It is no secret that I love ponchos. I love anything that is loose and can be worn draped around the body in many ways. I joke that the style allows me to keep a cozy blanket wrapped around me and still look fabulous! It is an accessory that you can wear to an important event and will want to keep on when you end your day relaxing at home.
These ponchos look great loosely hanging on the body, but you can also use a belt to style your poncho in your own way.
The images above are shown with the model wearing a belt over her poncho. You can also weave your belt into your poncho by making the holes for the belt to go through (shown in this image I found on Pinterest).
This alteration is fairly simply, but if you go this route, you will want to make this decision before you start knitting.
I’m using Sheltered from booklet #362 as my example.
- Determine approximately where on the body you will want the belt holes to go and knit as instructed to that point. You will want to make holes for the belt on the front and on the back (shown in the diagram above).
- To make the holes you will split the fabric, working each side separately with its own ball of yarn for several inches – depending on how wide the belt is that you are planning to wear. Remember that the knitting will stretch quite a bit!
knit fabric separately - Re-join the fabric by knitting across with one yarn & continue pattern as instructed.
without belt 
with belt
Another (even easier) way to make the holes in a poncho is to working a double yo, k2together, and then you’ll drop the second yarn over when you work across the wrong side of the fabric. This creates a fairly big eyelet that would work well for a skinny belt or fabric sash.
If you give it a try, please post the pictures on Ravelry! We’d love to see them.
Emily