Pooling

If you ever wonder what the knitters/crocheters/weavers/crafters who work in yarn stores talk about while at work...not surprisingly there are a lot of conversations about yarn.

We're always amazed at the new stuff that comes in.  We touch it, criticize it, play with it, fondle it, imagine what wonderful things it could be.  Often we covet it and wish we had enough money and time to bring it home and do all the amazing things we dream of it becoming.  Sometimes we buy it and thank our lucky stars that we work in a yarn store where we get to see such wonderful things.

We talk about the projects on our needles.  We love seeing the work of our fellow co-workers.  We like to feel the yarn, look at the finished project, be amazed at the talent and creativity of the person who made it.

We talk about the things we do in our time off--mostly knitting, but there's lots of tv and hiking and other interests that keep us going in our lives away from the warehouse.

We talk about work...that isn't surprising, but we often have to "figure things out" and that requires many pow-wows.

We talk about our families.

We talk about our dreams and plans.

And, I know you'll be surprised because of the "teaser" title of this entry...we talk about pooling.

People have lots of opinions about pooling.  You love it or hate it.  Want to plan it or let serendipity take its toll.  You want only solids, or the more color the better.  Some people are afraid of pooling and buy the beautiful hand dyed or painted yarn only to let it sit in their stash for fear of what it'll look like knitted up...

But mostly, we forget that pooling is what happens any time colors get together.  Take the sky for instance. Right now it's a lot of pooling of dark grey with some lighter greys mixed in there.  There are places in the sky where the pooling makes shapes and creates interest and dimension...but mostly it's just the sky--an overall grey with bits of colors pooled in there for interest.

A lovely masterpiece created by the Higher Power for our enjoyment.

Or take another example from nature:  When you gain some distance from a rose bush, it looks like all it is is red and green, but upon getting closer you can see the individual flowers, the differences in the colors of red and green, and the bits of brown that got lost in the overall color of the bush.

Or a mountain.  The mountains out in Reno have lately put on a blush of green. It was rather neon looking yesterday afternoon--but subtle.  Overall the mountains still look brown and maintain their power against the sky--but their pooling changes from day to day.

Which is why I think that pooling is so amazing when we get to knit it into a project.  Taken as a "whole" a project will look one color.  We typically see it from afar and only upon up-close inspection do we see the little bits of colors and pooling that happen when you use a multi-colored yarn.  Sometimes we think that it isn't attractive, but if we step away and see the item we've knitted from the distance that others will see it, or look at it as a whole, the pooling becomes abstract, not personal, and it becomes a lovely part of the project.  The painterly effect from the skein becomes a painterly effect in the knitted fabric.

And it's just lovely and wonderful and oh-so-surprising if you let it be.

Yarn: Rockin' Sock Light in November 2012 Club Color "Cables of Wrath"

Pattern:  Trillian.