29 September 2015

Is it a cape?

Someone over on a Ravelry forum asked what made my Caught in the Rigging cape a cape rather than a poncho (and thinking about what makes a poncho led me on to wonder about serapes). To be honest, I just thought it seemed more like a cape. Didn't really give it a ton of thought at the time. But the question got me wondering...


Well, that's not hugely helpful, is it? And I'm not sure I needed to know the verb definition of cape.

Construction-wise, I think of a cape as not-a-poncho, and a poncho as something with corners. The first large-scale project I ever knit was a poncho from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting, which was a big rectangle that you poncho-ized by sewing one short end to the bottom of one of the long sides. It ends up with only one pointy bit (corner), but it definitely qualifies. I've seen other ponchos where you sew two rectangles together leaving a slit in the middle for your head. Or you could even knit a square with a hole in the middle.

All these poncho ideas seem to me to have come out of the serape when someone got tired of wrapping the rectangle of fabric around themselves and just sewed it mostly shut.

For me a cape is something that fits more closely to the body. Caught in the Rigging came out of a simpler idea (still on the design to-do list) which I dubbed "Morningside Cape":

Yeah, Elsa's rockin' a little cape/swatch/prototype
The thing about both of these capes is that they are shaped in the yoke to sit better on the shoulders and fit the body more closely. Some days I might want a drapey, flowing thing to wear, but generally I prefer something with a closer fit.

Looking at the definition for cape again, I want to design some tippets and capelets next :)

What do you think? Is Caught in the Rigging a cape or a poncho? Let me know in the comments or come over to the Ravelry group. We can discuss it in this thread.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo, 

3 comments:

  1. I think a cape is something that wraps around and has a clasp or closing but does not completely encircle the wearer. Like a superhero cape. A poncho has only one opening, the neck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think a cape is something that wraps around and has a clasp or closing but does not completely encircle the wearer. Like a superhero cape. A poncho has only one opening, the neck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's interesting! I see what you're saying. In that case, Caught in the Rigging is a poncho, just a round one :) Clearly I've been focused on shape more than function...

      Delete

what do you think?