Swatching for the Jolie Poncho

Whatever I did to my TikTok algorithm has me seeing a lot about the Jolie Poncho lately, and I too have been bit by the poncho bug. I saw this pattern and I absolutely fell in love with it, but not for me. There is one person in my life I could immediately picture having the sort of elegance to rock the hell out of this poncho. That being said, friends and family, proceed with caution on this blog until December 25th as I begin to spoil Christmas presents for minuscule financial gain.

The pattern calls for an alpaca/wool yarn held together with a strand of silk mohair. I knew right off the bat that’s not what I wanted. What I wanted was the impossible mission of finding a fuzzy yarn that would still be suitable for fringe, and also machine washable. I don’t want to give the chore of hand-washing as a gift. 

I’m pretty sure my exact Google search was “fuzzy machine washable yarn” and I found this Luxury Merino Alpaca Dream yarn by Rico Design. They happened to have some in stock at the Michaels I didn’t know existed out in DeWitt and I ventured the treacherous path down Erie Blvd to acquire some. And I have to rescind some of the gripes I had with Michaels in this post, because this particular location had a much more compelling button section than the Fairmount location, but I digress.

I got one skein in the color Fuchsia to swatch with and figured later I can use that skein for a Sophie Scarf whenever I need a small or easy to start project. I blocked it normally and ended up hitting gauge with the recommended needle size, but I wasn’t going to order it until I gave it a real test in the washer. I put it in a garment bag, threw it in with a load of laundry and regular detergent, and can anyone guess what happened? 

If you said “you had to pry the crumpled swatch away from itself to lay it flat,” you would be correct! Honestly though, it didn’t felt all that bad. At worst, it left me feeling just very unsure. I think I’ve been really trying to love alpaca, because I don’t love mohair and alpaca is soft and a common alternative to getting that halo look, but I’m starting to think I just don’t love the long hairs. This one didn’t shed as badly as I’ve seen, but it’s too hairy. And seeing what happened to the loose ends in the wash, I feared what could happen to a bunch of fringe.

So I thought maybe I don’t want a fuzzy yarn, because even synthetic fuzzy yarns are hand-wash only for the most part. Maybe what I want is a yarn that transforms into fuzzy. Not something super slick and shiny, not something fuzzy and prone to felting, rather something that develops a subtle halo with wash and wear. 

That brought me back to Rico Design, this time to their Luxury Merino Supercash DK. I swear this post is not sponsored by Rico Design, they just happen to make machine-washable, semi-affordable luxury fibers that I can buy within driving distance. It’s an 80/20 blend of merino and cashmere and I was really hoping that 20% cashmere could do something in terms of blooming with wash.

So back down Erie Blvd I went to acquire yet another skein that would still not become the actual poncho. First impressions were that it seemed pretty thin. I first swatched it on the recommended 4mm needles and pretty quickly into it, I knew it was producing too tight of a fabric. Next I swatched with 4.5mm needles and then deliberately blocked my swatches pretty aggressively. I hand-washed them in hot water with regular detergent and manually agitated them. I wanted to see, as quickly and efficiently as possible, if I could get that nice, subtle halo and I absolutely did. That test was enough for me to feel confident ordering 5 cream skeins.

However, I wanted to be sure. It wasn’t feeling like a fair comparison to run the Alpaca Dream through the washing machine and not give the Supercash the same treatment. So I added a tassel of fringe, put it in a garment bag and threw it in with a load of laundry. It didn’t come out quite as perfect as I had hoped, but it also wasn’t bad enough to make me doubt my decision. This was about as rough of a wash as I could have given it: a normal cycle, regular detergent, and a load with towels and other clothes. The swatch itself and the fringe survived okay, but I think the finished poncho will deserve slightly more thoughtful care. I intend on making another swatch at some point to do some more testing before deciding on the actual care directions for this.

For now, I’m still really happy with the Supercash and I think I made the right choice. It gave me the subtle halo without all the long hairs, I like the fabric on 4.5mm needles, and it is officially confirmed to be machine washable. Yarn on the way is always exciting and I can’t wait to start this pattern.

Anyway, here are my swatches: