poncho is designed to be knitted using Rowan Alpaca Soft DK, a delicate yarn blend suitable for detailed colorwork. The yarn palette includes four colors: Rainy Day (color 210, requiring 5 x 50gm balls), Hunter Green (color 214, requiring 1-2 x 50gm balls depending on size), Clover (color 215, requiring 1 x 50gm ball), and Autumn Gold (color 220, requiring 1 x 50gm ball).

The pattern requires two sizes of needles to accommodate the changing stitch counts. Knitters begin with a 3¼mm (US 3) circular needle measuring 100 cm (40 inches) long for the initial cast-on and ribbed sections. The work then transitions to a 4mm (US 6) circular needle, also 100 cm (40 inches) long, for the stockinette and fairisle sections. A set of four double-pointed 3¼mm (US 3) needles and a set of four double-pointed 4mm (US 6) needles are listed as alternatives for knitters who prefer traditional DPN construction or who need smaller needles as the circumference decreases significantly through the upper patterned sections.