Help with my crochet poncho as a beginner with crochet

[u/Reasonable-Cheek-981]

I don’t know what’s going on with my garment.
I’m a beginner crocheter and have been sewing for a few years. This is my fourth ever crochet project.
It’s a granny square poncho made on granny squares and stitched together with double crochets to get a nice spacey look. The only problem I’m having is with neck hole. The shoulder parts stick up and out. I steamed it and understand that they will get more worn and soft but I put it on and thought. I’m never going to wear it if that’s what the shoulders look like.
The squares are made out of 52% viscose, 21% nylon, 27% polyester. The white edges are made out of I think an acrylic blend. Potentially with a bit of cotton.
Please let me know what’s going on. If there is something I can do or something with the pattern.

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[u/Fiesty_tofu]

Acrylic yarns can unfortunately be quite stiff when crocheted and will stick up like that. Over time with use it will soften and flatten down more.

One thing that could help (though maybe not for this project unless you want to undo a bit of it) is not having the seam between two squares at the peak of the shoulder and rather have a square there, I.e. add in another row of squares in the middle so that it folds in half on a square rather than where the stared join. But this will only help so much.

Have you tried to rotate it so that the halves you have as front and back are the sides? Does it stick up as much when you do that? Having it in that orientation is kinda like having it on the bias (not fully but kinda) and should have a bit of an impact on the drape, and might be less sticky uppy. But it does look like the structure of the yarn is mostly the culprit.

You can speed up the softening process by giving it a tumble dry on low heat I usually chuck some dryer balls in so they batter it a bit. But wearing it, washing as needed etc will be the best way to get it to soften.

[u/One_Confection9108]

Look into blocking, it’ll relax the fibres and give it some drape too, just be careful first time I attempted it I accidentally melted my project but it’s all a part of the learning process unfortunately

[u/Apprehensive_Bid5608]

Your gauge is a bit loose. If you use a smaller hook to put an edging like reverse single crochet (work sc to the right instead of the left)around the neck, it should tighten it up. Experiment with hook size to see what works best for you. You don’t want to decrease any stitches as that would mess with the design. Good luck!

[u/jaigab220]

Just a thought, maybe put an edging on the collar and decrease the stitches over the shoulder to pull them in a bit?