Valley Yarns Lady Alice Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Lady Alice Ruana Poncho

What Is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Lady Alice is an open-front ruana-style poncho designed by Susan Baron. A ruana is a versatile layering piece that combines the warmth and comfort of a poncho with an elegant open-front design. This particular design features a distinctive mosaic border pattern that adds visual interest while remaining accessible to knitters at the advanced beginner skill level. The finished garment is available in three size ranges: XS/S/M with a finished width of 24 inches and length of 27½ inches, L/XL/2X with a width of 29 inches and length of 29½ inches, and 3XL/4XL/5XL with a width of 34 inches and length of 33¼ inches, accommodating bust sizes from 28 to 62 inches.

Techniques Used

The Lady Alice employs several intermediate knitting techniques that create its distinctive construction and appearance. The garment is worked flat rather than in the round, allowing for easier pattern work and shaping. The piece is constructed from four separate panels—two for the back and two for the front—each worked sideways to create the horizontal mosaic pattern effect. This sideways construction method allows the mosaic design to flow naturally across the width of each panel.

The panels are joined using a three-needle bind-off technique at the center back, which creates a strong, flexible seam that can accommodate the garment's drape. A garter stitch hem is knit perpendicular to the main panels, adding a finished edge and structural element. The garment features a functional closure created with an I-cord button loop worked on double-pointed needles, paired with a button for fastening. All pieces are seamed together to create the final garment, and the finished piece is blocked to achieve proper gauge and shape.

Stitches Used

The Lady Alice incorporates several fundamental knitting stitches combined in strategic ways. Stockinette stitch forms the primary fabric of the garment, creating a smooth, classic knit surface that showcases the yarn's soft qualities. Garter stitch appears in multiple locations: as the side borders on each panel, as the finishing border on the front panels, and as the perpendicular hem that edges the garment opening. The signature design element is created through a mosaic pattern, which uses color work techniques to create geometric designs without the complexity of traditional fair isle or stranded colorwork. The mosaic pattern is worked over 24 rows and uses two colors—the main color and a contrasting color—carried along as the pattern progresses, simplifying the color-work process for knitters.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Lady Alice is designed to be knit with Valley Yarns Hardwick, a luxurious blend of 50% baby alpaca, 35% wool, and 15% silk. This fiber combination creates a soft, squishy fabric that provides exceptional warmth and comfort on cool days. The yarn is available in 100-gram hanks with 164 yards per hank. The pattern requires 5 to 9 hanks of the main color (MC) depending on size, with the sample shown in Deep Ocean (color 14). An additional 2 to 3 hanks of the contrasting color (CC) in Rust (color 06) are needed for the mosaic border pattern.

Knitting needles required include US size 8 (5.0 mm) needles in 32 to 40 inches for the main fabric, selected based on the knitter's gauge. A spare US size 8 needle is needed for the three-needle bind-off joining technique. US size 7 (4.5 mm) double-pointed needles are used for working the I-cord button loop. Additional materials include a tapestry needle for weaving in ends and seaming, stitch markers including four locking stitch markers for pattern tracking, a 1½-inch button, and needle and thread matching the contrasting color for attaching the button. The pattern is worked to a gauge of 18 stitches and 24 rows over 4 inches in stockinette stitch on the larger needles, blocked.