Knitting Project: Decreasing Rib Capelet

My lovely and talented friend, Kris, over at Quilted Simple made this lovely capelet and sang the pattern's praises, most importantly to me, that it was a quick and fun to knit. And it was! Here is my finished capelet (which is actually more like a poncho-let), modeled by the talented, beautiful and not yet fully awake, Olivia.



You can find the original pattern here. Like Kris, I made a few modifications, which in my world is usually code for errors, but most of these were actually intentional.

My changes-
I cast on 195 stitches, which is 30 more than the largest size given in the pattern, because I fell in love with a yarn that was smaller (DK weight) than the bulky weight yarn called for in this project, and naturally also used smaller needles, size 8 rather than 10.5. I also made a cowl neck (6 inches long) instead of a turtleneck, and switched all the way up to size 13 needles to make the cowl, because I tend to knit a little tight.

I am so happy with how it came out! Now I can only hope like crazy that this will fit the intended recipient, or in lieu of that maybe her daughter. This paranoia about garments not fitting well has been the chief reason for my long-standing aversion to knitting clothes. If this one goes over well, I may have to rethink my position on that, because this was a really fun project.

Thanks again, Kris, for the inspiration. I hope to someday be half the knitter/mom/superwoman that you are! :)

By the way - I used 2.5 skeins of Cascade Yarns "Eco Duo" undyed baby alpaca/merino yarn in a light brown/natural twist, on a size 8, 40" circular needle, and switched up to a size 13, 24" circular needle for the cowl. This project took me just over 3 days of fairly intense knitting.

P.S. - I finally got my booty in gear and got going on ravelry. This capelet is posted here.