Pooled Colour Crochet

Day 187: The internet would have you believe that pooled-colour crochet was a new thing. It's not. In fact, I first learned about it when I was working as an art-needlework consultant in the mid-1960s. It didn't achieve any great popularity at the time due to several factors, largely access to instructions which were easy to comprehend. As I recall, Bernat drove the bandwagon with a number of regularly space-dyed yarns which were supposed to yield a tartan pattern when crocheted or knit. Most people (myself included) gave up after spending many hours frustrated by sections of colour which were either too long, too short, or an "in-between" shade which threw the pattern off. Technology has given us many advancements in dyeing techniques and while still not perfect, the "pooling" yarns on the market today are vastly improved from those of 50 years ago. I thought I'd give it another try, and after ripping out my work several times during the course of the morning, I finally got decent results. Be advised that not all space-dyed yarns can be used for colour-pooling. The colour intervals must be regular, although there can be variation between individual colours, i.e., purple, blue and green could all be 12 inches long spaced apart by six-inch sections of yellow and rose. The trick is in keeping track of how many stitches can be made with each colour. Even so, it's fiddly work, requiring a lot of pick-back even after you've mastered the basic technique, but it's fun to do, and gives a great "poor-man's plaid" effect.