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In Part 1, I tried marling it further by holding it double with other shades of sock yarn—you can read that experience in the March issue. Then, in Part 2, I tested stitch patterns with shorter stitches like single crochet and half double crochet to see the effects—details are in the May issue. While some swatches were promising, nothing truly blew me away… so the experiment continues with Part 3! Part 3: Assigned Pooling This past month, I did some research and stumbled upon the idea of assigned pooling. I’ve seen these very distinctive fabrics pop up in my Pinterest feed, but until now I wasn’t really sure what they were! I’m excited to finally share what they’re all about. Assigned pooling is a technique that has become very popular in the knitting world, and lately crocheters are embracing it too. Dawn Barker of Barker Wool is credited with developing and popularizing the technique. (Though assigned pooling may have been practiced in some form before, Dawn is the designer who really brought it to the forefront with her patterns.) What Is Assigned Pooling? Assigned pooling is a technique that involves assigning specific stitch patterns to different colors in a variegated yarn. When a particular color appears in the yarn, the crocheter/knitter switches to the assigned stitch for that color. The yarn is what makes this technique possible. From what I understand, any hand-dyed variegated yarn with short color sequences will work for assigned pooling, but there are dyers out there who are creating colorways specifically for this technique. An assigned pooling colorway will have three-quarters of the hank dyed with one color (or a set of colors). The other quarter is dyed in a distinctly different accent color. The idea is that when you’re working with this hank, the accent color will be worked with a yarn-hungry, texture-rich stitch pattern (such as bobbles, popcorns, puff stitches, short rows, wrapped stitches, or crossed stitches). These stitches gather the accent-colored yarn into small groups. The longer color repeat is worked with a basic stitch, such as double crochet, to form the background. Want to see what yarns you can use for assigned pooling? Try a quick internet search of “yarns for assigned pooling” and I promise, you will be amazed by all that is available! How Is This Different from Planned Pooling? Like assigned pooling, planned pooling involves using a specific type of variegated yarn with a repeating color sequence to intentionally create an interesting design. But I think that’s just about where the similarities end. Planned pooling is more precise than assigned pooling. As the name suggests, planned pooling requires a bit of math and a lot of planning. By swatching, and adjusting your hook size and tension, you determine how many stitches correspond to each color change, allowing you to control the color pooling and create specific color patterns. This technique allows you to create various patterns like argyle, tartan, and harlequin by strategically altering how the colors pool together. Unlike assigned pooling yarn, the variegated yarn used for planned pooling must have consistent color sections and repeats, so that you have precise control over the color placement. Since my yarn is hand-dyed, planned pooling was ruled out long ago – which is just fine by me. I can handle crochet math, but planned pooling seems too restrictive for my style. Will This Work with My JulieSpins Yarn? Let’s Find Out! From everything I’ve read, the best assigned pooling projects include yarn that is specifically dyed for this purpose, but it can be done with any variegated or self-striping yarn too. It would seem that my marled yarn is a decent candidate. All we can do is give it a try! Join me next week, as I try out some assigned pooling with my marled yarn and find out if it’s a total flop or if this technique creates a stunning new fabric.
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