Pooling

Varigated, hand-dyed yarns are beautiful, but they can be tricky to work with: I've found that often the yarn looks one way in the skein, another way when wound in to a ball, and then yet another way when worked up. It's always a surprise, and sometimes not necessarily a good one.

There are different ways of breaking up pooling when you don't want that effect: alternating rows either by working with two different skeins or by working from both ends of the skein; working stripes using a contrasting color; or by working stripes using a contrasting color that is done in garter ridges. The last option has become my favorite: the texture and color of that garter ridge breaks up the pooling and adds visual and tactile interest.

I used this combination in my original swatch for the Garter Ridge Hoodie which is in Petite Purls Back to Basics section:



When I started my 10 in 2010 Shawlette, I found the pooling just terrible, and, falling back on the garter ridge idea, ended up with a shawl that I love:



A very gratifying result that I'll be using again. And again, most likely.