Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge -- my final report

I've had so much fun with Judy's Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge! I enjoy knitting socks and have tons of sock yarn in my stash, but it'd been forever since I cast on a pair. And there were some yarns I'd avoided using because, based on my previous experience with those yarn lines, I was afraid that they'd pool.

I'm not a fan of pooling yarn, but Judy issued the challenge and I had yarn that I was sure would pool, so it seemed like a great excuse to cast one some socks and see what  I could come up with.

The first pair, after a false start with the first foot, did exactly what I thought it would do.  The colors pooled and spiraled and did all of the interesting things Dancing did the first time I knitted socks with it. Here are the details for this pair, including my picture of the yarn on the March 2013 calendar page.

 

The pair I knit with Knitpicks Zinnia didn't pool at all.

 

And neither did the pair I knit from Knitpicks New England Foliage.

But I've got three brand new pairs of socks, and a fourth pair half done.  I've sorted through all of my sock yarn stash and pulled out my sock knitting books and made lots of plans for upcoming pairs. Like I said, this was FUN!

pooling sock yarn challenge - the dancing pair

It seemed so easy. Cast on a pair of socks with some of that yarn that I'd buried in my stash because I just knew it was going to pool and finish 'em for Judy's pooling sock yarn challenge.

And the first pair was easy. The first sock didn't pool at all in the foot, but by the time I got to the ribbing, it was doing the striping within the pools thing that made me hide the yarn away in the first place.  I knit the second pair from the outside of the skein, and the foot pooled.

The yarn is Knitpicks Dancing, a sproingy blend of cotton, wool, nylon, and other. I love the feel of this yarn and stashed every color before they discontinued it. Sock yarn used to be cheaper. Knit on size 0 Clover bamboo dpns, 72 stitches, toe-up, short row heel...

Seriously -- how does yarn do this? Perfect single row striping within the pool. I could never in a million years do that on purpose.

 

I'm working on three more pairs, in yarn line that I was warned would pool, that has pooled when I've knitted with it before, and is it pooling? No such luck!  

{Yarn Along} six inches of sock cuff

The first of my pooling sock yarn challenge socks is finished. That's the first sock, not the first pair. Now I've got to do it all over again and hope the yarn pools the same way!  I've got another sock almost done, but that's in the yarn that didn't pool.

 

Six inches is far longer than I ever knit cuffs on my socks, but I wanted to play and those are the rules. (It also takes a lot longer to knit six inches when you've switched tools and are actually measuring it with a 6 1/2" quilting square.)

 

I love the yarn, love the sock, and can't stand the needles I'm using. They're too flimsy, too long (am I the only one who stabs myself in the wrist when I'm working with long dpns?), and as soon as I'm done with this project, I'm retiring them.

From now on, I'm sticking with 6" double points for my socks.

 

 

 

The book is Deadly Row to Hoe, the latest Home Crafting Mystery by Cricket McRae. I've really enjoyed this series and hope there's another one coming soon. I'd like to read more about Sophie Mae and her extended family.  

For more fun knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

{yarn along} brighter!

After all of the dark stuff I've been reading this week, I decided that maybe it was time to find something just a little more cheerful. I've got a whole stack of cozy murder mysteries to choose from, but my choice is probably going to be based on what's due at the library first.  The socks are cutting down on my reading time.

 

The new sock is knit up to halfway point of the short row heel and there's not the slightest hint of pooling or flashing. Which leaves me with the mystery of what it'll do once I start the ribbing...

 

I'd lost all hope for the first pair as a challenge entry, but look at the pretty pooling and that one bit of striping action! Another inch and a half of binding and it's time to start the second sock...and then I'm retiring this set of needles. They're too long and too bendy and not slick enough.

 

For more fun knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

pooling sock yarn update

The pooling sock yarn challenge may be a problem for me -- there are about half a dozen other quilty things I intended to be working on today, but sitting in my comfy recliner and knitting endless round of stockinette while watching Perry Mason reruns and waiting to see how the colors will fall is awfully tempting.

Attempt #1 has been a bit of a failure. Or not. Depends on how you look at it. I was SO sure this yarn would pool and flash and do all of the same antics as the other pair I knit from that line. But it behaved just the way I hoped it would when I originally bought the yarn six or seven years ago.

That'd be a good thing if I wasn't trying to knit socks for Judy's challenge.

Then, just after I decided to finish this sock and cast on another pair with one of my other yarn choices, I started to get the results I'd expected --  

 
This is the first pair I knit with that brand of yarn. (It's also the reason I switched to lace socks knit with solid yarn.) The pooling in the picture above is pretty. This one makes my eyes hurt. The yarn is Knitpicks Dancing, no color names on the ball bands, and I'm using size 0 Clover bamboo needles.

 

 

 This morning I cast on with one of the other yarns I pulled from my stash. It's Knitpicks Sock Garden in  Zinnia and yes, it really is that bright. I'm knitting on size 2 (I think) Harmony needles.  The last pair I knit with a different colorway of this yarn, it pooled a bit.  

 

I figure I've got time to knit a pair or two, and I've definitely got yarn in my stash that I think will do something interesting. Either I'll have a pair of socks to enter in the  challenge, or I'll have the pair I was hoping for when I bought the yarn seven years ago.  

Is it going to do something exciting?

The last time I made socks with yarn from this line, it flashed and pooled and striped and did everything but blink. So I've got high hopes, but it's too soon for me to tell if this yarn is going to pool or flash or anything else worthy of Judy's challenge. It gets one chance.  If it settles into a nice mottled pattern like picture in the yarn catalog that motivated me to buy the yarn in the first place, I'll happily knit it up that way. I'm not going to play with needle sizes and stitch counts.

.

 

I've got to admit that I was confused when I first read Judy's posts. I always thought pooling was a bad thing... and then this morning when I was flipping through a book of sock yarn projects from the library I found this section on avoiding pooling.  I've never been able to get quite motivated enough to trying alternating two skeins. That's why this yarn is still sitting in my stash after seven years.

Oh, and I remembered to take a picture of my yarn on the calendar before casting on... makes it feel like a ransom demand or something!

 

 

hoping for pools and flashes, the wilder the better!

I've gotten totally sucked in by Judy's Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge. Yesterday I was up before dawn, waiting for the sky to lighten up enough for me to head out to the sewing room and grab this --

 

 

As much of a chaotic mess as that room is right now, I knew exactly where to find my stash of Knitpicks fingering-weight yarns. A few skeins have escaped the main stash, but most of it is in here, including the stuff that I know will pool and flash and the stuff that I'm pretty sure will do it.

Those skeins in the center? They're the ones I'm most optimistic about, because they're  from the same line that gave me these results a few years back --

 

 

At the time I wasn't happy with it, because I wanted the gorgeous mottled sort of striping that the yarn did in the catalog pictures. I love the texture and colors of the others yarns from this line and I already own it....and if I've actually bought something that's in my stash, I'm bound and determined to use it for something sooner or later. Now the question is whether or not this stuff will pool when I actually want it to!

 

I figure it's a win/win situation. Either it'll pool and I can use it for Judy's challenge, or it won't and I might like the results better. No matter how the colors decide to fall, I wind up with a pair of socks. And when I was taking the pictures, Teenage Daughter walked through and asked if I'd use them to make socks for her. Her feet are two sizes smaller than mine, so that means a little less knitting to finish the pair.

 

Did I mention that I'm excited about this?