Green & Gold - Further Adventures in Planned Pooling

So, I've started another scarf - this time in the Oakland A's colors. I wanted to make a slightly wider and shorter scarf than the last one, so I experimented with more than 50 stitches. I thought I might be able to force vertical stripes, so I started in the middle of a green section with 52 stitches.

But instead I got what the pooling planner predicted I would get if I started at the beginning of a yellow section. The good news is that the pattern is remarkable uniform.

 

Pooling Update

Well, I wasn't happy with the way the pattern was going, so I measured the color runs on the second skein and tried again. Here's the Planned Pooling calculation for that skein:

So I cast on and started knitting:

I liked that much better, so I did more calculations on the first skein, and found that 46 stitches worked well with it, too, so I'll start over again.

As I'm going along, the pattern is changing because the color segments aren't equal throughout each skein. But I'm hoping that the variation will just add interest to the finished scarf. Otherwise, I'll have to change the project entirely. Hitchhiker and Trillian are two options, especially since there are good examples of what the sports teams colors look like in those patterns.

It's not as easy as it looks...

Well, the pooling/patterning is getting out of control again. The segments of color aren't exactly 54/47 stitches, and it was okay for awhile but now it looks weird to me. Do I keep going? Or should I try it again with the second skein?

It seems like the color segments don't stay the same length throughout the skein, and now they are about equal. That makes the piece stripe one row each color. Argh!

Getting Your Pooling to Behave

It’s all about where you start. On my first attempt, I cast on at the start of the orange and it didn’t create the pattern I expected. But I used this first try to determine the number of stitches in a black section (47) and the number of stitches in an orange section (54).

48 stitches on US 4 needles, cast on at beginning of orange

I used plannedpooling.com to figure out the right number of stitches to cast on but you have to start knitting where the colors begin. If you’re off by even a little bit, the pooling won’t work. Then I used a long tail cast on to ensure I would start knitting at the beginning of a black section.

1. Determine the number of stitches in each color section.
2. Use a long-tail cast on to ensure you start in the right place.
3. Use plannedpooling.com to play around with the possibilities.

48 stitches on US 5, long tail cast on to beginning of black

 Some of the difference can be attributed to changing the needle size, but it's mostly about whether you start the cast on at the beginning of a color or whether you start knitting at the beginning of a color.

Frost Flower Scarf

This scarf is supposed to be a gift for a friend who is wool-sensitive. Rowan's linen/silk blend Silkystones is beautiful and wool-free. The great thing about this pattern is that is doesn't require grafting to halves together; the lace pattern looks the same at both ends!

Classic Elite Does It Again

I like Catawampus from Classic Elite #1406 "All Seasons." It is a very creative way to use several single skeins of fingering weight yarn in one statement-making project.

This week, the Classic Elite Web-Letter features another project (this time a free pattern) that uses several single skeins in different colors for a simple but dramatic cowl.

Go Sharks! Scarf

I've been wanting to make a scarf using linen stitch lengthwise, and when I saw the "Jaws" colorway of Lorna's Laces, I decided to make one using Sharks team colors. In addition to Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in "Jaws," I used Stonehedge Shepherd's Wool DK in Natural and O-Wool Classic 2-Ply in Black. I used this Linen Stitch Scarf pattern by Matthew Hesson-McInnis

Go Sharks! Scarf

The pattern says that the scarf takes a total of 500 yards. There are about 200 yards of the Sharks colorway, 200 yards of Sheperd's Wool, and 130 yards of O-Wool Classic 2-Ply so I worked out the following color sequence:
Row 1: Jaws
Row 2: White
Row 3: Black
Row 4: Jaws
Row 5: Black
Row 6: Jaws
Row 7: White
Row 8: Black
Row 9: Jaws
Row 10: Black

Mini Mochi Scarf

Fun knit with very little finishing. No blocking and only minimal trimming of ends; you work in the ends as you pick up to knit the mitered squares. Mini Mochi's color changes are long enough that they are almost long enough for an individual square. The three colorways I used had a lot of colors in common, so the finished scarf is not as strikingly striped or colored as it could have been. But the colors blend well together.

Mini Mochi wasn't all that great to knit with, though. It splits and gets fuzzy...don't think I would use it again.

Anacapa Scarf

Love the yarn, love the pattern. Has a lovely rhythm to the knitting that is similar to knitting lace. The yarn is quite beautiful, too. I had to buy a third ball to complete, but it was from the same dyelot! I bought the original yarn on our trip to Ventura and the Channel Islands. Finally found a pattern that I felt worked with the yarn. "Wave Scarf" from 60 Quick Knits. The colors remind me of the colors of the ocean and the islands.