Finish for Fall, part 2

Finish for Fall makes me want to dance for joy! Or at least find a dancer to model a finished project: The Charleston Indigo Scarf

So it's been a week since I admitted to the world the appalling state of my yarn stash/unfinished objects/knitting storage.  I will now further humble myself with photographic evidence of my progress:

I found 14 projects tucked away (2 not pictured). That's a lot of unfinished business!

My progress was slowed by the constant need to stop and untangle yarn balls.

By the time I was through getting it all organized, I had one bag of yarn to put away, one bag of knitting projects to finish and a basket of odd-ball yarn to make decisions about. And a head, but that's a story for another day.

Since that first day of digging it all out, I have frogged 6 projects, bound off one where it was (it was a swatch)(sorta), and completed the knitting on both a random dishcloth and the Charleston Indigo Scarf.  14 - 9 = 5!  I now have a very full tin of stitch markers, several more sets of needles and an abundant supply of row counters that had all been "in use" for years in some cases.

There is still much to do, of course, and I know I will be casting on new projects (for new designs I'm writing) long before I finish my Cold Mountain shawl or some of the other projects still on needles.  That's why my list is coming in handy.  The next step for me is to develop my time-table for finishing that big project and even more importantly, to stay "solvent". My plan to Finish for Fall has given me a new resolve to not let things languish or get pushed aside into a dark closet or drawer.

I started this beaded wrap several years ago. Frogged!

I started this random dishcloth (what were those eyelets all about??) last spring. Finished!!

How about you? Did you start this Finish for Fall project, too?  How is it going?  Is it helping? I'd love to hear about it. If you feel brave, share with us in the Ravelry group. If you're too mortified by how much you found lurking in the shadows, post an anonymous comment and know that you're not alone.

Wading in the pool, the murky pool of pooling colors

Just so you know, I am fully aware that today's topic might be controversial.  I am prepared for the dislike mail, the ugly comments, the disdain from knitters and crocheters who disagree with me.  Being fully aware of the stir I'm about to make, I am plunging in anyway, into the murky waters of color pooling.

There are some who adore pooling.  I get that. I really am open minded about this and I hope you can find a way to be open minded about what I'm about to say.

I am not a fan.

I tried, I really did.  I have seen projects pool that did so in ways I could live with ("it's artistic, yeah, artistic. That's it...").

This block from my Flying Geese quilt has some pooling of sorts that works.

A little pooling on this border between the green sections.  This I can live with.

But there are way too many that turn out much less artistically. Much less.

See the section at the top? Where the brown turns all muddy?  Looks like, well, a pool of mud.

And then there is this. It was supposed to be a sock. It's sock yarn even.  But the splotches of color were so disturbing, that this yarn is now on its way to becoming a scarf. (Will post link to pattern when it's published FREE on Ravelry. Stay tuned!)

When good socks go bad, or something like that.

I realize there are those of you out there who love it when yarn acts this way.  There is a Ravelry group for you and even a website that will (somehow) tell you how to plan your pooling. (Thank you, Desiree, for that tip!)  My friend Dianne tells me that SAFF will have a class on working with variegated yarn, but I think it's too late for me.  I tried, with the sock yarn above, using two skeins and switching every row to "break up" the pooling and it looked even worse.  I also hated having to stop and untangle the two working yarns all the time.  Fighting the pooling to make a sock was sucking all the fun out of sock knitting, and y'all, that just ain't right.

It probably shouldn't have surprised me.  I prefer Baroque music and Georgian architecture for their symmetry, so yeah, the vagaries of variegated yarn and its issues with pooling are difficult for me to embrace.

My lesson here is that I might be happier sticking to solids, self-striping, tweeds, hand-paints and tonals. And I'm ok with that.  Remember, life is too short to knit something you hate.

What has been your experience with pooling? Are you a fan? I'd love to see what you've done. Either post in the comments below or in our KnitOasis Ravelry group.