When I first started knitted socks about 3 year ago, neither pattern matching nor pooling were any consideration. Now, all you seamstresses would probably be appalled by such slapdash-ishness. Yes, I've made my own curtains and yes I did bother to pattern match, but only for the window, not for all the curtains in the room. (These days if I did the same curtain for the house, you can bet that every window would have to be matched perfectly)
While putting the laundry away the other day, I came upon these socks. These were the second socks that I'd made, encouraged by Emma and Thos. I used Lorna's Laces Shephard sock in Forest, 64 stitches on 2.75mm needles. I gave them to my husband, who still wears them. It was a very basic pattern from Yankee Knitter, bought from Downtown Yarns in NYC, on a yarn crawl with Kay. It was the first time that I had met Kay and she must had thought me completely yarn starved as I was unable to stop myself from buying yarn at every shop that we'd visited that day.
Clearly this is an extreme example of pooling. The pooling was consistent on both sides.
Today, I would rip that bad boy and start again, but way back then, I was much more gung-ho and thought it part of the learning process, so focused more on getting the technique right and understanding the construction.
Now , I see pooling and I rip, mercilessly.
This went into the frog pond. 70 stitches on Lorna's Laces Shephard socks in Iris Garden on 2.5m = pool. Maybe pool of tears is more accurate. I'm going to have another go at 66 stitches and see how that goes. I don't mind if it pools nicely, but if it doesn't, that bad boy is going down for the count.
Posted by atu at December 8, 2005 11:17 PMPolly:
I just came across your French Market Bag on the Knitty site. I am puzzled by one of the knitting direction abbreviations - "M" I think I have figured it out to be "increase". I could not find this abbreviation in any of my knitting books.
Thanks in advance.
Marlene
(in northern California)
Which reminds me, did you ever knit up the Waikiki??
Now that I know you better I am so surprised that you bought it! xox Kay
Posted by: Kay at December 12, 2005 05:36 PMhi, this is going to sound incredibly silly, but what exactly is pooling? Is it the concentration of one colour in a spot rather than the intended variegation of the pattern?
Posted by: desiknitter at December 12, 2005 04:00 PMI love the Iris Garden socks that you are knitting. The color is great. I am working on a scarf for Christmas where half of it is purple and the other half is green. It is supposed to be verigated or something. I should post a picture because it is hard to explain.
Posted by: Diane at December 10, 2005 03:15 AMI am not sure this is the best place to post this, but I wanted to tell you THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for your Kiri Shawl design - I made one, in sock-weight yarn (Socks that Rock, Sedona colorway), and it is my most favorite thing ever! I get compliments almost every time I wear it, and it was fun to knit, easy, but not too easy (i.e. very interesting) and fast! Thanks for a wonderful introduction to lace knitting, and many thanks for generously sharing this pattern with the knitting world for free.
Posted by: shannon at December 9, 2005 11:03 PMI'm also interested in what you do to combat pooling. My very first sweater pooled on the sleeves, but I never even thought about ripping back because it was a casual style and I liked the serendipity of it all.
I also have made Kiri and send a deep bow of thanks. It was my first lace project and it was a huge and valued learning experience. I look at it and cannot believe I made it.
Posted by: Kathie at December 9, 2005 07:23 PMSo even identical pooling on each sock in the pair bothers you? I think I could live with it if the two socks at least looked alike. But if they were different, I'd have to rip too.
Try a slip stitch pattern if you have enough yarn. It might help.
Posted by: Beth S. at December 9, 2005 06:53 PMThanks for doing the Kiri Shawl pattern. I am new to lace knitting, and have just done the Leaf Lace shawl from Fibertrends. I liked Birch, but not the orientation of the design elements. I so appreciate you taking the time to re-orient them, and writing up a pattern for the rest of us.
Sara
Posted by: Sara at December 9, 2005 04:34 PMI'm not a fan of the pooling but I'll deal with it just to finish a project. What do you do to combat the pooling?
Posted by: eyeleen at December 9, 2005 04:10 PMI actually really like pooling in socks ! Pretty pattern and all that. ;-]
Is it really that long ago that we started you on the sock path? Blimey !
I don't mind pooling in socks at all - think it is quite attractive actually. Cannot see what is wrong with the iris socks, how do you know it is going to pool further on? But don't like it in a sweater, where you get a big splodge of one colour in the wrong place. But I bet you've never done a sweater with bright, variegated yarn!
Posted by: Jill at December 9, 2005 11:27 AMI love the colourways of LL but the pooling just drives me crazy. It happened with my black purl Clapotis even though I alternated with two balls.
Posted by: Siow Chin at December 9, 2005 02:27 AMThose socks are wearing very well! Chris is nearly ready to throw out one of the early pairs, they're not worn out, but are overall very thin now.
I quite like pooling...
Dawn:)
I had to go back and look at my first socks to see if the pooling was bad, and thankfully it wasn't! But you had me goin' there.
I used your hat pattern to knit a warm hat with my handspun Coopworth last week-thanks. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I've worn it everyday in the single digits. It's a keeper.
I was looking at the first pair of socks I knitted (with yarn you gave me!) the other day and thinking just the same thing. The stripes were mismatched, all sorts of flashing going on - these days I would have ripped them, but back then I was just so excited that they were turning out OK, I didn't care about anything else.
Posted by: Mary at December 9, 2005 12:15 AM