Eloelai Rita Ruana

As a lover of ponchos I was initially hesitant about creating a ruana pattern because I thought they weren't really 'my thing'. I decided to go for it after looking at many different designs and picking my favourite aspects of each. I like the blanket-like size of ruanas, and also the practicality of having your arms fully free; with a poncho you are more limited in your movements. I have seen some fairly open-weave designs, which were not for me as I wanted something capacious and cosy. This ruana is designed to be big and closely woven enough to see you through really cold wintry outings. I've named it after my mum, who passed her love of crochet - and ponchos - on to me, and would have loved to know her name was being used for this.

NB If you need to make this larger/smaller (I am around 5'8 tall and a UK size 14) you can add/remove rows. E.g., only do 5 repeats of the tr/dc rows, or do 8 for a longer garment. Stitch-wise, you need multiples of 4, so you can add/remove as necessary.