I always wanted to crochet a poncho with a cowl that also could be pulled up and used as a hood. So I did it! I was going through a bout of depression and needed a project to keep my mind and hands busy.
I did take quick notes just incase it came out perfect and I wanted to write it up in the future.
But…. I didn’t like how the shoulders came out on it.
So I decided not to release it as a pattern, but I did share pictures of my finished cowl on social media.
I got great comments about how much they loved it and how they really wished there was a pattern. I told them that I would try to make one for the stitch pattern, but I wasn’t sure I would ever do one for the whole thing.
My husband reminded me of something I had forgotten. He reminded me that in the past when I would only find a picture of something that I really wanted to try to make, that I would look for anything that would help me achieve it! This is how I made my first Crochet flower Purse.
So in that spirit, I wrote down and tried to make a clear as I could, pattern for you to hopefully be able to make one of these yourself!
Because I am using photos to show my work, I want to break these pages into two for quicker load time. This is part 1, be sure to see part 2 here.
Find more Ponchos and shawls here on my site on the category Ponchos and Shawls
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Tube Poncho with Cowl Hood Crochet Pattern
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For this project you will need:
HOOK: 4 mm hook or size G hook for the US
YARN: I used a Yarn cake from YarnArt cake Content: 55% Organic Cotton 45% Anti Pilling Acrylic
- Ball Weight: 250 g (8.8 oz)
- Yarn Weight: 1 : Fingering or 2 ply AU
- Yarn Length: 1000 m (1093 yd)
I used a Yarn cake from YarnArt “rosegarden” yarn, color 307 Each Yarn cake is 1000 meters and I used 1 and a half cakes to make this poncho.
ABBREVIATIONS
(click on link to find tutorials)
ch = Chain
sl st = Slip Stitch
sts = Stitches
DC = Double Crochet
SCFS = Single Crochet foundation stitch
FPDC = Front Post Double Crochet
BPDC = Back Post Double Crochet
beg = beginning
YO = Yarn over
Repeat what’s in between * for rest of round.
Because this isn’t a perfect step by step pattern, you will need to be a bit more advanced to attempt this. I don’t recommend this pattern for a beginner.
THE VIDEO TUTORIALS:
RIGHT HANDED VERSION
LEFT HANDED VERSION
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To Start the poncho
I SCFS 180 and this measured 56 inches or 142 cms long. So this is a large size.
Connect to the beginning ch to form a ring. This ring should be big enough around to fit the person around the shoulders / breast area.
If you want to make a smaller size, just make sure your ending number is an EVEN one for the stitch pattern to work.
Be sure to measure yourself or person and adjust chain size as needed.
This stitch is in multiples of 4 so keep this in mind for your finished count.
TIP – To help make your life easier, I recommend stopping and placing a marker in every 50 stitches so you won’t lose your place as easy when your doing a stitch count.
Round 1 of Poncho
Ch 2 (the ch 2 will count as your first st)
DC in the next 179 sts. (180 sts total)
To end: sl st in beg ch 2
Round 2 of Poncho
Ch 1 and FPDC on the beg ch 2 from the previous round.
FPDC on your next post as well.
*BPDC on the post’s of the next 2 DC’s.
FPDC on the post’s of the next 2 DC’s *
You should end your round with 2 BPDC’s.
To End: Sl st in the beg FPDC to end your round
Rounds 3 – 6 of Poncho
Ch 1 and FPDC on the beg FPDC.
FPDC on 2nd FPDC of row.
*BPDC on the next 2 BPDC’s, FPDC on the next 2 FPDC’s*
To End: Sl st in the beg FPDC to end your round
Round 7 of Poncho
The next two rows we use to create the border row.
Ch 2 (the ch 2 will count as your first st)
DC in the next 179 sts. (180 sts total)
To end: sl st in beg ch 2
Round 8 of Poncho
Ch 1 and BPDC on the beg ch 2 from the previous round.
BPDC on rest of 179 sts. (180 sts total)
Now go back to round 1 and DC in all stitches. You want to repeat rounds 1 – 8 until your 1st skien is used up.
My skein’s center is brown. So when my skein ended on the white. I slip stitches to end my row and flipped my piece over to the brown and grabbed my next skein.
Now this is where I created my shoulder. I’m not happy about the way I did it, and this is why I didn’t want to release this pattern at all.
But I decided I’ll just tell you what I did and you can decide for yourself how you wish to change it up. I’ll also share with you how I “fixed” the shoulder to make it look better.
So now that I pivoted my piece over to my brown side / bottom side.
Lay your piece down flat. Move your starting line / starting stitch to the side, it hides the ugly look of the beginning stitch so you don’t see and it makes both sides look pretty.
Now counting from the fold to toward the middle. Count over 20 sts and place a marker in the 20th st. Place the marker through both the front and back so it holds your piece together.
The count over 51 sts and place a marker in the 51st stitch. Count your remaining stitches and you should have 20 on the other side as well. The middle 50 stitches will be your head hole.
I used Single Crochets I sew up my shoulders.
It’s important that your leave a bit of a tail of this yarn on the collar side, because once you start the cowl collar, there is a little hole that will form on the shoulders and you can use this tail to close the hole up. I will show you later in the pattern what I mean. For now, you see the right picture below that I have a long tail. This is what I used to sew later. You may need to use this tail more than once so leave a long enough one!
Now this is what I didn’t like about this pattern and why I didn’t want to release it at all. After you sew up your shoulders it will leave a very clear TIP or point on the shoulders. You can see it easier when you put the poncho on. I almost thought to dangle pompoms from them but decided against it!
So what I did to fix this was to use the same method as I do with my Simple crochet bootie pattern for the ankles. I folded the tip inward in a T shape and sewed them up as best I could. I did this from the INSIDE so flip your piece inside out before sewing!
It did help, but over all it looks sloppy. I recommend if you’re an advance crocheter, that you just decrease rows until you reach the neck hole size you need. I just didn’t want to make it overly tube like at the neck section so it had more of a cowl look.
Like I said, to each his own. I wish I had a better way for you, but I don’t. I’d love to hear your idea’s though. Hit me up on social media with your ideas and I’ll pass them along to everyone else.
Anyway, now that uncomfortable part is over….let’s start on the cowl portion on this project shall we?
Okay I had you mark over 50 stitches for the hole space, giving us a total of 100 stitches going around (50 + 50 = 100)
Compare your shoulders and make sure they look the same! Make adjustments if you need, but keep the total stitch an EVEN number.
Row 1 of Cowl
So attach your color onto your collar section (just somewhere in one of those 100 sts) and ch 1. BPDC in all your stitches around.
When you come to a side where the shoulder is sewn you make notice it leaves a bit of a hole. This is where I used those tails to sew those holes closed, as you can see by the picture. Make sure NOT to cut the tails because you may need them again later!
Row 2 of Cowl – DC in all your stitches around.
This row is an important one to insure your stitches work out for the next row.
The idea is to end your row with the opposite stitch so that it lines up. I think somehow I was off by a stitch or two so I added a few Double crochet stitches on my shoulder seam sections to make up for it.
It also helped to fill in that area so that I didn’t have a gap there anymore. By the end of the row I had 104 stitches. But if it worked out perfect for you then don’t touch it! Just use your tails that are still there to sew up any gap that you may have left there later on.
It’s a good idea before starting row 3 that you do a quick run through count. Do this someplace quietly so you don’t get interrupted LoL
Use markers too if you need.
Remember you will need 2 FPDC’s and 2 BPDC’s. Your last two stitches of your round should be BPDC’s if your first 2 stitches are FPDC’s. You can use the picture below to see how you will need to align your stitches up to what you’ve done before.
Row 3 of Cowl
Now it’s time to look below at your stitch pattern. You want to align the pattern as much as you can so that it all looks the same.
So if you need to start with a FPDC section:
then ch 2 for your first stitch and FPDC in the next, then *BPDC in your next 2 sts, and FPDC in your next 2* Just like we were doing before on our poncho.
And if you need to start with a BPDC section:
then ch 1 and BPDC on your BPDC from last row. BPDC on your next stitch as well. Then *FPDC on your next 2 sts, then BPDC on the next 2 * Just like we were doing before on our poncho.
Rounds 4 – 8 of Cowl
You want to continue to ch 1 and FPDC in your 2 FPDC’s and BPDC in your 2 BPDC’s, slip stitching into your beginning FPDC/BPDC when you reach the end of your round.
Round 9 of Cowl
The next two rounds we’ll use to create the border row.
Ch 2 (the ch 2 will count as your first st)
DC in the next 103 sts. (104 sts total)
To end: sl st in beg ch 2
Round 10 of Cowl
Ch 1 and BPDC on the beg ch 2 from the previous round.
BPDC on rest of 103 sts.(104 sts total)
- Repeat rounds 3 – 10 two more times,
- then repeat rounds 3 – 8 once more but stop on round 9 because we will be increasing.
Lay your poncho down again and mark both sides of the neck. Those marked areas will be where you will do your increases.
So let’s repeat Round 9 but with increases.
DC in all your stitches except for the stitch until you reach your marker.
You will do TWO Double Crochets into the marked stitch to increase there. Do this for your next marker too.
This will give you a total of 4 new sts added. (108 sts now)
Repeat of round 10
Ch 1 and BPDC on the beg ch 2 from the previous round.
BPDC on rest of the 107 sts of the round. (108 sts total)
After you’ve done your two border rounds, like before we’ll need to back up to round 4 again to begin the stitch repeat. So let’s continue..
Repeat of rounds 4 – 8
You want to continue to ch 1 and FPDC’s in your FPDC’s and BPDC in your 2 BPDC’s, slip stitching into your beginning FPDC/BPDC when you reach the end of your round.
More Increasing
Then once you’ll get back to your DC row border round again (round 9) You will be increasing again. Lay your piece down again and re mark your sides just like we did before.
Repeat of round 10
Remember to put 2 DCs in each of the marked stitches next round for a total of 4 more sts added. At the end of the round you’ll have 116 sts total.
Even More Increasing
Then again repeat rounds 4 – 8 again until your DC row where you will add your markers back and add 4 more sts for a total of 120 sts.
This is where you test it on yourself. I kept pulling up the cowl over my head until it came out over the roof of my head as far as I wanted comfortably. Sorry I don’t have a picture of this. Please send me one of you if you make one!
Feel free to keep increasing again if you want yours to be a deeper hood.
This picture below is a bit blurry but it seems to be the only one that I’ve got of the poncho laying flat after it’s finished. I thought you’d want to see it even if it was a bit blurry.
That’s it! I hope it helped you make one for yourself. Best wishes, stay safe out there!
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