Customer Reviews

Viva Poncho: Twenty Ponchos and Capelets to Knit

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For anyone else who is confused by the plethora of new "poncho" knitting books, hopefully my efforts will help you with your decision. I spent a considerable time in a couple of bookstores and local yarn stores in an attempt to select which poncho pattern books were the best. Having scoped out what I believe is everything on the current market, this one is definitely the best. Why? Well, there is a whole range of styles and designs. In addition, the patterns, while of varying levels, are easy to follow. This is the only one of the poncho books where, for me, the hardest decision is which one to knit -- there are several that I would love to have for this fall.

When I received this book, I found a number of patterns I wanted to make. My first choice was Eudora (page 110). It went pretty well until I got to row 41. I'm not a very experienced knitter (mostly scarves until recently), but it was pretty obvious to me that there was a mistake in the pattern. I sent emails to the publisher and the authors. I never heard from the authors, but today I received a reply from the publisher - there are corrections at: vivaponcho dot com. So beware - this book has mistakes.

Right now, ponchos are everywhere-from the runway to the local movie theater-and the timing couldn't be better for all those knitters who joined the craze in the last few years and are ready to move beyond scarves. For those new knitters who want to enhance both their knitting repertoire and their wardrobe-and for seasoned pros looking for fun new projects-Christina Stork and Leslie Barbazette have created Viva Poncho, a collection of 20 poncho patterns for all levels of knitters.

The book is divided into three parts-one-piece, two-piece, and capelets. You'll find patterns for big, airy ponchos on huge needles, cozy ponchos to keep you warm when the weather gets chilly, and lacy capelets to accent your favorite strappy dress. The authors use drawings and charts along with the usual instructions to make patterns as understandable as possible. They also explain techniques that may be new to more novice knitters, using plenty of pictures to illustrate. For knitters who are looking to go beyond the pattern to add their own special touches, Stork and Barbazette also include tips and suggestions for adding hoods, fringe, and cowl necks-as well as changing yarns and playing with color-to individualize any design.

If you're searching for a pattern for a poncho, capelet, or serape (though I often have a hard time telling the difference), Viva Poncho has them all. There are ponchos for every occasion, every season, and every skill level. There's even a poncho for your pooch. Though the patterns and styles are sometimes a bit repetitious, there are still plenty of unique designs to thrill any poncho lover. So if you're looking for ponchos, look no further than Viva Poncho.

This book has much to recommend it--nice designs, a confident, can-do attitude that encourages knitters to modify the patterns, and generally easy-to follow instructions. "Viva Ponchos" is obviously aimed at the "Stitch and Bitch" generation of knitters and at those who are relatively new to the craft. It tries to be as unintimidating as possible, to the point of listing for each piece the techniques needed to complete it. That part is good.

I can't, however, give the book higher marks because the patterns are missing one very important element--namely row gauge. Not a single pattern has any comment on how many rows to an inch the knitter should be aiming for. Row gauge affects the finished length of the piece and if it's substantially different than the designers, it can affect shaping and fit. In unshaped patterns, row gauge probably doesn't matter so much, but in some of the shaped patterns it may. If nothing else, it will affect the finished length of the piece. In some cases, it could also affect the amount of yarn you need to buy--every row knit takes more yarn and if you knit more rows per inch than the designer, that mean you'll need additional yarn. If you're really unlucky, that may mean you need an extra skein of yarn to finish your project (Having run out of yarn on a few too many projects, this is a pet peeve of mine.) Even a comment somewhere in the introductory materials about row gauge and it's importance or lack of importance in these designs would have been helpful. But I didn't see any.

Also, a discussion of sizing whould have been helpful. Ponchos and capes are mostly one-size-fits-all, but plus-size women might have problems with some of the shaped designs, depending on how closely they're designed to fit. Ready-made ponchos frequently come in sizes for this reason. With the designs in "Viva Ponchos," however, you have to go on the assumption that the garments will fit. As a plus-size woman, that seems like a shot in the dark to me. I wish that the authors had included some information on the size range their designs were intended to fit.

I have a few more minor quibbles, but these are largely a matter of pattern writing style. There were a few designs in which a chart of the main pattern stitch might have been helpful. Some knitters hate charts, but some prefer them because charts present a more visual image of what the end result should be. It would have been nice to have a choice of what to follow.


Nonetheless, I'm about to start a project from this book (a shaped design of course). The proof is in the pudding, so we'll see how it turns out.

If you like ponchos and you want some quick, easy knits that you can do in front of the TV, this is the book for you. Nothing in here seems too taxing or complicated, even for a newbie. There are multiple photographs of each design, so you can see the ponchos from different angles and even on different models. And there are patterns for all seasons -- breezy, flowing wraps for the warmer months and thicker, cozy ones for cooler climes . . . That's important to me as a knitter in the South, where clunky woolen garments are of limited utility. This book was a good purchase.

This book has great 'do-able' patterns and wonderful photography. I love to just flip through it for inspiration. A few of the patterns are a little too funky for real life, but most of them are very wearable with very clear instruction and little tips in the margins. The is the BEST book I've found for ponchos!

Viva Poncho, that's a clever title guaranteed to sucker male knitters in, with its bilingual pun on a popular old fashioned Spanish phrase still current in many parts of California at least (don't know how this book will do in Middle America, where Spanish is less spoken). Anyhow I sat down with the book and breezed through the attractive pages looking for a cool weather poncho for the cold San Francisco summer nights. There are plenty of outdoor events which take place late into the night, say, the recent fireworks at Crissy Field, and why not dress warmly with a newly knitted poncho? Lucinda Williams came and gave a free concert in Golden Gate Park, and I wasn't the only guy there wearing a decorated poncho in honor of Barbazette and Stork's new guide.

It was a great idea to hire David Verba to do the photos. He's famous for his Western photos of desert stretches and big throbbing moon shots, no one since John Ford has made Monument Valley look so good. But here in the knit department he does a good job, makes you look twice, expecting to see salamanders gliding across the model's boot.

The real reason ponchos are so popular among knitters is, there's practically nothing you can do that will go wrong. No amount of dropped stritches are going to make the poncho look deformed or like anything else but what it is, a sort of rhomboid shape with a hole for your head to poke through. VIVA PONCHO has many of these, though some are clearly designed for women and few men, even in our liberated San Francisco, are going to wear some of the capelets in the book. In fact one or two of them no one but a runway model could wear without looking like an idiot. They're "too" stylish if such a thing might be and you know it might for sure!

No matter if you prefer mohair or alpaca, or just yarn from Marks and Spencer, you'll find something to make. Now boys get out those needles and set off some sparks!

Good book, for knitting ponchos, though a lot of them were merely variations of others in the book. There are only a few capelet patterns, so beware, capelet lovers! There are no crocheting patterns in this book.

The photography is very nice; I spent a summer in Santa Cruz, so I recognized the area! Each section of the book tries to teach the knitter to do a new skill, so if your skills aren't amazing, this would be a good book to hone them -- especially if you like ponchos!

I was very glad I got this book. Very good price along with nice designs and easy ponchos exactly what I wanted. I've already done one with a substitute yarn (it's very difficult to find the yarn specified in my country). So I always substitute not only for this book but for all of the the american books I've ordered from amazon and so far without any trouble.

I love this little book. The projects are diverse from simple and quick to complex. It is written so that it would be easy to convert to any yarn of similar weight. After the first review I earmarked 6 projects I would love to try.

I had the great fortune of learning to knit shawls under the tutelage of Joanne Schroeder who is one of the foremost knitters of shawls. As an accomplished shawl knitter, I found this book exciting for the variety of projects from easy and quick to complex and with a great variety of yarn weights. Fifteen years ago when I began knitting there were very few yarns appropriate for the warm weather of Oregon. This book shows ponchos and capelets appropriate for all environments.

The directions are straightforward and easy to understand. Excellent photography.

This would make a great book for shawl enthusiasts, beginners, and anyone looking for projects that tend to be free from sizing and careful shaping.