Tag: pooling

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Today’s Sarasota Yarn Shop Class

First half of the Florida Peaches Handbag shown with the variegated yarn I'm using, and real FL peaches on my tree!
First posted in June, 2016. Updated in 2018.

 

I taught a small, intimate two-hour crochet class in my favorite Sarasota yarn shop today. It was a test of a few ideas I have for next month’s Stitch Games class in Charleston.

Color-POP-corns

A few days ago I imagined using the popcorn stitch to show one way to group colors of a bold variegated yarn. I’m glad I crocheted a swatch in time for this class. It was perfect. I think I’ll turn it into a summer handbag.

UPDATE: Florida Peaches Handbag is done!

Some of the students were surprised that you could get the look of alternating two or more yarns with just one yarn. I hadn’t thought of this advantage, but it’s true. Sometimes, alternating different strands of yarn in a project interrupts the crochet flow, so that’s why this is an advantage. It’s nice to have this built in option with just one ball of yarn, if you know how to do planned pooling.

Color Stacking 101

Rows of double crochets keep each color of a variegated yarn stacked in columns
Simple rows of double crochets (UK: trebles).

Susie, a student in today’s class, crocheted this swatch. It’s color-stacked double crochet. Susie is actually the resident crochet teacher for the shop! Isn’t it beautiful?

You can use a taller crochet stitch like the double crochet (dc) if each color in a variegated yarn is long enough. In this swatch, the yellow is barely long enough for one full dc, but it looks cool the way it shades into the green, doesn’t it?

For the handbag I used half doubles (hdc or UK: htr) for the aqua, and dc for the peachy popcorns.

The yarn I wanted to use for the Jempool Scarf pattern had shorter colors, so I used (soft, loose, stretchy) slip stitches. You can see another color-stacked slip stitch project at the top of this page.

Both of these yarns are exclusive custom colorways hand dyed for this Sarasota yarn shop, A Good Yarn. I’ve used several of their custom yarns for class samples: Seshen, Bonefish, Bare Bones, Tunisian Spoonbill, and Slip Stitch Ikat Cowl.

I’ve tested many CGOA crochet class topics at A Good Yarn over the years, and a subtropical theme always seems to work well 🙂 The handbag looks just like Florida peaches against the Florida sky.

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Crochet Class Pattern Galleries

A Gallery of designs and effects for the Stitch Games Crochet class handout.

Pictured is a type of photo gallery that I’ve started including in my crochet class handouts. This one is for the Stitch Games class. View it full size. It shows a few different stitch games across the top. In the row below are finished designs that are based on one of those game types.

(I’m still tweaking the handout. This gallery may change by July 13.)

Pattern Galleries are Like 2-D Trunk Shows

Crochet class pattern galleries have turned out to be very useful over the years. I bring an overabundance of crocheted examples for what we cover in class. It’s like a whole trunk show per topic! Anyone is welcome to examine them and try things on. As you can imagine, I’m often asked what the name of a design is, or whether the pattern for an item is downloadable. It’s just easier if I label thumbnail photos of them in the handout.

I first did this in 2012 with the 21st Century Love Knots handout. It helped immensely. When I pass around items, someone will ask, “Is the information for this one in the handout?” and it’s wonderful to be able to say “Yes, in the gallery on p. 3.”

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Knit and Crochet Books: Stitch Games Class

17 knit, crochet, spinning and dyeing books.

Some Crochet Class Research

Back in January I read a stack of crochet books (and many knitting books) as research for my Stitch Games class topic. I welcome doing this, especially in January after the hectic holidays. It’s so cozy.

I take notes as I read them. Then I set it all aside for a few months until I’m ready to look it all over and start writing the class handout.

It wasn’t necessary that I do this kind of research for the other class topics this year (one never knows how time-consuming it’s going to be!). I went through stacks of crochet books about love knots, star stitches, and Tunisian lace methods in earlier years.

Below is the list of seventeen knit and crochet books that helped me in some way. They’re in alphabetical order by title. I starred the ones that I recommend the most (about stitch games/pooling techniques). The list doesn’t include a few articles and websites I also used.

17 Knit and Crochet Books Read

***Artful Color, Mindful Knits: The Definitive Guide to Working with Hand-dyed Yarn by Laura Militzer Bryant XRX Books 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1933064260

Creating Crochet Fabric: Experimenting with Hook, Yarn & Stitch Dora Ohrenstein Lark Books 2010 ISBN-13: 978-1600593314

Crochet the Complete Guide Jane Davis  Krause Publ 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0896896970

Crochet in Color Kathy Merrick Interweave 2009 ISBN-13: 978-1596681125

Crochet Workshop James Walters 1979/1983 (Dover Publications 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0486496207)

*The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques Margaret Radcliffe Storey Publishing, LLC 2015  ISBN-13: 978-1612126623

Exploring Color in Knitting: Techniques, Swatches, and Projects to Expand Your Knit Horizons Sarah Hazell, Emma King Barron’s Educational Series 2011  ISBN-13: 978-0764147395

**Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece: Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative Techniques Gail Callahan  Storey Publishing, LLC 2010 ISBN-13: 978-1603424684

*Indie Socks: Knitting Patterns and Dyer Profiles Featuring Hand-Dyed Yarns Chrissy Gardiner Sydwillow Press 2012  ISBN-13: 978-0981966816

*The Knitter’s Book of Socks: The Yarn Lover’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Socks That Fit Well, Feel Great, and Last a Lifetime Clara Parkes Potter Craft 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0307586803

The Knitter’s Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn Clara Parkes Potter Craft 2007 ISBN-13: 978-0307352163

The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn: Techniques and Projects for Handpainted and Multicolored Yarn Lorna Miser Potter Craft 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0823085521

The Knitter’s Life List: To Do, To Know, To Explore, To Make Gwen W. Steege Storey Publishing, LLC 2011  ISBN-13: 978-1603429962

**Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn Carol Sulcoski Interweave 2009 ISBN-13: 978-1596680982

The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook Lynne Vogel  Interweave 2002 ISBN-13: 978-1931499163

Wrapped in Color: 30 Shawls to Knit in Koigu Handpainted Yarns by Koigu Wool Designs Sixth&Spring Books 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1936096848

The Yarn Lover’s Guide to Hand Dyeing: Beautiful Color and Simple Knits Linda LaBelle Potter Craft 2007 ISBN-13: 978-0307352538

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Color Pooling Crochet Stitch Games-Class

Planned vs. Accidental Color “Pooling”

 

2016 collage for "Stitch Games" CGOA class
This is the 2016 class web-poster at the CGOA event headquarters.

Last summer’s Get Your Geek On CGOA event inspired my new three-hour crochet class in Charleston SC (July 13, 2016); some new booklets and patterns too. Many of us have sought insight into using hand-painted yarns. These yarns are often boldly variegated with short color changes and other indie dyeing methods. Color pooling is exciting!

You’re looking at stitch game projects I designed from 2009 to a month ago. (There are more but they don’t all fit in this image.) Pattern for the vivid blue striped scarf (Jempool) releases this week.

Use crochet stitches to turn the color volume up or down (or both, selectively!). Exaggerate the element of chance: accidental pooling. Or, eliminate it: planned pooling.

What’s Color Pooling?

Variegated (multi-colored) yarns seem to have randomly and evenly mixed colors in one skein. It’s like a party in a ball…unless the colors stop looking well-blended when crocheted or knitted. A color might repeat too often, or pile (pool) up on itself row after row in a blotchy way. That’s pooling in a bad way.

Texture pooling is a variation of color pooling. Ever use a yarn with dramatic thick and thin areas, and find that these texture contrasts clump together awkwardly? The texture changes are pooling. That also happened with the intermittent tinsel sections of an expensive mohair yarn. I thought it would look magical! Instead, the tinsel just looked lumpy and stiff when I crocheted it.

Sprinkling Love Knots among simple double crochets {UK: tr} retained the otherworldly look of the yarn by giving the tinsel more room. The result was Marisa Artwalk, an exhilarating discovery.

“Stitch Pooling” Makes Color Pooling a Game

Lcustrine Cowl, Tea Lights, and Bare Bones scarves.
The three patterns in the Crochet to the Colors Playbook. This is simple stitch pooling that alters color pooling.

A simple stitch game I like, especially with crochet, is what I call stitch pooling. I switch to a contrasting crochet stitch when a certain color comes up as I crochet. Knitters do this when they switch from stockinette to garter whenever a certain color comes up, for example. Crochet gives us so many texture choices for creating a simple game, or a wildly challenging one! You can heighten or de-emphasize colors too. This is accidental color pooling that’s fresh, interesting, and each result is unique. Just use familiar crochet stitches.

Pictured at right are three examples of beginner-level stitch games in a pattern booklet.

Color Pooling According to Plan

Eliminate chance and you get regular coordinated patterns of color. The game here is to identify the unique color code of a variegated yarn. You decide where they show up in your project. (See my newsletter issue #77, Find the Color Code of Short Striping Yarns.) Then, choose the crochet stitch, gauge, and number of stitches to get the color patterning you want.

To see when this class is offered next, check the Upcoming Classes & Events page. It’s updated regularly.