Turned Hood Revision for
Lion Brand Terryspun Knit Hooded Baby Poncho
By Dawn Adcock
I redesigned the hoods to a "turned-heel" style, since I don't like pointy hoods that much. Just my personal preference. And with this hood version, when you are done knitting it, it's done, no three needle bind off, and no bulky seam running down the middle of the baby's head. Here is how I changed them:
Small size (6 months)
Hood: Do as the original pattern until the hood measures 6” to 6 ½”, ending after completing a wrong side row before beginning turned hood from the right side. You will now be working on the center sts only, decreasing one edge stitch with the center stitches at the end of each row as follows. You are basically doing a big Dutch (square) Heel variation.
(26 sts on needle)
R1) (setup row) K 8, K2tog, K 6, ssk, turn work (8 sts left unworked)
R2) Slip 1 purlwise, P 6, P2tog. turn work
R3) Slip 1 purlwise, K 6, ssk, turn work
Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until there are 2 sts left unworked on each side.
Then finish last 4 rows in garter stitch to match the garter stitch edges of the hood as follows:
Slip 1 purlwise, K 6, K 2tog, turn work
Slip 1 purlwise, K 6, ssk, turn work
Slip 1 purlwise, K 6, K2tog, turn work
Slip 1 purlwise, K 6, ssk, turn work
Slip 1, bind off all stitches (including the first slipped stitch at the beginning)
Secure in the end, being sure to stitch down the last cast off stitch to edge stitch to make a smooth edge.
This variation was done for the small size (6 month) poncho, but I calculated that it would also work for the medium and large sizes if you just do the following change to the first row:
Medium size (28 sts on needle): R1) K 9, K2tog, K 6, ssk, turn work (9 sts left unworked)
Large size (30 sts on needle): R1) K 10, K2tog, K 6, ssk, turn work (10 sts left unworked)
Doing the hoods for the larger sizes this way would just make a slightly deeper hood.
You could also adjust the width of the center of the hood instead by adding the extra stitches to the center ones knit, and have 8 sts left unworked on the edges as done for the small size. For the medium, you would be knitting (and purling) 8 center sts, for the large size, you would be knitting (and purling) 10 center sts. This would make a hood of the same depth as the small size, but wider.
Medium size (28 sts on needle): R1) K 8, K2tog, K 8, ssk, turn work (8 sts left unworked)
Large size (30 sts on needle): R1) K 8, K2tog, K 10, ssk, turn work (8 sts left unworked)
For either method above, you would then continue with Row 2 and finish as written for the small size hood above. The choice of methods is up to you.